I am a huge horror movie buff, always have been. Its the first movie genre I ever loved and while I in later years became more focused on superhero cinema, scifi, fantasy and action, horror still has a big place in my heart.
Because I watched so many horror films, I don´t easily get scared by movies though. But I have to say the ones that come immediately to mind are two of the biggest all time classics - The Exorcist and The Evil Dead (the original). Evil Dead still has some of the most terrifying moments ever put on film (the demon in the cellar, Linda revealing herself as a demon) and Exorcist still gives me the chills until this day. Its especially the subtle things on Exorcist that make it so scary. Like when there are suddenly flashes of the demon in the middle of a scene or when you can see the demons shadow in Megans room at night. Those scenes scared me a lot more then the visceral stuff like the crucifix masturbation or the infamous head spinning scene.
I also had a very freaky experience once after I watched the original Nightmare on Elm Street (to those who don´t know: Its about a dream demon named Freddy Krueger who kills teenagers in their dreams with a bladed glove, causing them to die for real). The morning after I watched the movie, when I woke up my sheets were cut into 4 pieces. Until this day I have no idea how that happened but naturally it freaked me out pretty good. I probably ripped them when I was turning in bed or something but that happening right after watching Nightmare was pretty crazy.
While I can watch a lot of very gory films (I am a big fan of slasher and splatter), there is a limit to what I can take and when it starts becoming just disgusting and revolting instead of entertainment for me. Not because those movies scare me or I can´t take the amount of gore, but some kind of movies just only gross me out to the point where its not fun watching them anymore. I am thinking of two genres there in particular, the Cannibal movie and the Rape and revenge movie. I mean I have seen the classics like Cannibal Holocaust, Cannibal Ferox, I spit on your grave and so on but generally I find these kind of movies just revolting. Cannibal movies are too mondo for my taste (making them look like they´re documentaries) and focus too much only on the gross factor. And I vividly LOATHE rape in entertainment as it is one of the most disgusting and vile things in the world to me. Watching rape on screen really makes me feel sick to my stomach so that genre is really something I try to avoid. Though there is one rape and revenge movie I have in my collection, which is the original The Last House on the Left. That one is the sole exception for me because it was the first movie of Wes Craven (one of my most favorite directors of all time, who sadly passed away this year. He also did the original Hills have Eyes as well as the first and seventh Nightmare on Elm Street and the entire Scream movie series) and to me that movie just represents really an important part of Cravens legacy.
There is one movie though that has kind of traumatized me while I was younger, even though its not nearly as gory or gross as other films I have seen since then - the 1992 Dracula film by Francis Ford Coppola. The one with Anthony Hopkins, Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves.
Now don´t get me wrong I am a huge fan of vampires and werewolves and the original Dracula novel by Bram Stoker is an absolute masterpiece and Coppolas movie is actually the movie which has been most faithful to the original novel. The movie is ultra gorgeous, atmospheric, closely follows the novel (if we forget about the silly love story in the movie that is) and has stellar performances by Oldman and Hopkins. Its also probably one of the most stunning looking and shot horror movies ever made (hell it even won an oscar for the costume design in 1993). So what exactly is the problem?
well I watched the movie when I was 12 which was a really bad idea. certain imagery in the movie (Draculas old man look, Dracula scaling the castle walls, Dracula killing Lucy, vampire bride Lucy etc.) edged themselves into my brain and downright haunted me. There was something about it that scared the hell out of me to the point that when I closed my eyes I could see this images or I would imagine old man Dracula standing in my room at night or scaling the wall outside my window. For some time I could not even fall asleep because I was so scared. Adding to that was the stunning but very dark and scary music of the movie. I even had the soundtrack because I loved the film but I had to get rid of the CD because that music was haunting me, driving me nearly out of my mind back then. I love that movie but it did a real number on me as a kid and I don´t even know why. I have seen way more gory and scarier movies since then and never had any problems. But until this day (about 20 years later) I can not watch this movie at night. Reading the Dracula novel at night is also not such a great idea as I started getting freaked out by every noise lol
