A bit about me

Hi! I’m Fran and I have always loved sitting down to watch films. I have fond(ish) memories of my dad introducing me to the films of Bergman, Herzog and Lynch (what a trio…). However, my particular interest is in the horror genre, which I have become extremely well versed in thanks to the Evolution of Horror podcast. I thought I’d do something with this passion of mine and write about the films I’ve been watching! But in this first edition, I thought I’d write about 5 films that have become part of my personal film journey so you can get to know me a bit better.

Film 1: Jumanji, 1995

Jumanji, directed by Joe Johnston who is the king of 90s family adventure films, used to terrify me. I was so scared of being trapped playing the game - it genuinely used to keep me up at night. Not even Robin Williams could make me feel like this film didn’t have genuine danger in it. Despite this, I watched it a lot, daring myself to watch it again. It was a fascination of being scared but wanting to test myself that has probably made into the horror film nerd I am today.

The videotape I borrowed had Hook on the reverse, so these two films have become inextricably linked in my mind, although I never watched Hook as much as I did Jumanji.

Film 2: The Seventh Seal, 1957

The Seventh Seal is the film where all the tropes about playing chess with Death come from (my particular favourite parody is Bill and Ted). Swedish director Ingmar Bergman is such an incredible film maker. His films have been hugely influential on cinema and this is one of his best.

I didn’t know any of this when I came down scared one night, probably having woken up from some nightmare and my parents were watching this. Instead of making me go back to bed, they let me stay up to watch it. The story is of a knight (Max von Sydow) travelling home from the Crusades, who must play a game of chess with Death to save his life. Set during the Black Death, the scenes of people flagellating themselves really got under my skin and the eerie and transcendent Dance of Death at the end of the film made me realise what cinema at its finest could do.

Film 3: Lord of the Rings (all of them), 2001 - 2003

I saw Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in cinema and was so incredibly frightened by the Ringwraiths. However, between the first and the second films, I fell in love with the books and became obsessed. My sister and I ended up owning the Extended Versions which we would watch incessantly. I watched all the extended features and particularly loved the actors commentaries. The magic of Middle Earth simply came at just the right time for me. Whilst everyone was into Harry Potter, I was watching and reading LOTR for the tenth time.

Did you know that when Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) kicked the helmet in Two Towers, he actually broke his toe, so it was a real cry of pain that he acted through?

Film 4: Eraserhead, 1977

Anyone who knows me knows the story of how I watched David Lynch’s Eraserhead for the first time. I never tire of telling it though.

At 15, I was getting into horror films. My friends and I would have sleepovers and scare ourselves with films like the US remake of The Ring, Signs and the Blair Witch Project. My dad, clearly wanting to connect to his fragile teen daughter, asked me if I wanted to watch the scariest film ever made and promptly presented me with Eraserhead.

I watched in horror at the events unfolding on screen. It is a hard film to describe, but it’s essentially about male fears of becoming a father. After it ended, I lay on the sofa and cried just at the sheer experience of it. I had never seen anything like that before - it was so overwhelming. I am now a huge Lynch fan, so while I rinse my dad for his parenting choices sometimes, I am very grateful to him for my film education.

Film 5: Paranormal Activity, 2007

I saw this in cinema with friends. Actually I link this one to a formative part of finding my tribe. After having had some bad experiences trying to fit in at school, I found two friends who saved my high school experience. We would hang out and I’d try (and fail) to stay up all night watching any horror we could get our hands on really. So when this was announced we obviously had to go and see it.

You guys, this was the single most terrifying experience I have ever had watching a film in cinema. Jump scare ghost films proliferated after Paranormal Activity because it was so successful and made back its tiny budget in spades. This is the best of all of those for my money. The ending made me jump out of my skin and I was up until 2 or 3am that night unable to sleep because the smallest noise in the house set me off.

That’s it for now - thanks for reading! Let me know 5 films that you would consider part of your film journey.