Horror Movies Essay, Research Paper

The setting is set in a remote prison in West Virginia that has been abandon for several years. Six adventuresses are selected randomly to enter the abandoned prison and record findings of paranormal activity, if any. Each of the team members is to complete specific tasks assigned to them. If they can complete these they will walk out the prison with a nice sum of money in their pockets. Not only do the team members have to face their own personal fears but fear of the unknown that awaits them inside.

The voyage begins at two o’clock a.m. on a Sunday morning. The first two members, Lauren and Dave, are to find a room called the “Sugar Shack”. Past inmates remember the Sugar Shack as the place where many inmates were brutally murdered by other inmates. The rest of the group back at a nearby lodging area, equipped with a computer giving directions about the inside of the prison and radios are to keep contact and act as a guide through the prison. Lauren and Dave are only outfitted with a flashlight, radio, and a mounted camera that records them to see different reactions they have inside the prison.

They enter the prison, the hallways dimly lit, and the cells bars give it a coldness that raises each hair on their bodies. They weave through the corridors until they come to a long hallway with a room at the end. Both of them stop and gaze down the hall. What little light exists in the hallways totally diminishes down by room. The mounted cameras show the uncertainty on both of their faces. They are giving off looks of, what have I gotten myself into? The prison is dead silent, every footstep, whistle, or scrape could be heard loud and clear. Suddenly Dave’s radio beeps startling both of them. The team members back at the lodge tell them Dave is to stay where they are and act as a safety or lookout. Meanwhile, Lauren is to walk down the hallway and enter the room. Both have to stay in these positions for fifteen minutes to complete the task. Lauren seems to be cautious about this decision. Before she starts to walk down the hallway she tells Dave to stay on the radio with her while she is in the room. As Lauren slowly approaches the room an infrared camera mounted within the prison watches he every move. She gets to the end of the hallway and shines her light above the door to the room. Written in what appears to be blood is “Sugar Shack”. As soon as she sees this anxiety level jumps. She radios back to Dave that she has a bad feeling about the situation. Dave of course being the brave soldier who has to stay back says “It’s ok Lauren, its only fifteen minutes, what could go wrong”. The door to the room is slightly cracked, she pushes the door and it swings open. In front of her lies a pitch-black room. The smell of a morgue ran across her senses. She slowly stepped foot inside of the room you could see the look of fright and uncertainty running across her face. The room was pitch black, the only light coming from her flashlight. As she ran her flashlight across the walls she saw pictures of Ghost eyes looking at her, symbols dealing with witchcraft, bloody walls, all the makings of a place she didn’t want to be. Despite this she started to get comfortable with her surroundings. She radioed back to Dave that she was all right. Suddenly Lauren’s flashlight went out along with her radio. The small light from the camera was the only thing visible. “Thump, thump, thump” was the sound of footsteps getting closer and closer. Lauren began to panic, she starts to scream into the radio, “Hello, I don’t want to be here anymore, hello”, but nobody responds. She knows she can’t leave the room because she will fail her task. The steps are getting louder and louder but she cant locate the source. The footsteps stop and a gust of wind flies by her face. She pauses to see if it will happen again, nothing. To Lauren’s delight she hears Dave’s voice come through the radio. “Lauren are you alright, are you alright”. Her faint voice says, “Come get me please”. Hearing the urgency in her voice he ran over. “Whats wrong, what happened”. Her pale face looked as if she had just seen a ghost. No more words were needed; she had definitely experienced something that was truly traumatic.

This scene was so scary because the realness feel to it. Most movies that are scary are shit in a regular cinematic view. This being shot through a camcorder gave it a feel of a home video. Through this depiction of the scene it brought out fear that can be in our daily lives. Stephen King, one of the best modern day horror writers states ” We seek out and respond to horror in fiction as a strategy for contending with the horrors and insanity of our daily lives” (784). Prison is a place that many people depict, as somewhere you don’t want to be. Adding the thought ghost being incorporated inside the abandon prison creates a very scary mental picture.