Saturday, October 31, 2009

I Like Halloween, Just Not Scary Things

When I was younger, I used to like scary movies. The Final Destination and Urban Legend series were some of my favorite movies when I was a teenager. I like getting freaked out over what was going to happen next and trying to figure out who the "bad guy" was. Now as an adult I don't watch scary movies. Ever. The scariest movie I've watched in years was Pan's Labyrinth and that was by accident-I thought it was supposed to be more of a fairy tale. I just can't watch scary movies anymore and I remember exactly the moment when I turned that corner.

When I was 17 I was living with three roommates in a house in an older section of town. My three roommates lived upstairs in different sections of the house and I took the room in the basement because it was bigger and had a semi-private entrance. Usually though I hung out and watched TV and surfed the web upstairs in the living room because that was the nicest part of the house. It had a huge fluffy couch and a way bigger TV than I had in my room and a huge 60 gallon aquarium filled with beautiful tropical fish.

On one of my nights off my roommate invited me to watch a movie with him and his girlfriend on the big TV upstairs. Hubby (who was "just" my boyfriend at the time) was working and not able to come over until the wee hours of the morning, so I figured it would be a fun way to be distracted and not just sit around bored while I waited for him to get to my place. They had rented The Ring. Remember, at this point, I still loved scary movies so I'd been watching and waiting for it to come out to be available to rent and I was super excited to watch.

It was, by far, THE SCARIEST MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN. Just the thought of it still nearly sends me into a panic attack it was that freakin' scary. At least, to me. I'll spare you the super scary parts, but basically it's about a tape that if you watch it someone calls you and tells you that you're going to die in 7 days. And then you do-because your TV magically turns on by itself and a bone chilling little girl crawls out of a well, then straight out of your TV and gets you, leaving water puddles on your floor.

Scared. The. Pee. Out. Of. Me.

I decided that the best way to calm down would be to go lay down in my room and read my favorite book (Wuthering Heights, totally not scary) and wait for Hubby to come. As I laid on my bed reading my book I was doing fine...until I heard water. Trust me, you do not want to hear running water directly after you watch this movie. I start panicking a little until I realize hey-the aquarium is directly above me. I tell myself no big deal. Calm down. Read your book.

Then the power flashes.

And my TV turns itself on.

And I scream (and maybe pee myself a little).

Still, I tell myself to get a grip. The power flashed. Whatever. It happens. My TV is old. The circuits in the house are weird. Maybe I sat on the remote. Whatever-just get up and unplug the TV and you'll feel better. So I sit up and swing my legs over the side of the bed and go to unplug the TV..............and step in a giant puddle of water.

I totally lost it. I run screaming upstairs, crying my eyes out. Not my most shining moment, especially once my roommate figured out that it was just the washer (also located in the basement) which had a broken hose. Still, logic or no logic, I was scared out of my skin so I invited myself to sleep on the floor in my roommate's room-on the side away from the door-until Hubby came over. My roommate and his girlfriend were TOTALLY laughing at me, but I didn't care. That stuff was scary.

Ever since, I haven't been a big fan of scary things and every year I get less and less tolerant. Still, after Monkey was born I made one exception---Halloween! I actually really like it now-from the Mom side of things it isn't scary at all! I get to dress up the babies in adorable costumes and take them to my parents' house where they can collect candy....most of which Baby Bug is still conveniently too young to eat, but not too young to share with Mommy.

MMMMMMM-Candy.

AAAAAAAAW-Adorable Costumes.

Yep, I like Halloween.....so long as it isn't scary.

I hope everyone has a fun, safe, adorable, delicious Halloween!

18 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh, that would scare the living daylights out of me too! A coincidence of occurrences but frightening none the less.

PS I'm not a fan of the horror genre ever since, as an 8th grader, the neighbor girls pulled a horrible prank on me...I'll have to blog about it sometime.

Anonymous said...

I never had anything quite that scary happen to me, but I'm very similar in that I used to love scary movies and now not so much. I don't know what it was that made me lose the nerve, probably living alone (no one to throw in front of the oncoming danger!) That and too many scary movies that could come true. Did you see Wrong Turn? Yeah, I totally believe that could happen.

I've never been a big fan of Halloween though, costumes/masks make me nervous - if I can't see your face, please stay away!

Sherri said...

Oh no, no scary movies for me. They scare the pee out of me now too. And I would have never been the same if that happened to me:)

Happy Halloween

Unknown said...

AHHH That is SO funny! Only because THE EXACT SAME THING happened to me! I was reading thinking I had a similar experience but NO ever since zI watched THE RING I have never watched another again! I could not eve go home that night and slept at my boyfriends house however when I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of his fish tank I FREAKED! PLUS my sister kind of looked like the dead girl and she would pretend to be her and freak me out too...but I have been thinking about seeing that paranormal movie...maybe I have "grown up" since then

www.atlmomguide.com

Sarah Haney, M.A. said...

Oh my, that's really scarey!

I've always been a chicken, lol, I hate scarey movies and scarey things. My favorite part of Halloween is definitely the costumes.

Samantha said...

One night after we watched The Ring, it had probably been like the 50th time I had seen it, I took my dog outside to go potty and there was a ladder, leaning against the house...just like the ladder in the movie. Freaked me out!

After watching Final Destination one night, again, being like the 50th time I've seen it, I went to my room, sat down at my computer and looked and the cup of water I had, was leaking water all over the place. Reminded me of how the teacher died in the movie. I picked the cup up and moved it across the room...lol

Unknown said...

It's been so long since I've seen The Ring, but isn't that the one with Naomi Watts and where that gross zombie girl climbs out of the well and/or the television set? That movie scared the pants off of me!

We just saw Paranormal Activity and it freaked me out!!

I like scary things sometimes. Not a lot. And not when I'm by myself!

Tracie said...

I don't do scary. Never did.

Ally Wasmund said...

oh my gawd. i would have DIED!! i don't do scary very well and i thought the ring was crazy. i've only watched it once! i learned my lesson...until i was sucked into watching the texas chainsaw masacre...yeah, that's WAY worse than the ring. i'll never learn my lesson. lol

Jenny said...

Yikes! That would have scared me too! Now part of me wants to see it, but I am so filled with anxiety already, it's probably a stupid idea!

I still get freaked out from a movie I saw back in 10th grade. I forgot the name, but we watched Children of the Corn that night and another movie. In that one an old lady ghost is riding her bike down the middle of road at night. It's so scary, every time I'm driving at night, I think of that!

The Redhead Riter said...

Double, double toil and trouble;
fire burn and cauldron bubble.
~ Shakespeare "Macbeth"~

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Melissa aka Equidae said...

just mentioning that part got me sweating! I hate scary movies toooo

Sara said...

I think that sums it up quite well.

I've seen all of 5 min. of The Ring and it still haunts me, and I'm still mad at the friend of mine who made me watch it.

Pan's Labyrinth? Mother of pearl! I was unprepared for that mess!

Just Jennifer said...

Hope you had a great halloween :D

Meg said...

Popping in from SITS!

The Ring was really scary! I hate watching scary movies because I get really scared. I'm usually by myself(single mama and all). I just can't stop watching.

Actually I'm watching Orphan right now but its daylight so not so scary right now.

Dawn said...

That would have scared me too-I hate scary movies-always have, always will!!

Stopping by from SITS to say hi!!

Karen, author of "My Funny Dad, Harry" said...

I don't blame you for being scared, that is so weird, especially the timing of it all. I never saw The Ring, but am sure it's not a movie I would like since I don't like scary things either.

said...

Bless your heart I don't blame you for not liking scary since then!

And major kudos for the "peed a little" confession. ;o) LOL

Stopping by from the SITS Halloween Parade :o)