31 days of horror movies: a mindfulness exercise (pt 3)
days 11 - 18: my god, what have i done?
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This week, the 31 days of horror challenge has taken a different tack. As you likely saw last week, current events have…well, made my desire for horror dwindle, until at certain moments it feels like something close to comfort, because truth is far more terrifying than fiction.
Horror feels like a comfort NOT because it solves anything, but rather because it lets me indulge all this overwhelming existential anxiety, just a smidge, for a limited time frame.
All of this is to say that this week, the focus was on different horror TV series rather than movies. Part of this is because my attention span is shot to hell, but also being able to watch horror stories in smaller doses just…was easier for me.
Episodic storytelling gives moments for the viewer to back away, to process, in a way a movie can’t. And given the state of the world, a little extra time to process is, uh…welcome.
Now come along with me, baby girl, and let’s see what this week has brought upon us.
Day 11: “The Last of Us,” episodes 1 - 2 [re-watch]
Quick Wikipedia summary of the series: “…the series is set twenty years into a pandemic caused by a mass fungal infection, which causes its hosts to transform into zombie-like creatures and collapses society. The series follows Joel (Pedro Pascal), a smuggler tasked with escorting the immune teenager Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across a post-apocalyptic United States.”
Am I watching “The Last of Us” because I enjoyed it? Am I watching it because parts of it are comforting? Am I watching because Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal make me feel cozy inside? Am I watching because the zombies in this one are scary but like, not THAT scary, you know, like I can see the the human under the costume still, unlike some of the folks out here perpetuating violence in the real world?
Day 12: “The Last of Us,” episodes 3 - 4 [re-watch]
Also: didn’t I already write a bunch of stuff about this already?
…Yes.
Day 13: “The Fall of the House of Usher,” episodes 1 & 2
Siblings Roderick and Madeline Usher have built a pharmaceutical company into an empire of wealth, privilege and power; however, secrets come to light when the heirs to the Usher dynasty start dying.
Maybe the soothing feeling I have I’m watching films by certain filmmakers is the really just the comfort of someone I admire’s style. Flanagan can’t really do wrong in my book—sure, his series over the years can fluctuate in quality, but the scares (and the feelings) still get me.
This is a smart adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, and this version feels like Succession meets the Sackler family. It’s all about money and affection, generational curses and the seemingly inevitable tide of fate. And even knowing all his typical moves, I still get a gleeful little jump-scare here and there.
All this is to say that this was the kind of horror that felt like an escape rather than a reminder of everything awful on my social media and across the headlines.
Day 14: “The Fall of the House of Usher,” episode 3
This is so good. This is bringing me joy even when it is stoking my fear of warehouse parties, strikingly beautiful yet deadly publicists, and untested medical devices.
Day 15: “The Fall of the House of Usher,” episode 4
I knew there was a reason I was allergic to cats. That being said, I find Rahul so comforting to watch. Something about his accent—it’s like a warm bath.
Day 16: “The Fall of the House of Usher,” episode 5
This is the episode I knew had to be coming— “The Tell-Tale Heart.”
This is one of those stories that no matter how many times I read or hear it, it still gives me chills. Only now, I am mulling over the specific horror of implant technology meant to make you live forever and ever and ever.
I’ve decided that this is my horror comfort show, at least for now. I don’t feel on edge watching it, even when I’m startled and jump out of my seat. I welcome the feeling. Now that’s an earned ending.
Day 17: “The Fall of the House of Usher,” episode 6
Who names their kid Tamerlane? How much do you have to hate them upon sight to name them something like that? Yes, I know her nickname is Tami. But—Tamerlane? Really? You mean to tell me someone gave birth to a human child and thought, “Ah, yes, that’s a Tamerlane.” Is there a name for the type of anxiety that originates in naming a new life? Like, how do you know how that name will age, or if it will somehow work against them one day, or that they won’t come to resent it?
Day 18: Day 17: “The Fall of the House of Usher,” episode 7
Ok, I spoke too soon. I was bested by some REAL good jump-scares. But I jumped so high off my couch that I laughed at myself about it. So that’s something?
And much like this TV series, I’m gonna have to leave you on a cliffhanger, much like these episodes do.
See ya next week.
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