Frightening Movies
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Table 6
Examples of Longer-Term Reactions to Scream
Last semester, when I saw the movie, I was taking an art history course and the painting
["The Scream"] was displayed in the art history building. The effect was so intense, that
every time I went to class after that I looked in the other direction when I passed the
painting.
When I was finally in bed I found myself hearing noises and squeezing my eyes shut. Of
course not all of these reactions lasted for weeks but such things as checking my car’s
back seat and hearing uncommon noises lasted for quite awhile. Even writing about it
now brings back a twinge of fear.
Even though I had only seen the beginning scene of Scream, I still get scared when I
baby-sit, and every phone call I get makes me jump.
That mask was so incredibly creepy that even now when I see it in costume shops my
stomach gets a little queasy.
For two years, every time I was home alone I felt uneasy. . . .Even though I am not as bad
as I was, there are still times that being home alone is extremely scary for me. I also have
had to leave the video store because Scream was being shown on the televisions.
There are times when I am walking alone to my apartment that I get visions in my head
of the mask they wore and I get completely freaked out and will basically sprint to my
apartment. I now check under the bed, inside the closet and shower when I get home to
make sure no one is there.
After seeing this movie, I am now very conscious about who is home. If I’m home alone,
however, I am always listening for unknown sounds and where they are coming from.
Many of the characters in the movie that were being chased or harassed by this man were
about my age, which made it seem even more realistic for me. I imagined how I would
react if this were to happen to me, which made it even more frightening. Nowadays, I
catch myself looking around or sensing that someone is in my house. Sometimes I feel
that someone is going to pop out of nowhere into my room.
Convention