Annalee Newitz at io9 posed an interesting question when she talked about Insidious as being a film that seemed to scare everyone but her. I’m kind of a chicken when it comes to scary movies, but every once in a while I see one… and it just is dumb.

To be fair, the first time I saw Paranormal Activity, I had a hard time sleeping. The Grudge scared the shit out of me the first time. Signs got a couple of good jump scares out of me, but no lasting effect.

My immediate suggestion into the “why is this movie scary” is The Blair Witch Project, which I found to be annoying, dull, and anything BUT scary. Oh, look, a pile of rocks. Oh, we’re lost because that idiot kicked our map into a stream. It was a waste of time when I saw it in its original theatrical release, and I doubt I’d feel any differently 15 years later.

I’d put Drag Me To Hell in that category simply because of the overuse of jump scares, as opposed to actually creating a film with a scary premise or story. There are literally moments in the film that, without reason, a demon face pops up on screen. It’s the cinematic equivalent of being screamered, and I honestly walked out after the second one. I don’t mind jump scares, but these had nothing to do with what was happening on screen.

Anything in the Saw franchise isn’t scary. It’s just gross. The first one was inventive, the second one was mildly fun, but everything else just seemed pointless.

I was never scared by any of the Childs Play movies. I think I watched my first Childs Play film when I was 8, and I wasn’t scared by Chucky. Around the same time I did see Terminator 2, and the scene where his finger is stretched out into that dudes head terrified me, but Chucky didn’t.

I never thought The Sixth Sense was scary, just interesting. I’ll throw in some random horror movies like Pulse, Stay Alive, and Sorority Row as being films that didn’t scare me.One reader brought up Darkness Falls, which always provided me and my friends with a good laugh. We used to shout to each other “YOU STAY IN THE LIGHT, YOU STAY ALIVE” all the time. I miss that film. Totally not scary, and a really awful film, but it was fun to laugh at.

I kinda liked The Amityville Horror remake with Ryan Reynolds. A few good scares. The Omen remake, not so much. Nothing in Children Of The Corn that I’ve seen (haven’t seen the whole franchise).

What about you? Anything you just don’t understand why everyone else is so scared?