Horror

“…is that moment at which one sees the creature/aberration that causes the terror or suspense, a "shock value." -Stephen King

i love scary movies. i love jumping in a theatre full of people. i love the way we are complete strangers and love getting scared together.
I want to share a very personal scary memory. Only my family knows about. The ones who were there, remember it to this day. 
It was 1981. I was 3 years old. Before dvd´s, blu ray´s or VCR´s... my dad had bought a movie projector. Mostly Disney cartoons. But one of the movies he bought was DRACULA (1979).Dracula was played by Frank Langella and Sir Laurence Olivier plays Van Helsing. As many vampire movies, full of dark cliches. This one was different. This one had a scene so scary, it left a mark on me.

It is a dark night. We are on a cementery, full of mist. Doctor Van Helsing and Dr. Seward search for the tumb of Mina, Van Helsing´s daughter. He fears she has become a vampire. When they come to her grave a horse starts to hit the ground. It makes them aware that something is wrong under the ground. They open the tumb and find Mina´s coffin empty, one of the sides is scratched... it is a tunnel that leads to a mine. They carry a cross for protection. Inside the dark tunnels Van Helsing stumbles and the cross falls into a puddle of water. In the puddle we can see a reflection. Someone is coming closer. It’s a woman, in a white vail, we can see her feet covered in rats.No eyes only two red points
Saying….Papa…Papa!

It is …Mina.

All my aunts and uncles, my mom, my dad, my brother and my sister laugh to this day, about how scared i was. Every time we saw Dracula, i ran from the screen to go behind the couch, covering my eyes in horror. SCREAMING:  SHE´S COMING, SHE´S COMING!!!

"The Girl made of Flour " That´s what i called her.

I memorized every PREVIOUS step, every frame and every sound of that movie. Because i know she existed inside there. As a vivid nightmare. All my fears were there.

Maybe I was very little. Maybe I was very impressed by the makeup or special effects. But. To this day, to me, this is the most frightening scene ever. The very definition of fear is when it joins something you love. Think about it. A man and her daughter. How could you possibly be afraid of your own kid?? ( The omen, The exorcist)