Preparing to Watch the Movie
Watch with friends. Make sure you are watching a scary movie with other people close by you. Invite more friends, family, or even pets if you’re watching the movie at home. Talk to friends about the movie and whether or not they think they’ll get scared. It can help to know that most people get scared by horror movies, whether they admit it or not, because that’s the purpose of scary movies! If you’re watching in a movie theater, make sure you have people you know on either side of you, if possible, without empty seats, strangers, or an aisle next to you which could make you feel less comfortable. You can even ask a friend if they’re okay with you squeezing their hand or getting closer to them during scary parts. Most people are happy to help you feel at ease! Watch it with your girl/boyfriend; scary movies are often something that people bond over.
Watch in a well-lit, comfortable place. See a movie in a room with the lights on, if possible. Get comfortable on a couch, chair, or the floor so you feel more safe. Avoid watching the movie while it’s dark outside, or when you have to go to sleep directly afterwards. Watch a DVD during the day, or catch a matinee at a theater. Sit in a place next to the wall. You don't want to feel like something is behind you. You can even encourage watching a movie in a room of the house where other things are going on around you. This might help to distract you and remind you of reality during the movie.
Get a blanket or hoodie. Wear a comfortable hoodie sweatshirt or other item of clothing that makes you feel warm and secure. Wrap yourself in a blanket if you want, or hug a pillow to your chest. Wear a hoodie to a movie theater as a way to stay warm in the typically cold space, stay comfortable, and even hide your face with the hood if you want to. Share a blanket with a friend to help you feel close to someone and be extra warm. Warmth and comfort will help the shivers or vulnerable feeling you get when you’re scared.
Read about the movie. Get familiar with the movie you’re watching before you see it in the theater or in someone’s home. Knowing more about what will happen in the plot will help you be less surprised by the scary parts. Watch a trailer, and any other available scenes from the movie you can find online. You will already be prepared for the scary visuals that they often show in the trailers if you watch them beforehand. You can even listen to the soundtrack beforehand if it’s available online. Do a happy, simple activity during the day while you listen to it and it won’t seem threatening. The soundtrack often makes scary parts of the movie much scarier, but not if you take the fear out of the music ahead of time. If you’ve already seen the movie, you can still refresh your memory by reading or watching content related to it, or just know that you will likely be less scared by something you’ve already seen.
Avoiding Looking or Listening
Close your eyes during scary parts. Simply block out the visuals of the movie when you anticipate a scary part coming. You can simply close your eyes or cover them with your hand, hat, hood, or a blanket. If you want to be subtle, try feigning a slow blink, for which you just close your eyes for a few seconds at a time. You can also block your eyes with a low hood or hat to appear like you’re still watching when you’re really not. Pay attention to the cues that the movie gives you to indicate that a big scare, called a jump scare, is coming. Listen for ominous music or look for when a protagonist is alone or in the dark, seemingly safe for the moment.
Cover your ears to block out the soundtrack. Block out the sound of the soundtrack to make the visuals of the movie a little less scary. Often the music is what makes a scary scene more of a dramatic surprise. Plug your ears with your fingers at the moment you anticipate a scary part. Remember to listen for the music starting to get creepy, but you can block out the sound once you anticipate it starting to build to a big scare. If you don’t want those around you to know that you’re blocking the sound out, try wearing earbud headphones or earplugs throughout the movie. You can hide them with your hair, a hat, or a hood. Just remember that this can block all the sound around you, and you may not hear your friends if they try to talk to you.
Make an exit when you can. Tell your friends or family a simple excuse to leave the room or theater when you anticipate a scary part coming up. Get up to use the bathroom or get a snack, for example. Make sure you don’t use the same excuse too many times during the movie, or be gone for too long at a time. Actually bring back a snack if you say you’re going to get one; do your best to make it realistic. You can even look up online databases that tell you at what point in the movie a jump scare will come, so you know exactly when to make your exit.
Eat something or have something to distract yourself with. Have a snack, drink, or chew gum to keep yourself occupied and keep your jaw relaxed. Play with something small in your hands to keep them occupied as well. You can try squeezing a stress ball, fiddling with a small toy or item, or something else that helps you release some of your nervous energy while you remain mostly still. Distract yourself further by talking and laughing with your friends during the movie, if they’re okay with doing so. It can really help to realize the silly or ridiculous parts of the movie, or simply remind yourself that your friends are real and the movie is fake.
Thinking During the Movie
Think about how the movie was made. Picture all of the people and parts that go into making the movie that you can’t see on screen. Remind yourself that the whole world of the movie isn’t real and is just an elaborate construction of the cast and crew. Picture the director yelling out orders behind the camera, all the other people controlling lights, sound, and props on the set, and the actors messing up and laughing between takes. Ask yourself questions like “How did they do that makeup?” or “I wonder how long it took to get that scene right?”
Find elements to laugh at. Pay attention to the moments or elements in a scene that make it apparent that the movie is fake, ridiculous, or even poorly made. This can help turn scary moments into funny ones. Look for clearly fake effects, like overly-bright blood, bad makeup, and computer-generated graphics. Or keep your eye out for continuity errors or other mistakes in filming, like when something appears in one take but suddenly disappears in the next. Even if the movie is well-made, you can laugh at the overly common themes or ideas that appear in most horror movies, like the “Don’t go in there!” moments where a protagonist always enters a room with the enemy or monster.
Think about other things. Distract yourself with other thoughts, or even talk to someone about something other than the movie if you can. Keep your thoughts pleasant and focused on the real world. Focus on simple things, like recalling what you had for breakfast that morning, counting numbers, or going through some other sequence that’s meaningless and has nothing to do with the themes of the movie. Think about what you’ll do after the movie. You can plan to reward yourself for getting through the scary movie with something fun and enjoyable afterwards.
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