An easy scare vs. an allegedly petrifying film.
WARNING: Contains spoilers.
Netflix
If you haven’t heard, there’s a movie on Netflix called Veronica and many people are saying it’s quite frightening.
“In 1991 Madrid, after holding a séance at school, a teen girl minding her younger siblings at home suspects an evil force has entered their apartment.”
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And apparently it’s based on a true story to some extent, which adds to the creepiness.
I’m admittedly an easy scare, and horror truly traumatizes me.
I literally think about the head hand from The Grudge every time I shower, and this scene from Paranormal Activity 4 every time I look down a hallway, but curiosity took over and I had to see what Veronica was all about.
Paramount Pictures
I made the decision to watch it in broad daylight, in an office full of people, because I’m hoping sunshine and nearby humans would make it less horrifying.
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It has subtitles, which make for a good distraction from all of the potentially scary shit going on around them.
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About 15 minutes in nothing creepy has happened, but a nun is staring into the sun during a solar eclipse so you can feel something coming.
SCARED METER: 2.5/100 because I know some weird stuff is coming.
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The main character, Veronica, and her friends decide to fuck with a Ouija board (dumb choice) during the solar eclipse (dumber choice).
Now, she’s possessed or something. Chill. SCARED METER: 15/100
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Veronica went to the nurse and now she appears to be normal, but we all know there’s demon residue chillin’ deep in her soul.
Veronica has a super chill, not worrisome little stare down with the nun from earlier.
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A number of minor creepy things happen: Veronica’s backpack falls from a shelf, Veronica goes into a trance during dinner, a light flickers, a door closes on its own. Run-of-the-mill horror stuff.
Even if you’re easily scared like me, these played-out tropes are kind of stale.
SCARED METER: 1/100
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VERONICA TURNED OFF HER TV AND THERE’S A FIGURE IN THE REFLECTION.
It even turned in her direction when she walked off. NOPE. SCARED METER: 55/100
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Veronica had a nightmare where a bunch of scary things happened, including hands emerging from her mattress and grabbing her.
Interestingly, her reaction was the exact same as mine.
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A nun informs Veronica that she’s “not alone” and tries to tell whatever’s latched itself to her spirit to kick rocks, but something tells me it’s not going to.
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So now Veronica is being haunted by a figure that keeps popping up in different places and being a real creeper.
The fact that it’s just a dark figure and we’re not seeing it up close is making it scarier. I’m so excited to wake up in the middle of the night and think about these scenes. SCARED METER: 70/100.
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Veronica’s still having some wild dreams. She imagined her siblings eating her arms which was honestly more gross than scary.
I’ve seen two many episodes of The Walking Dead to flinch at some stretchy flesh being devoured. SCARED METER: 20/100.
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Veronica’s friends aren’t down to hang anymore because she’s all demon possessed or whatever, so she’s got her siblings doing a séance with her in the hopes of getting rid of whatever is haunting her.
Gee, that should end well.
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Without spoiling EVERYTHING, this séance triggers the final showdown between Veronica and the evilness and it’s pretty wild.
Seeing the demon figure thing for an extended period is definitely very uncomfortable. SCARED METER: 666/100
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Upon finishing Veronica, I can confirm that it’s not the scariest thing I’ve ever seen, but it further solidifies my opinion that paranormal is the most chilling type of horror.
Popular horror killers like Jason or Jigsaw are frightening, but at least you can physically fight them. If a demon decides it wants to take over your body, you’re just kind of screwed, y’know?
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If you’re tough to scare, lower your expectations. If you’re an easy scare, this’ll probably do a little damage. Whoever you are, it’s certainly a solid horror flick readily available on your Netflix.
NUMBER OF TIMES I WAS JUMP SCARED: 5-ish.
FINAL RATING: 7.5/10
PERMANENT DAMAGE DONE: Remains to be seen.
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