By Maya Salam
The October ritual of watching horror movies in the lead-up to Halloween can be exhilarating. Unless, of course, you can’t quite stomach the gory and gruesome, or even the spooky and spine-tingling.
This used to be me, until I made a concerted effort to push past my qualms. It took a while, but now I consider myself something of a horror enthusiast, relishing the thrill, tension and challenges of a genre that can playfully toy with dark themes, like “Shaun of the Dead,” or pull no punches, like “Hereditary.”
If you’re someone who wants to indulge in the season but dreads jump scares and buckets of blood, here are five tips that could help even the biggest scaredy cats among us start to open up to the world of horror.
Embrace the spoiler
The first and best line of defense is to read the plot in advance. If you’re feeling brave, go for just a synopsis, but there’s no reason to be a hero. I sometimes read an entire plot in great detail before watching, especially with films I know will tap into my weak spot: movies about demonic possession. Unlike with other genres, knowing what will happen in horror doesn’t necessarily detract from the experience of watching. Your heart will most likely still pound. You will probably still jump. And the visuals and sounds will probably still shock. Knowing what comes next may simply help keep the anxiety and uncertainty in check.
The smaller, the better
Nothing against the big-screen experience, but going small, by watching on your phone or a tablet, can go a long way. Not only will you have a sense of control that a crowded theater with speakers blaring hellish soundscapes can’t provide, you will also be able to make adjustments. If it gets too loud or chaotic, turn down the volume. If it gets too visually scary, turn down the brightness or flip the device down. Sometimes for the most intense scenes, it’s better to just hear the movie without seeing it, or to watch without sound.
Make a horror-inured friend
I’d be hard pressed to tell you how many times I’ve been the guinea pig for my spouse or friends: Yes, fine, I will watch it first, so you can watch it with me later. Having a trusted person get familiar with a movie’s peaks and valleys so as to guide you through it later is a great tactic. Then your person can warn you of what’s around the corner, or even narrate a scene while you avert your eyes.
Step away from the screen
The 30-minute episode is most associated with TV comedies. But when it comes to intense movies, breaking them up into bite-size pieces can help give your nervous system a rest and replace dread with excitement for the next chapter. There can be a lot of relief in knowing you won’t be forced to sit with an uncomfortable feeling for too long.
Hold a personal post-mortem
Maybe the most disconcerting byproduct of watching something disturbing is the snapshots that can return to haunt our thoughts. Even after 15 years, my midnight bathroom runs are often still plagued by mental flashes from “Paranormal Activity.” Otherwise I have largely been able to avoid this side effect by allowing myself even 10 minutes for a post-viewing journal entry in my phone’s Notes app or a scrawl on the nearest scrap of paper. Quickly writing down what scared you the most, and how those moments made you feel, can help demystify the worst of it and set your future mind free.
10 movies to get started (From least to most frightening, more or less.)
— “Little Shop of Horrors”: for man-eating puppets and ear worms.
— “M3gan”: for homicidal AI and TikTok dancing.
— “Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale”: for a scary, skinny Santa Claus.
— “Cloverfield”: for a found-footage creature feature.
— “Jaws”: for a classic now that beach season is over.
— “Bodies Bodies Bodies”: for a bloody Gen Z satire.
— “The Cabin in the Woods”: for all the monsters in a savvy sendup.
— “Misery”: for humor, hobbling and an Oscar-winning performance.
— “Get Out”: for a living nightmare.
— “Psycho”: for the height of Hitchcocktober.
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