Oh, the Horror!

I am not a big fan of Halloween.

Now, before you beat me up (cyber-i-cally speaking), I will admit to the real reason behind my dislike. I assure you it has nothing to do with my lack of enthusiasm for candy. (See this post involving treats for further reassurance.) The problem stems from the very prominent Halloween-esque element of scariness. That's right, I am a total scaredy-pants. Horror movies? I think not. The last three scary movies I've seen left indelible impressions on my psyche.

The most recent one I saw was Wait Until Dark, at my roommates' encouragement (probably back in 2002). I am certain I screamed and was very nervous for several weeks after.

I still get the willies when I remember the scary movie I saw before that. My friend convinced me to see Signs in the theater. Bad idea. I had nightmares for weeks. Occasionally, I still do. :)

The one before that was The Haunting, seen in the theater with a large group of friends from high school. I have heard (from others, of course) that this movie isn't all that scary. I assure you, I was quite terrified. Even if I was the only one.

So, needless to say, this time of year, I usually do all I can to avoid scary movies, haunted houses, frightening forests and all the rest. (Don't get me started on the terrors I still get remembering childhood visits to haunted houses.)

Which is why I felt somewhat reluctant (!) to attend a spooky play with my husband. He is required for a class to see all the plays put on by the school during the semester (guaranteed to fill the seats with about 800 students taking the course...)

What was this terribly frightening play, you ask?

Nosferatu

It helped alleviate my fears that the format for this "play" was quite unusual. The play is based on the 1922 silent German film titled Nosferatu: a Symphony of Horror. The theater department decided that instead of the usual play format, they would attempt to recreate scenes from the film and splice those scenes with parts of the movie they couldn't do onstage (outdoors, etc). The action for their shots took place live on stage, with cameras rolling. Then, on a big screen above, they showed the filmed shots intermixed with shots from the original movie. The result took some of the spook out of it.

But, for those of you who have seen this film, you know that it is not terribly frightening anyway. I guess things that were scary back then aren't as much anymore. There was actually a lot of laughter involved, mostly due to the way actors had to accentuate every emotion and action to convey their meaning (it was still a silent film).

They did do an excellent job with make up, however. Count Orlok was really gruesome.

photo from UVU theater department

from the original movie

As of now, I have not had any nightmares as a result of this experience.

Still, no one wants a creepy stalker vampire living across the street.