It is getting hotter these days. In this season, people usually spend their days restlessly. Therefore, people use various ways to endure the suffocating weather. For example, they eat a lot of ice cream or search for cool places in the daytime. How about at night in summer? How can we beat that sweltering heat at night?
How about horror movies to get rid of the scorching heat? If you are not able to watch horror movies, do not be afraid. The UOS Times will rate how horrifying a few movies are, recommend them to people who might enjoy, and help people to escape from hot night.
Recommended to: People who are sensitive to sounds and do not want to see gory movies.
The Conjuring 2 is the sequel to The Conjuring, which was released in 2013. Just like its predecessor, it is based on a real story known as the Enfield Poltergeist, which happened in the UK. Paranormal investigators and exorcists Ed and Lorraine Warren, same main characters in The Conjuring, try to help the Hodgson family, who are being tormented by ghosts. The first point what makes The Conjuring 2 so scary is that it is based on a real story. Between the movie there were real broadcast scenes which were on the air at that time. This immerses the audience in the movie. Another greatest point that The Conjuring 2 has as a horror movie is its sound effect. Unlike other horror movies, The Conjuring 2 does have few horrifying scenes. However, the sounds of the movie really horrify people. Also, most horror movies show why people in the movie suffer from unusual events, but in The Conjuring 2, the audience does not know why the spirits torment people. This makes people more scared, and makes the audience pay attention until the last part of the movie. Those points may scare people who do not like horror movies. However, in contrast to those things that make the movie scary, there are also some humorous scenes. Therefore, people who are not familiar with horror movies can enjoy The Conjuring 2.Recommended to: People who are afraid of watching horror movies. Or people who are attracted by the beautiful scenes of the movie.
Let the Right One In is a Swedish movie released in 2008. This movie is a love story between a 12 year-old boy named Oskar and a vampire named Eli. Some people may wonder why this movie is regarded as horror. But the movie’s scenes and characters are filled with contrasts which many people find visually frightening. For example, as mentioned above, this movie was made in Sweden, located in northern Europe. Due to its regional characteristics, the white landscape around Sweden and the red blood which the vampire Eli wants provide contrast, and the red colored blood is emphasized, which make viewer’s spines tingle. Also, during the whole running time, the romance between Oskar and Eli seems risky. The audience knows that Eli is dangerous and can be harmful to Oskar, but Oskar, who suffers from a lack of affection, does not care. In some parts, this romance can be sad, but also it makes people tense and focused on this movie.
This movie was also remade in the U.S. in 2010. The remake also got a good reputation from people as a horror movie. Therefore, it would be good to watch these two movies in comparison.
As mentioned above, this movie is based on a love story between a boy and a girl, so people who are afraid of horror movies can also enjoy it because there are fewer terrifying scenes than other horror films.Recommended to: People who do not want to see horror movies that have brutal scenes or real ghosts coming out.
The movie 1408 is based on a short novel which has same title written by Stephen King. This movie tells the story of Mike Enslin, a horror novel writer. Although he writes about supernatural events, he does not believe in those kinds of events. Because of his distrust in ghosts and other paranormal things, he enters room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel in New York. This room is notorious for not letting anybody out alive. Unlike his belief, all kinds of supernatural events torment him and he tries to escape from the room.
This movie does not have any scenes in which real ghosts or demons appear. However people feel horror due to the supernatural events that the movie depicts. Audiences may be terrified psychologically by those breathtaking moments of the movie. Additionally, Mike desperately tries to escape from this room but he fails several times. This makes people feel frustrated in sympathy with Mike, making them feel that they are trapped in the room as well, and holding their attention to the movie more.Recommended to: People who are fans of scary and thrilling movies.
Don’t Breathe was released in 2016 and got a great reputation from horror movie fans. It is about young thieves who enter an old man’s house. The old man is known to be hiding a great amount of money in the house. He is blind, so the young thieves think this robbery will be easy. Ironically, the thieves find themselves in the situation where they are trying to escape from the old man, who should have been their victim.
Almost all the events in this movie happen only in the old man’s house, which is a really small place. However, this limitation makes the movie really horrifying and leads the audience to feel like they are the young thieves who are stuck in the small house, being chased by the old man.
In Korea, this movie was released under the title Man in the Dark. As reflected in this title, in the middle of the movie, the blind old man turns off the lights, rendering the chase more horrifying to the audience.
Those four movies are all famous horror movies, but each movie has different characteristics. Depending on how you enjoy or fear watching horror movies, choose one of these movies that you like to watch and spend the summer without the heat.
Jung Jae-in
zanej0418@uos.ac.kr
