Unpopular Horror Opinions

I’ve spent much of the spooky season watching horror films I’ve never seen before, and those I have seen to refresh my memory or to compare to its written counterpart. I was inspired by PossessedByHorror’s YouTube video on her most unpopular horror opinions, and decided to get this off my chest.

• I hate zombies. Zombie films are my least favorite in the horror genre. I don’t find anything remotely scary about a slow moving, rotting corpse that makes obnoxious noises because it has a non-stop appetite for human flesh. Maybe I should be, but I’m not. I should really explore the genre more, but I find zombies so dreadfully annoying that I don’t know if I can stomach it. A friend recommended 1985’s The Return of the Living Dead, so that may be my starting point. The only zombie film I’ve liked so far is Train to Busan. At first I was worried if I’d pay attention since the film is in Korean, but this shit had me on edge the entire time. The hoards of zombies crashing through glass almost gave me heart palpitations. I never been so stressed watching a horror film before.

• The Ring is overrated. Even as a teenager, I never found The Ring frightening and failed to see what others did in it. Even now, I’m still trying to understand why The Ring is so terrifying to people. For me, the scariest film I’ve ever seen is The Exorcist. To this day, I cannot watch it by myself because it disturbs the shit out of me. I guess, the premise of watching a videotape with some unsettling images followed by an impeding phone call from a dead girl that you are going to die in seven days just doesn’t do it for me. LOL. The most chilling part of the film was when Samara crawls out of the TV, but it takes so long just to get to that part. I should rewatch it now as an adult because the story is actually quite interesting. I really would like to watch the original Japanese film, Ringu, as well to see how it compares. I’m honestly wondering how this film will age. It’s sad to think about this, but kids these days don’t even know what a VHS tape is or that cellphones weren’t prevalent in those days. Samara was calling you on a landline. No text messages. Even the TV that Samara climbs out of probably looks foreign to them. 

• Silence of the Lambs is not a horror movie. It’s also not my favorite cult classic film, which surprises people. Although, I’m highly interested in reading the book. I think I’ll finally take the plunge and read it by the end of this year.

• I really dislike the Saw series. I don’t know why, but I really have a problem with Jigsaw’s motives in Saw. It literally gets under my skin how pretentious he is. Boo-fucking-hoo, so you’re dying of cancer. You and a million other people on this planet. Now that you’ve seen the value of life, you think it’s okay for you to play God? It’s not for you to decide on who should repent for their sins and how. Seriously, how is psychologically and physically torturing someone to the brink of death going to help them value life? You’re just mentally fucking people up. You get a brain tumor, and wind up being total sociopath. I know it’s just a film lol, but it makes my blood boil. I’ve tried rewatching the series, but I still can’t make it past the third installment. I also don’t usually love horror films that focus mainly on torture and gore. I can’t even stomach the scene where Jigsaw is getting brain surgery.