In this world, there are basically two types of horror movies: the ones that scar you for life (or at least give you a freaking scare to remember the next day), and the ones that are so lame, they become B rated comedies that sometimes are so poorly executed, they don’t even make you laugh. And then, there are the classics. Some of them are not completely scary, while some of them led to people developing mass hysteria and phobias, some of them were not lacked of suspense and thrill, while some, following very simple recipes, gave us nightmares for years on end.
Horror movies are meant to horror us, right? Now if we take a look back into the archives, we can see that many of the classic or at least very successful horror and thriller movies played with our emotions and turned harmless, common things into symbols of fear and terror. It’s not like the ghosts, the monsters from the great beyond, dead corpses or mutant beings are not scary. They are. We are supposed to be afraid of them. But were we ever supposed to be terrorized by our TV sets? Let’s take a look at 5 common things cinema made terrifying.
4. Clowns
This is dead serious. Clowns were supposed to be funny and entertain kids. Some are still trying their best. But boy, did Stephen King nailed the clown with his IT novel – later turned into movie! You might say that the clowns have something scary about them, as, come on, there has to be something wrong with a person’s mind to look like that, but IT made it very clear that clowns are not only very disturbed people, they are also serial killers.
3. Dolls
Children play with dolls all the time. Even adults, but this is not the place to further discuss this matter. And then, Chucky made his entrance and the world of puppets, dolls and toys was never the same again. The theory goes that the unlikely the subject of fear is, the higher the horror becomes. Now if they brought a real – live T – Rex borrowed from Jurassic Park, it would have been obvious that bad things would eventually happen. But they brought in a doll that was so stubborn to not die, it terrorized the dreams of people for a long time in that age.
2. Bees
You know, we were very close to talk about spiders and ants as common things cinema made terrifying, but when the movie title is Arachnophobia, what do you expect? A romantic comedy? So creepy crawlers actually are creepy enough to make a decent horror movie and with so many people fearing these pests and being disgusted by them, there’s a horror show going on in every house at some point. But bees, they are not commonly seen as horror – bringers, as they are healthy insects that do a lot of healthy things. We like them. And thanks to the X Files series and Movie Number One, we fear them. As we knew they sting. But what do they sting us WITH? For those who grew up in that age, bees were as creepy as any other horror’s favorite terrifying insects.
1. Kids
Yeah well, they are not things, but they are not normal either, if you ever dare studying child psychology as described by horror movies. Remember The Omen? Yes, the old one, which looks like a parody if you watch it now, but hey, it was 1976. But that kid wasn’t the only one. Remember The Grudge? Yes, the original! Want more? The Grady twins in the Shining, the children in The Brood, the ones in Children of the Corn, not to mention The Ring, The Exorcist and many others more. Insidious, anybody? Now that will teach you to say kids are cute and harmless. Some of them would even have made IT run away in fear. And you know what the problem with kids is? They’re everywhere!
THE ABSOLUTE WINNER!
Houses
Old mansions, cabins in the woods, lake houses, mountain villas, old cottages, hunting huts, houses with basements, houses with basements and attics, new houses in residential areas. Apartments, entire apartment buildings. Everything with a roof. Everything you can live in is a horror movie set. Everything inside is meant to get you. Houses are the quintessence of things cinema made terrifying.
Build your own nuclear shelters, people, always have bugs repellents around, and remember, if you’re going on a group – trip to the mountains, the blonde bimbo dies first! If there happens to be children around, RUN!
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