Wednesday 9 December 2009

The latest film to 'spook' me out.

I've now seen over 4,000 films (counting only those seen in a cinema) and every once in a while one comes along that lingers in the mind for having been especially disturbing. It's now a fortnight since I saw 'Paranormal Activities' and it's been, well, 'haunting' me every time I retire to bed. Everyone has their own particular trigger point of fear and though I declare myself as agnostic-going-on-atheist and therefore really doubt an after-life, I still feel there's something going on here which we can't yet explain. Of course I know this film is complete fiction but it does bring to the surface an issue defying rationality. While not for a moment suggesting that seances are conclusive proof of an after-life - surely most of them are trickery of some sort - I do feel there's at least something niggling enough about some cases of seeing 'ghosts', experiencing poltergeists etc. to give pause for thought, though I've never had such an ancounter myself. I wish I could dismiss all these reports as fantasy but I think there's something more to it than that.
The points of this film which really got me (I'll not spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it) were not so much the more conspicuous haunting events, but when the couple were asleep in bed and suddenly the hall light is switched on. That really made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. And it's that in particular which I think about when I'm alone in my bed, head under duvet, trying to get off to sleep.
Another film which had a similar effect when I first saw it was 'Blair Witch' - and especially when the trio thought that they'd been walking for several miles only to discover that they'd arrived back at the very point they were at ages before. It felt like my blood was chilling at that point. Whoooo! Spooky!

2 comments:

  1. 4000 movies seen in the cinema! I'm impressed Raybeard. Stan and I love horror films that use a suspense tactic and let your mind create the horror. Physiological horror is so much better, and the thrill is longer lasting,more than blood or guts or terror could ever dream of being. This one is on the must see list, but we often don't see things quickly; it could be months before this one comes in from Netflix. Thanks for the review!

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  2. Thanks, Kyle, but I'm now old enough to have clocked up as many as I have. I think it's so important to see films in the medium they were created for. One of my brothers dismissed 'Blair Witch Project' as 'rubbish' and 'not at all frightening' when he only saw it on DVD - when you can fast-forward, go out and make a cup of coffee, talk, look out of the window etc. That's not SEEING a film!
    Yes, I agree with you. It's usually what is UN seen in a horror film that makes it even more scary. Cheers, pal.

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