Sadie vs. Hereditary
What happens when you take a newbie to the horror movie world and have her watch Hereditary? You’re about to find out. Check out our first guest post from the always hilarious and clever, Sadie aka Mother Horror!
In March of 2016, I wrote a blog post titled, “Why Horror Novels are Different than Horror Movies”. A lot has changed for me in the three years since I wrote that post so I figured it was a fine time to update my thoughts on the subject of horror books and horror movies.
Last year, I made the big girl decision to watch a horror movie on my birthday. My husband, who is my best friend and shares in all my life experiences, was skeptical, “Why are we doing this? We hate horror movies.”
“I know, but this one will be different.”
“Why, what’s different about it?”
I showed him the trailer for the movie, HEREDITARY. Afterwards, he looked at me with an expression of disbelief, “This looks terrifying.”
I squirmed in my seat, “I know. I know. But Toni Collette is in it. I love her!”
My husband shook his head.
I protested, “Listen, I think it’s more like psychological horror. Like maybe the main character is slowly going insane or something? It doesn’t look like your typical horror movie.” To prove a point, I casually got up and fetched my purse. Then I decisively paid for our tickets in advance. “There!” I said proudly, maybe even defiantly, “We’re officially going!”
Fast forward to my birthday weekend and we just had the best time ever. We had reserved a room at a fancy hotel downtown in our City, we took a ferry over the Puget Sound to Vashon Island and spent the day browsing the small town there--breakfast, a quaint bookstore, a farmer’s market and then a walk on the beach. In the afternoon, we hopped back on the ferry and ate dinner at a fancy restaurant with a view of the water.
Then it was time to make our way to the theater. I have to say, I was nervous. I had butterflies in my tummy over what we were about to do. I must highlight for you again that we do not watch horror movies. Mainly because we both get too scared but particularly because the last time, I had to sleep with the light on.
We have this wonderful movie theater with a state-of-the-art sound system and “luxury lounge” seats. We got popcorn, candy and soda and found our reserved seats. Truly, moving to our new City has proved to be a significant upgrade from my hometown in Northern California--ESPECIALLY our movie going experiences. They are a real treat and we go as much as our budget allows.
We settled into our cozy, leather seats with footrests and snuggled up. After a lot of advertisements, the lights finally dimmed and the movie trailers started. Considering the movie we came to see, the trailers were all for upcoming horror movies and this is where I started to feel anxious. I suddenly felt out of element.
The movie began and I felt at ease--completely and utterly absorbed into the story. By the last thirty minutes or so of this film, I will tell you that I was entirely beside myself with fear. My body was reeling back into the chair and I would have climbed over the back of it and hid behind it if the theater wasn’t totally sold out and if it wasn’t socially awkward to do so. I was laughing and crying at the same time. I also completely regretted my decision to watch the movie.
That night, we got to our hotel room and we were exhausted. It had been a long day of adventuring and we were tired. However, I knew the moment I crawled into bed, I would not be sleeping. Visions of Toni Collette creeping in corners and flossing her own head off danced in my head. I couldn’t shake the images. Flies. Ants. Fire. Flashes of horrifying scenes popped off in my mind’s eye like fireworks.
My husband fell asleep, which doubled down on my fear because now I’m alone. He left me alone to be consumed by fear!! I turned on the TV. It was 2 am. There was nothing on except a show about professional fly fishing. I watched it with great enthusiasm, eager to scrub HEREDITARY from my brain. Finally, after a few hours, I felt like I could close my eyes and sleep a little and I did. But it was a restless sleep. And guess what?? I slept poorly for the next couple of days. The movie wrecked me for a good 3 or 4 days afterwards. I was just trashed every morning.
Final word on the matter of horror novels vs. horror movies?
TOTALLY DIFFERENT ANIMALS.
I can read it all the live, long day.
Movies?
Never.
Again.
(except if a new King movie comes out. I must see those)
