Is It Worth the Fright?

A series of iconic horror movie reviews by a self-proclaimed horror hater just in time for spooky season. 

When you think of October, Halloween most likely comes to mind along with pumpkin patches, trips to questionable-looking Spirit Halloween locations, costume parties, and, most importantly, horror movies. Many enjoy spending their late fall nights subjecting themselves to all sorts of nightmare-inducing material, yet I have never found myself being drawn to the tradition. Purposely scaring yourself simply doesn’t appeal to me, however, this Halloween season, I challenged myself to watch all the movies I had spent my life avoiding. To answer the question once and for all: are they worth the fright? Five iconic horrors vs. one horror hater — here are the results. 

Scream (1996)

Image of the notorious villain, Ghostface, from “Scream.”

Fear Rating: 4/10

Gore Rating: 5/10

Enjoyment Rating: 8/10

As someone who has never watched a horror movie all the way through in her life, maybe it wasn’t the smartest idea to start with a film that relies almost completely on classic references of the genre, however, even with my embarrassingly minimal knowledge, I was able to enjoy Scream quite a lot. The comedic elements combatted the parts of horror I usually dislike: unnecessary gore, unlikely scenarios, and a terrifying intensity that makes me physically uncomfortable while watching them. While the story was absurd at times, humor was used to capitalize on that fact so the film was more self-aware than idiotic. I didn’t find the ending to be too predictable, which kept me engaged throughout and the movie definitely gets bonus points for producing a line as iconic as, “Please don’t kill me Mr. Ghostface. I wanna be in the sequel!” Upon reflection, I may just be blinded by the oddly star-studded cast but I’m not sure whether I mind. I mean, who would’ve thought Shaggy from Scooby-Doo and Monica from Friends would end up in a shootout together?

Jennifer’s Body (2009)

Screenshot of Megan Fox’s Jennifer Check in the pop-culture classic “Jennifer’s Body.”

Fear Rating: 4/10

Gore Rating: 5/10

Enjoyment Rating: 9/10

This movie is famous for two things: the iconic opening line of “Hell is a teenage girl” and the hotness of Megan Fox. Originally, I was too distracted by the awful glasses Amanda Seyfried was forced to wear to notice anything else, but eventually, Jennifer’s character became too attractive to ignore. Before this movie, I didn’t think anyone could make eating people look good, but here we are. This film definitely had some gore — picture Megan Fox’s mouth unhinging as she violently devours an unlucky football player in the middle of a forest — but, like Scream, balanced it with humor. While I started off hating it because of the archetypal clichés (the nerd, the goth, the hot girl stereotypes, etc.) as time went on I noticed some depth and it became evident that the movie was actually poking fun at overused tropes. Jennifer’s Body is truly about the friendship between teenage girls and navigating love, sexuality, and boys in a world that enjoys categorizing and underestimating them. Ignoring the awful editing (which, once again, made it more comedic than scary), this iconic feature was carried by shockingly good writing from Diablo Cody, director of the 2007 young adult classic, Juno, and the badassness of Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried. 

Carrie (1976)

Screenshot of Sissy Spacek, appearing in the iconic prom scene from Brian De Palma’s “Carrie.”

Fear Rating: 6/10

Gore Rating: 3/10

Enjoyment Rating: 5/10

Am I traumatized by the opening scene of this movie? Yes. Did I think slapping people was way too common and accepted in this film? Yes (I mean, seriously, was John Travolta hitting his girlfriend every time she annoyed him really necessary?). Did I particularly enjoy watching this? Not really. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why this is a classic and why Brian De Palma is applauded for this adaptation of Stephen King’s book but this crossed the line over into horror I don’t like. It wasn’t particularly gory or filled with jumpscares but there was something about the main character that made my skin crawl. Every time Sissy Spacek appeared on screen I internally cringed as the sound of her blood-curdling screams from the beginning rang in my ears. I was also constantly caught off guard by the odd vulgarity of this movie. When I decided to watch a film created in the ‘70s I did not prepare for all the nudity, borderline abuse, and intense amount of cursing throughout. Mrs. Stevenson was really the only character that made Carrie worth a watch. Oh, and the prom scene because, well, duh.  A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Freddy Krueger and his spaghetti arms from the 80’s classic “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”

Fear Rating: 1/10

Gore Rating: 5/10

Enjoyment Rating: 4/10

I have seen the costumes. I have heard of Freddy Krueger. Yet never would I have expected his character to have ridiculously unnecessary spaghetti arms until I watched a scene of him bounding down an alley as his nails scraped against a garage door on either side. And that wasn’t the only shock of this film: for half of it, I was convinced that Glen was played by a Johnny Depp lookalike only to find out that Johnny Depp is actually a main character. Why is that not something that is mentioned more often? I would’ve watched this ages ago if I knew young Depp was in it. His ‘80s outfits were one of the only things from that time period that added to this movie instead of taking away from it. Between the awful Krueger costume, absurd deaths, and absolutely atrocious editing, the passage of time has not worked in A Nightmare on Elm Street’s favor. I kept on trying to imagine being terrified watching this movie as a child but I just couldn’t do it. Everything was so bad it was funny. Boatloads of blood appeared during every death, Freddy Krueger had bugs wiggling around inside of him which were never explained and the mom’s acting was so unbelievably bad that I found myself rooting for her to be killed off. I don’t think I could even explain the ending of this movie if I tried, I was so confused. 

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

Freddie Prinze Jr. (and others) in the 90s horror classic, “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”

Fear Rating: 4/10

Gore Rating: 3/10

Enjoyment Rating: 8/10

This film walked so that Shawn Mendes and Camilla Cabello could run. To be truly transparent, the only reason I watched this was because I developed a slight Freddie Prinze Jr. obsession after watching “She’s All That” a few weeks ago, but I’m not angry about it. The star-studded cast helped give off “Scream” vibes, just with slightly less comedy. There were lots of entertaining chase scenes, a couple good jump scares and they killed off all of the worst characters, which is always a plus. If I had to listen to Sarah Michelle Gellar shriek while running in high heels for one more minute, this movie definitely would’ve gotten a lower score. While I spent the last twenty minutes of the film being incredibly irritated by the idiocy of Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character, I knew Freddie Prinze Jr. would never disappoint me — coming to save the day just when he was needed. Random hook-wielding man: 0. High school hot-shot turned fisherman, Zack Siler: 1. I subtracted two enjoyment points for finding out that Freddie Prinze Jr. is married to the woman who played the annoying prom queen after they met on set. 

There were many highs — think: Megan Fox playing with a lighter while on a phone call — and some lows — having to witness maggots inhabiting every vein in Robert Englund’s body — but overall, I have developed a bit of a soft spot for these horror movies. Will I be eagerly watching “The Conjuring” or “The Blair Witch Project” anytime soon? Absolutely not. But sign me up for any film in the genre with an attractive cast and comedic element. Movies like “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” “Jennifer’s Body,” and “Scream” prove that not all horror flicks need to be incredibly gory and terrifying. With just the right amount of comedic blood splattering, they’re still sure bets to get you in the perfect Halloween spirit.