Is it really "just" a scary movie?
My project conlcuded of three things; I made a blog of my experience watching scary movies, art pieces about my worst fear, and a slideshow of horror movies based on true events.
I would tell my mom all the time growing up that it was just a scary movie. I could watch Paranormal Activity or Chuckie without getting scared or having nightmares. I told her Scream, Freddy, and Michael Myers weren't real and that at the age of six or so, I could watch those movies. No harm done right?
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For English I made a blog that spanned for about two weeks. Every night I would watch a horror film and document my emotions beforehand and afterwards. I wrote down what happened that day and if I had a dream afterwards it was then added to the blog in the morning. I intended to show through this that scary movies are very effective-- especially for dreams. I had a theory based on past experience that horror movies can cause severe nightmares.
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But in this study I found that the movies weren't effective long term, it was scary in the moment but never a few minutes afterwards. I slept fine- great even. The dreams I did have had nothing to do with the movies I watched before going to sleep but about my thoughts that week and TV shows I was binge watching. I noticed I was dreaming of shows that were exciting to me and really pulled me. I would constantly thing about the Scream series or Body paint wars thus dreaming about it, none of the dreams were bad and scary either. I woke feeling good every morning.
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My outcome was nothing like I expected. Doing some digging and thinking in my past I realized the biggest variable in attempting to replicate a past situation was my mindset and emotion. Unlike a number of months ago when I had continuous nightmares for years, I'm a lot more happy and calm now. My are completely different then from now. I went from very negative and a highly positive but neutral person and that's what was stopping me from experiencing the negative effects of horror movies.
Next I did research on horror movies based on true events. Taking a look at ten movies that either used a real, house, event, or person to make a movie. The movies used were Nightmare on Elm Street, Child's Play, Amityville Horror, Fire in the Sky, Dahmer, Psycho, The Girl Next Door, Borderland, The Possession, and Annabelle.
Based off a series of events happening in the 80's. Epidemic of Asian and Filipino men mysteriuosly dying in their sleep after suffering from severe nightmares.
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Based on a cursed doll named Robert the doll. Previously given to and owned by Robert Eugene Otto it is now kept in a glass case, in East Martello Museum, Key West Florida.
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Based off of a house in Amityville, New York. With multiple deaths and dark events linked to the house it's considered haunted. The Defeo family was murdered by their son, the Lutz family moved out within 28 days, and Ed and Lorraine Warren had numerous encounters with bad spirits.
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Based off of Travis Walton's experience of being abducted for five days by aliens in Arizona.
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Based off of a cannibal, serial killer, and sex offender named Jefferey Dahmer who killed 17 men. He drugged his victims before strangling them, practicing in necrophilia, lobotomies, and other things.
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Based on a grave robber and murderer named Ed Gein who had a sick interest in the female body. Also taking part in necrophilia and taxidermy with the corpses he made furniture pieces of human skin and used their heads for decoration. His fascination with women formed from the unhealthy relationship he had of his mother. It's estimated to be about fifteen bodies he had used before being put through psychiatric help and eventually dying form cancer at age 77.
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Based off of a sixteen year old girl named Sylvia Liken who was tortured to death by her caretaker Gertrude and Gertrude's children.
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Based off a man named Adolfo Constanzo who practiced in satanic and West African religion to move forward in his career of business and drug trafficking. Making human sacrifices, murdering and eating people along with forming a satanic cult in Mexico.
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Based off a real dybbuk box made during World War 1 and 2. Traveling through owners in the United States and believed to be a sprit from holocaust trying to communicate the truth of the genocide in Germany.
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Based off of a raggedy Ann doll named Annabelle that was given to a nursing student named Donna by her mother. The daughter along with her roommate and guy named Lou were experiencing disturbing things that led them to seek paranormal help. Ed and Lorraine Warren took the doll after performing an exorcism on it. The doll is now locked in a case on display in Ed and Lorraine Warren's museum.
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Next for art I curated pieces that showed elements of horror, taking note of six artists and their pieces. Focusing on the aspects of horror I chose art that showed gore, morbid images, severed body parts,graphic scenes, religious images, monsters, body abnormality and ones that explore the unknown.
I then further did a painting of what my worst fear was, further pushing it to then paint it on my body. To see what I fear most come to life.
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I admit any scary movie could make you paranoid about your dark closet or basement, or make little kids think the boogey man is real but these are fairly harmless effects. I learned the health effects it can have on your body. Watching a scary movie can cause anxiety, paranoia, stress, you could even have a heart attack. It however can't cause you to be more violent serious chronic issues. No, those things are in your head. We cause those effects on us. What I learned is that it depends on a person's mindset and past experience to know how a horror movie will effect you.
