"Insidious" is Making Me Lose Sleep

Let me start this by saying I do not scare easily. This is a really important statement to keep in mind throughout my hub / confession / therapy session I have going on here.

When I was a child, I watched every horror movie that came out. 99% of the time nothing bothered me. My parents felt as long as I enjoyed the movies and I was not afraid, I was being taught to be brave in some way. My favorite movie when I was a little girl was Poltergeist. It made me happy because it actually scared me and that was an achievement. Oh, that ugly little clown doll!

Basically, this is the same theory I've taken with me into adulthood regarding horror movies: if it can scare me, it is a winner. I thought Blair Witch Project was pretty scary. The children's voices in the woods did actually disturb me. I lost a little bit of sleep that night. So therefore, Blair Witch was a thumbs up.

Next, there was the ultimate horror movie. I saw The Ring 9 years ago when it first came out thinking it would be nothing. The previews looked interesting, but not that scary. Boy, was I ever wrong. By the end of the movie, one of my friends had her face buried in right arm and my other friend had her face buried in my left arm. I refused to turn away. I was actually scared! I was shaking from watching that movie. Of course, it did add to my fear that people wear literally screaming and hiding behind their seats. Nonetheless, I agreed with them. A movie really scared me! It was amazing. The Ring will always get an A+ in my book.

After that, horror movies fell short for me.  I laughed at Paranormal Activity.  I snorted at The Last Exorcism.  Give me something scary!  I was practically demanding it from Hollywood.  Well, what do you know?  They delivered.

I'm not going to say Insidious is perfect.  It isn't.  I could be picky about a lot of details that just did not add up in the movie, but I am not going to do that.  Insidious was actually scary and I need to give it credit for that. 

The movie starts off kind of lame.  I suppose this is so we get lulled into a false sense of comfort.  Not me - I know that old trick.  I knew something had to be coming.  After about 15 to 20 minutes of boredom, the movie kicks in.  There are more ghosts than you can shake a stick at. 

In the first half of the movie, I found the ghosts to be rather subtle.  I don't know about you, but that is how I like my ghosts.  It is a lot eerier that way.  For some reason, someone or something peering in a window has always bothered me.  I think it goes back to the old Twilight Zone episode with William Shatner in the plane.  When William Shatner pulls the curtain back and that monster is staring him in the face - priceless! 

The ghosts are a lot more obvious and even a bit overwhelming in the last half of the movie.  It is just one disturbing image after another.  I was more afraid of the ghosts in the first half of the movie, but really disturbed by the ghosts (or whatever they really were) in the second half. 

So I left the theater a little shaky.  I blamed that on my lack of food for the day.  Of course, I would be fine later.  Right?  Wrong.  

I am not sure what is going on in my life now to cause such anxiety. Perhaps I am overly stressed working too many hours each week. Maybe my financial woes have finally pushed me over the edge. Whatever the reason may be, it really doesn't matter. Insidious freaked me out.

For a few nights now, just as I am about to go to sleep, those disturbing images come back into my head. It hasn't helped that I keep hearing strange noises in my apartment at night. Of course it is just a neighbor in another apartment. I know that. Of course I know that!  However, when it is midnight and I am wide awake, rational thought is not always there.  I am ever so grateful for Conan reruns on TBS On Demand to keep me from thinking about the ghost-demon that is surely going to attack me the second I close my eyes.

Yesterday, I was eating lunch at work by myself.  Usually I never eat by myself, but as luck would have it, this was the case.  I had forgotten the outside windows were being cleaned. We are located on the 7th floor, so naturally, I was not expecting a random guy to come floating by the window.  I looked up, saw a man flying by the window, and I almost screamed.  I was sure one of those ghost demon things were coming for me. Needless to say, lunch was over.

You may ask yourself, why am I rambling on about this? Is this a cry for help? Well, actually now that I think about it, maybe. But no, honestly, I am over it. Really.

So what I am really trying to say is - Insidious is a great movie! Maybe I've been under too much pressure lately and perhaps my nerves have gotten the best of me, but this is still a truly scary movie. Take it from me, if a movie can scare me days later, it is an awesome movie. If you scare easily, this is not the flick for you. If nothing ever scares you, give it a try.

If you did not have an opportunity to see this movie at the theater, you are in luck. Insidious was released on July 12, 2011 on DVD, Blu-Ray, and it is available On Demand. Make sure to check it out. You might just want to leave the lights on while you watch it.