“I need a horror movie that’s really going to scare me”.
“I haven’t been scared by anything in years, I’m immune”.
“Nothing scares me anymore”.
These statements sum up how many horror fans feel after becoming desensitized from the thousands of genre films consumed. I would like to challenge that notion by asking, “What scares you”?
Fear is subjective. You might be deathly afraid of clowns while I am terrified of roaches. To experience fear is to question what makes you afraid. Like, I can watch a woman being sawed in half without blinking an eye but have to cover my whole face if I have to watch an awkward first date. Secondhand embarrassment is real, y’all.
One thing that really does scare me is the dark web. That someone or a small group of people can infiltrate and screw up your entire existence within minutes. The forums filled with angry, lonely, and unstable people looking for any encouragement to do something horrible. They all scare me.
I was not afraid while I watched Unfriended: Dark Web. It’s a horror film aimed towards high school students. The sequel follows a pretty formulaic plot but uses an interesting POV that kept me interested. It was OKAY.
But there’s potential and opportunity in horror to delve into the dark side of the internet. Films like Fear.com, Friend Request, #Horror, and even 1995’s The Net have tried to capture the horrors of the web. But I feel like there hasn’t been a really solid, truly scary take on the unknowns of the internet.
It really could be a JAWS moment. We fear water because of what lurks beneath, and we can’t see it. The same thing goes for the internet. It’s what’s happening in the shadowy corners that should really disturb us.
NERDCROPOLIS 