One of the traits I’m best known for as an adult is my inability to get scared by horror genre media.  TV shows, movies, haunted houses (even the “real” kind) don’t really scare me.  It’s probably because I was scared of everything ever from 5-10 years old and got it all out of my system.  This is a case of, while not being scared really, showing the effects something SCARY can have on even someone like me…

Horror movies of late have been less scary than ever.  The torture genre is just uncomfortable to watch, not scary or even fun.  Most of the other genres have just been done to death.  During the early 2000s the US was invaded by Asian horror, and it was a kind of horror I had never seen.  My introduction to this kind of film was 2002’s The Ring.

I saw this on my College’s free movie channel my senior year.  This channel showed second-run theater films at 7 PM and often again at 9 or 10.  I saw a lot of movies that way and when the showed The Ring at one of the “late shows.”  I won’t go into the movie.  Great tension, creepy imagery, and one of the best horror film finales in recent memory.  It made an impact and the crazy video tape and thrilling climax really stuck with me.  I enjoyed the film, but wasn’t creeped out or scared really, and went to bed right after it went off.

At the time I lived in a sparse single-dorm room.  Just a computer, desk, fridge, TV dresser, and bed with four posts.

I woke up sometime after three and caught sight of a shadowy figure at the end of my bed.  I froze for a split second pondering options…no don’t hide under the covers…no don’t scream for help…or say “is someone there.”  There was a shadow…a small, child-sized shadow…like a little girl with hair over her face…like Samara from The Ring standing at the right corner of the foot of my bed.

The split second passed and I made my decision.  I gave the creepy shadow a sharp, fast KICK with my right foot smacking the lil creepy thing right in her dark face.   Then felt the stinging pain in my foot as though I’d kicked a 2×2 post of pine…mostly because there was no creepy girl ghost at the foot of my bed…it was my hoodie draped over the right corner post of my bed.  So I actually HAD kicked a 2×2 piece of pine with all my might and really damaged my foot.  Seriously it still gets sore 12 years later.

So it goes to show you, no you might not feel scared from a movie, no you might think a horror movie is simple fun and didn’t effect you at all…but when you least expect it shadows enter your imagination and you might be more effected than you think!