Poll: The Scary Movie Scenario: What do you do?

[tippy2k2]

First off, I want to congratulate/hit user FizzyIzze [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.848957-Want-Escapist-Opinion-I-want-to-ban-Horror-Movie-Trailers-late-at-night#20963056] for the inspiration for this thread. Thank you/I hate you.

I would like The Escapist members to take three minutes to watch this video. It's freaky so if you really don't want to, I'll just let you know in the spoiler what it's about so you don't have to watch it (chicken!)

Spoiler

Spoiler: Seriously, I would recommend watching the video for the full effect but if you really do not like scary things, here is the video in written form

The video involves a lady getting ready for bed. As she turns the light off in the hallway, she sees in the dark the outline of a person. When she turns the light back on, no one is there. Light off and the person is there; Light on and they disappear. On about the fifth chance, the person disappears completely. Freaked out, she duct tapes the light on in the hallway to keep it from turning off.

She gets into bed with her lamp on and hears movement outside her door. Lots of scraping for a few seconds and suddenly the light in the hallway goes out!

Freaked out, the lady ducks under her covers. Her lamp begins burning out, making a weird noise and dimming. Alarmed but still hiding under her covers, she gropes to the surge protector and re-hits it, fixing her lamp's light and keeping it on.

A few seconds goes by and she looks out of her covers. Nothing is there...

Relieved, she looks away and when she looks again, a creature is standing there with a sharp tooth-filled smile and the creature turns the light off...

END SCENE

Now that I am unable to fall asleep ever again, it did make me kind of wonder how others think they would react in this situation. I know we can't REALLY know what we would do until we are actually in the situation in question but try to really put yourself in the video's shoes and think about how you would react.

You are getting ready for bed and something strange is afoot. You hear...unexplained noises in your immediate vicinity. You do not know what it is for sure; the lights are out but you have the feeling that you are not alone. Maybe it's just your imagination...?

Unfortunately for me, I have a feeling I would react in the exact same way. For whatever reason, there's not a lot that scares me but going after...well...anything in the dark is one thing that really triggers the "Get the fuck out of there you idiot!" part of my fight or flight. I'd like to think I could fight the fear and do something about it but I'm pretty confident that I'm going to be the guy in the horror film that gets killed when he looks relieved that nothing is there and then HE'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!!!!!

So, cowards and fighters alike, what are you going to do? For the scenario, assume you are alone (so no sending the parents/significant other/small child in your place to get killed first; your animals are also gone to...uh....summer camp. Dogs love summer camp so that's plausible).

EDIT: For clarification, you do not now what it is (or if it's anything at all). In the video, you get up to 1:15 (so some spooky S has happened but there could still be a plausible explanation...right?....guys?...)

 

[Barbas]

Nope nope nope nopenopenopenopenopenopenopenoooooooooooooooooo. [http://37.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzvjey0zo41qgxqujo1_500.gif]

No thank you, sir. I will take my caffeine and a gun and call some friends and the police and if that doesn't work, set fire to the building and bail.

 

[shootthebandit]

I would definitely investigate it. The creature in the video looks quite cheeky not really that scary. It looks like its winding her up

If it was friendly id try and chase it away. If it tried to attack me id hit it a few times or just GTFO

Im not a big horror fan and i find it boring. I cant get scared of something that isnt real I guess im just too rational

 

[Queen Michael]

From the start to the finish, I scream like a schoolgirl at a Justin Bieber concert.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

... Why is Call the Cops not an Option at all? At least if I died from the monster in the Video (Chose not to watch it), someone would know and tell my next of kin that I died.

Anyways, I chose stay up and alert, because... Yeah, there's a scary person/monster outside my house trying to get in.

 

[Zhukov]

SHE STAYED IN THE FUCKING HOUSE AND WENT TO BED AFTER SEEING THAT?!

"Gosh, I just clearly saw an unidentified humanoid in my house that was doing some spooky shit. I shall respond by remaining in the vicinity and rendering myself about as vulnerable as possible by going to bed."

I mean, okay, good thinking with the light switch, but still...

...

What would I do?

Well, at first I'd do the same thing she did: flick the light on-off a couple of times to make sure I wasn't just seeing shit out of the corner of my eye.

However, having seen very clearly that there is something decidedly creepy going down, then GTFO. Grab the nearest weaponizable object, put on some clothes, or at least shoes, grab my phone if it's around then get out of the house pronto and seek help. Call the cops and tell them there's an intruder in the house. (Obviously don't make the classic horror movie mistake of telling them it's a darkness monster. Just tell 'em it's a guy with a knife and let them find out for themselves.)

That's not me trying to be all super-rational either. "Arm yourself and flee the thing you do not understand" is pretty basic. My first thought while watching the clip was, "Lady, back away, grab something bludgeon-y and climb the hell out of that window."

PS. I am totally going to end up recalling that clip right when I switch my lamp off before going to sleep tonight. Thanks for that.

 

[tippy2k2]

... Why is Call the Cops not an Option at all? At least if I died from the monster in the Video (Chose not to watch it), someone would know and tell my next of kin that I died.

Anyways, I chose stay up and alert, because... Yeah, there's a scary person/monster outside my house trying to get in.

Well I didn't put "Call the cops" down due to horror movie cliches. If you call the cops, horror 101 dictates one of the two things happening:

1. The cops come, check out the premise and see nothing (and that's assuming you can convince them to come at all when you talk about the shadow person stalking you).

2. The cop comes, says he sees nothing and as he turns around, your eyes grow wide and afraid. He slowly turns back around and gets stabbed in the gut. Now you've got a shadow monster AND a dead cop in your house.

If anything, I feel dumb for not adding "GTFO" to the list of options I'm going to attempt to edit that in.

 

[Uhura]

Noooo, it's my bedtime, why did I watch that?!

Spoiler

Well, I watched the first 42 seconds and then

If I saw something like that I would GTFO as soon as possible. In general though, I always investigate if I hear strange noises at night.

But yeah... thanks for the video ;___;

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

Hoo! Whoa, that was a good short.

I think I'd stay awake until morning, I'd stay in a well lit room and not move (probably out of fear) for any reason.
I guess just keep my guard up is all.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I would probably called the cop and try to barricade the door to me. There no way for me to escape seeing hopw my bed is upstair (where I am) and the door to outside is downstair which I will need to unlock which will take a few seconds.

 

[Nouw]

Start talking to the camera and hope I'm meta enough to survive. Failing that, I do my best to change genre by challenging it to a dance battle.

For real though? I'd be dead lol. Not gonna lie, I'd do something dumb.

 

[The Event]

I load my shotgun, grab the 'phone and a torch & call the police to report an intruder. Then I wait for the police to arrive.

And if some creepy little demon freak thing appears before they do I'm gonna shoot it.

 

[Leonardo Huizar]

The Middle of the night noise thing happened to me before, but luckily i got excellent night vision as well as some dull cutlery near my bed [kitchen & bedroom rent controlled apt], and a 4 ft shovel handle i have in the car just in case.

Also I sleep during the day so its only the solicitors [in the US people with pamphlet or the religious types inviting you to their church] who bother knocking.

 

[shootthebandit]

Im surprised people arent as inquisitive as i thought. Personally i thought the little sprite thingy looked kinda cheeky with his big grin. Im pretty sure if it wanted to kill her it wouldve done so.

Personally im pretty inquisitive. Id be thrilled that id discovered this intelligent creature and id probably see if it was friendly or not and study its activity

 

[COMaestro]

I sure as hell wouldn't do what this lady did. I'd most likely grab my stuff and leave, then call the police on my cell phone to report an intruder. If I felt that I couldn't get out safely, like if I had to walk down that hallway to leave, I'd barricade my bedroom door and then call the police, preferably while I had something sharp and pointy in hand for self-defense.

 

[Coakle]

If it had stayed like a human shaped shadow: I would have moved some stuff around so my house's shadows wouldn't look so creepy. It's awful when that happens.

 

[FPLOON]

Why did I laugh through most of that video? WHY?!

OT: If it was just the noise itself, and I couldn't find anything that would be the cause of such a noise, I would more than likely shrug it off and get back to watching "porn" or something... (I tend to fall asleep while watching TV, anyway...)

If I did end up seeing a shadow-y figure in the dark, I would actually try to talk to it like a hobo on a street corner... and it better try to communicate back otherwise it will have to say "hello" to my fist of-

Spoiler: *chomp*

OH GLOB! IT BIT MY FUCKING HAND OFF!! FUCK!!! WHY DID I NOT SEE THAT COMING?? SHIT!! AND THAT WAS MY GOOD HAND, TOO!! SON OF A *****!!!

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Due to a series of lucid dreams I had in my teens I found the best way to combat this situation was to sit in a corner, put my head in my arms, close my eyes and go to sleep.
The dream dissolves and you don't even have to wake up to get out of your nightmare.

So that's my answer = absolute denial and whatever WHATEVER happens, don't look up. What you can't see can't hurt you.

 

[000Ronald]

So, cowards and fighters alike, what are you going to do?

I'd groan, walk up to it and tell it that if it didn't leave, I would make it leave. And that such a thing would be unpleasant for both of us. And if it tried to attack me, well...it would regret it.

Wouldn't be the first time I threw a monster out of my house...

 

[Blow_Pop]

I would definitely investigate it. The creature in the video looks quite cheeky not really that scary. It looks like its winding her up

If it was friendly id try and chase it away. If it tried to attack me id hit it a few times or just GTFO

Im not a big horror fan and i find it boring. I cant get scared of something that isnt real I guess im just too rational

I'm with this person. As I am always armed, even when going to bed, I'm bound to have a knife on me at the least.

And I like horror movies. But I like them in the "hey let's start drinking and riffing this movie because it sounds like fun". That said, as a child, Tremors 1 & 2 scared the living shit out of me as a child and I played the "the floor is lava" game as often as I could. Between that and the X-Files episode with the worms that came out of the toilet and stuff coming out around the same time, I was scared to go to the bathroom and step on the floor.