We had a tradition in my university residence, a weekly movie club of sorts. Every Saturday, to recover from the hangovers that usually followed a Friday night out, a group of friends and I would gather in the common room and watch a horror film. The selection rotated every week so that we all got a chance to choose what we watched. When it eventually got around to my turn, I nominated The Blair Witch Project, one of my favourite movies of all time. I’ve seen it a dozen times and it still manages to chill me to the bone so I was excited to share my morbid appreciation for the tragedy of the teenagers lost somewhere in a Burkittsville forest.
Yet despite the fear I still experience when watching The Blair Witch Project, I was alone in my appreciation. Everyone else found it boring, uninteresting and just…not scary. Shocked, I was. Appalled! The Blair Witch Project? Not scary? “What kind of treasonous stance was this?”, I shouted above the chorus of mockery and chides that were slung against my flesh. Was I truly alone in my fear of the witch that tormented the teens and had a strange adoration for corners? Unfathomable. Untenable. Unexpectable.
Yet come the next week, the movie Sinister was selected and while my friends cowered in fear at the creature, which in my mind resembled Tommy Wiseau forming a half-hearted companionship with the Venom symbiote, I was left unmoved. This was what scared them? This over Blair Witch? I was left shocked, confused and just a little bit sticky from whatever was soaked into those cursed common room couches.
With the release of the Blair Witch game this week, I’ve been considering this incident over and over in my head as I play through the expansion of the story established by the film. It also makes me think of subjective tastes in horror can be, with attitudes often being incredibly divisive over what’s scary in a movie. Hence, this Flamebait Friday Debate: What movie terrified the world but didn’t affect you in the slightest? What made you cover your eyes in fear while everyone else watched the screen unshaken and bemused?
Let me know in the comments! Answers will be marked out of 10, for those looking for Fake Internet Points.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Critical Hit as an organisation.
Last Updated: August 30, 2019
Admiral Chief Emissary
August 30, 2019 at 11:55
Well, I’ll tell you what movie I’ll never, ever watch again. Event Horizon.
R1ker
August 30, 2019 at 12:39
Agree. Was vir my ‘n pot kak
Brad Lang
August 30, 2019 at 13:35
11/10
Yahtzee
August 30, 2019 at 12:04
Silent Hill… more like pass the popcorn hill am I right!
Brad Lang
August 30, 2019 at 13:35
8/10
Dresden
August 30, 2019 at 12:04
Blair Witch Project is a masterpiece. What do university students know anyway?
Screw them!
Brad Lang
August 30, 2019 at 13:35
10000000/10
Pariah
August 30, 2019 at 12:04
Basically the entire horror genre for me. I either laugh, yawn, or appreciate the technical details of sound, lighting and camerawork.
Magoo マグ
August 30, 2019 at 12:45
Same for me. Though with a small list of exceptions, like The Fourth Kind.
Brad Lang
August 30, 2019 at 13:35
4.5/10
Pariah
August 30, 2019 at 14:43
Though I’ve never seen it, YOUR FACE IS 4.5/10!!!
Take that!
Pieter Kruger
August 30, 2019 at 12:11
Super Size Me
Yahtzee
August 30, 2019 at 12:12
https://i.imgflip.com/2s55sn.jpg
Admiral Chief Emissary
August 30, 2019 at 14:35
*Hamster Jazz Music Stops*
Alien Emperor Trevor
August 30, 2019 at 12:33
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d243b7f98832f6a02579f0bbf13e66f0bd5fc47a3acbc686291ebd7a6fb95b71.jpg
Yahtzee
August 30, 2019 at 12:33
I can already smell the gif
Brad Lang
August 30, 2019 at 13:35
20/10
Jacques Van Zyl
August 30, 2019 at 12:11
The Exorcism of Emily Rose had me unable to sleep for months – honestly one of the few horrors that really screwed me over for a long time. Yet most everybody else I know just shrugged it off.
Dresden
August 30, 2019 at 12:12
I had to walk alone from a friends house after watching that at two in the morning. Trust me you’re not alone in being freaked out by that movie.
Jacques Van Zyl
August 30, 2019 at 13:25
I do not envy you for that 2am trip.
Brad Lang
August 30, 2019 at 13:34
9/10
Caveshen Rajman
August 30, 2019 at 12:45
Most horror movies don’t really do anything for me apart from some temporarily heightened tension, which I do enjoy when it happens. I think it’s because my dumb brain is perpetually trying to make sense of scenes so it’s like, “Okay this is the quiet part that’s meant to provide relief to the viewer, definitely clench your butt cheeks now.” etc.
Magoo マグ
August 30, 2019 at 12:45
It’s like watching a needle moving into a balloon at such a slow pace that you don’t know when it’s goi-POP AH FUCK ME
Brad Lang
August 30, 2019 at 13:34
7/10
Raptor Rants
August 30, 2019 at 12:45
I can tell you the ones that freaked me out because the list is shorter.
Event Horizon and The Grudge.
Other horror movies just don’t freak me out at all.
R1ker
August 30, 2019 at 12:45
Agree with the Grudge. But i feel like i am the only one that did not enjoy Event Horizon at all
Raptor Rants
August 30, 2019 at 12:45
I didn’t say I enjoyed Event Horizon lol. I said it freaked me out. Like majorly. It was not a movie to be enjoyed. It was a movie made to make people not sleep XD
Admiral Chief Emissary
August 30, 2019 at 12:55
Yeah man, as per my comment earlier, Event Horizon can GITS
Dresden
August 30, 2019 at 13:04
Don’t think I’ve seen it. From what I’ve read so far in these comments, I’ll stay away.
Admiral Chief Emissary
August 30, 2019 at 13:25
It is not a bad movie, it is just severely disturbing
Jacques Van Zyl
August 30, 2019 at 13:53
The more I read about this on here, the more I’m tempted to try and watch it.
Original Heretic
August 30, 2019 at 13:53
If you’ve never watched Event Horizon, you should make a plan to.
But personally, I think all the “freaked out” comments about it are spot on.
Jacques Van Zyl
August 30, 2019 at 14:01
Is it on Netflix? If so I’ll make a plan to watch it this weekend, been too long since last I gave myself a proper scare.
Original Heretic
August 30, 2019 at 14:18
Not sure if it’s on Netflix, sorry man.
Dresden
August 30, 2019 at 14:18
It is.
https://www.netflix.com/za/title/1179574
Perhaps I’ll give it a go some time as well.
Jacques Van Zyl
August 30, 2019 at 14:18
Huzzah 🙂
Admiral Chief Emissary
August 30, 2019 at 14:18
Have fun not sleeping for a few days
Raptor Rants
August 30, 2019 at 13:04
https://gfycat.com/fairniceandeancat
Admiral Chief Emissary
August 30, 2019 at 13:35
This fake scene is one of the worst out there
Brad Lang
August 30, 2019 at 13:34
8/10
Raptor Rants
August 30, 2019 at 13:35
woooo
Dresden
August 30, 2019 at 13:44
Why didn’t you make it 7/10?!
You had one job!
Yahtzee
August 30, 2019 at 13:53
*7/10 and you know it
Jacques Van Zyl
August 30, 2019 at 13:53
Booo! This could’ve been the 7/10 deserved.
Admiral Chief Emissary
August 30, 2019 at 14:18
You have never disappointed me more, than in this moment. You had the power to show that you know the meaning and importance of the number 7 with regards to this man. You have failed this website, this city, and yourself.
Guz
August 30, 2019 at 12:45
Any of the Exorcist movies, I didn’t find them scary because I could never buy into the whole getting possessed thing.
Brad Lang
August 30, 2019 at 13:35
5/10
Bud B
August 30, 2019 at 13:04
So I don’t know if this movie can be classified as Horror . Me and my cousins watched The Fourth Kind together early hours of the morning . They all thought it was stupid but I couldn’t sleep for days after . Tried to watch it again not so long ago but couldn’t even get through the entire film .
Brad Lang
August 30, 2019 at 13:35
7/10
HairyEwok
August 30, 2019 at 13:53
Anything with a clown literally destroys my pillars of sanity.
WyvernCT
August 30, 2019 at 11:54
Pet Semetary the original, I saw it when I was about 12 or 13. Laughed my ass off whilst everyone else was scared!
Brad Lang
August 30, 2019 at 13:35
6/10
Alien Emperor Trevor
August 30, 2019 at 11:55
Don’t Breathe. Rince & I watched it & he thought I’d be jumping around like a maniac. Good movie, but not scary at all.
Pariah
August 30, 2019 at 12:04
That had some good tension build up. One of the better ones. But scary? No.
Brad Lang
August 30, 2019 at 13:35
10/10
Llama In The Rift
August 30, 2019 at 12:04
The Shining…..Had an 80’s Marathon once over the weekend with a bunch of friends from school…..was pretty bored while watching
Admiral Chief Emissary
August 30, 2019 at 12:04
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeere’s boring
Pariah
August 30, 2019 at 12:04
We know. We can see you.
Admiral Chief Emissary
August 30, 2019 at 12:11
OR CAN YOU???
https://media1.giphy.com/media/cttECEGRnd9NJ9hakB/giphy.gif
Pariah
August 30, 2019 at 12:11
XD
Well that’s my day made. 😀
Brad Lang
August 30, 2019 at 13:35
10/10
G8crasha
August 30, 2019 at 12:04
I’d also vote for the Blair Witch Project. Loved it. The issue is that so many horrors rely heavily on jump scares, which would scare most people. Few horrors are truly horrors in the truest sense. Any horror that portrays events that could happen in real life do tense me up. But if so much of the portrayals are fantastical, they do little to get the adrenaline running for me!
Pariah
August 30, 2019 at 12:11
That was my biggest issue with the new IT. It was all jump scare (quality production, mind) and no underlying tension. The originals were better in that regard.
Brad Lang
August 30, 2019 at 13:35
9.5/10
Pariah
August 30, 2019 at 12:11
That was my biggest issue with the new IT. It was all jump scare (quality production, mind) and no underlying tension. The originals were better in that regard.
Magoo マグ
August 30, 2019 at 12:39
I’ll tell you what I tell everyone else, the new IT movie is not a horror. It’s an adventure film.
Original Heretic
August 30, 2019 at 12:26
IT. The new one. Not scary at all. Good movie, but not scary.
Yahtzee
August 30, 2019 at 12:33
Gory way more than scary.
R1ker
August 30, 2019 at 12:39
Agree with this. And to be honest, none of Steven King’s movies or his novels actually – as some of the movie adaptions was quite bad – scares me. Love the stories he tell, but not scary for me.
Brad Lang
August 30, 2019 at 13:34
4/10
Original Heretic
August 30, 2019 at 13:53
Why do I only get a 4 for not being scared?
Brad Lang
August 30, 2019 at 14:35
Honestly? I pulled up a number randomiser on Google. Shout at RNG, not me.
Original Heretic
August 30, 2019 at 14:42
Youuuuuu, STINKER!