31 Nights of Halloween Horror - Night 24 - Terrified

Terrified
87 mins.
Dir. Demian Rugna
2017/Argentina

My favorite part of doing this 31 Nights of Halloween Horror is watching movies I have not seen
before.  It seems every year I stumble upon at least one movie that really impresses me.  I know we still have a few more nights left in October and anything can happen.  But I am going to confidently say this year’s most impressive movie award goes to a movie from Argentina, called Terrified. This one is aptly named.  Satan's Slaves comes in as a close second and there were some other good ones like Fragile, The Nightshifter and Shrew's Nest.  But I think Terrified may be the winner this Halloween.

If anyone tells you there are no good horror movies out anymore, this person is an idiot. They
are just watching stuff that makes it to the multiplex theatre or nonsense movies they are
catching on Netflix. If anyone tells you they never get scared by horror movies, that person is
an idiot as well. Why would you be a horror fan or watch horror movies if not to get scared?
Wasn’t that the appeal that got us all into them in the first place? Now grant it, yes we are all
older and few things have that scary effect and while yes few movies actually scare me
anymore, I do find a lot of movies to have creepy moments of dread and tension. Enough
moments to give me that uneasy feeling that the mind starts to wander in a dark house late at
night. And that is good enough for me. I’ll chalk up those moments as a scary movie.
While it is doubtful I will ever see a movie that will be so impactful it will never get me in the
ocean again, I appreciate the effort and effect of a good scare. And I am not talking a jump
scare, those are cheap and easy. I am talking about the feeling of the hair standing up on the
back of your neck in apprehension on what is lurking in the dark.
I am here to tell you, I watched a new horror film and it was really good and it had some great
scares. And if you don’t like reading subtitles, go back to the multiplex and complain there are
no good horror movies anymore, because there are and a lot of them are coming from other
countries.

So, what is so terrifying about Terrified? The movie wastes no time jumping into things. We
start off simple enough with a woman preparing dinner and concerned about something in her
sink. Her husband comes home asking where dinner is and she tells him she did not make it.
She says she heard some noises coming from the sink. He assumes it is the pipes banging or their
neighbor next door who is doing some remodeling. She says no, she heard voices. Human
voices. Well what did the voices say, he asks. She says, the voices said they were going to kill
her.



In one of the those instances where the less I say the better, Terrified intertwines a few stories
into one all centered around a neighborhood. In this instance, there is not one particular
haunted house, but a few houses in a general facility. Two paranormal investigators and two
police officers try to find out what the unearthly happenings are. Sometimes there are no
answers as in the case with Terrified.  There are no definitives and things are more open ended
instead or being neatly tied up with a bow.

There are plenty of creepy moments throughout the movie to leave you feeling uneasy. This is
not by far the scariest movie you have ever seen. It is also not the most original storyline, but
there are plenty of good ideas happening to overlook most of the films faults. When you are
sifting through countless movies hoping to find that one gem, it sometimes makes that flick
shine a little brighter. Looking for a scary movie to watch this Halloween season. I recommend
Terrified. Not to be confused with that shitty clown movie Terrifier. Terrified has an
actual story and substance.