What’s a book or movie that genuinely scared you?
I’m Australian, so I come from the land where practically everything can kill you. Deadly snakes, box jellyfish, crocodiles, funnel-web spiders and, of course, great white sharks.
We grow up surrounded by creatures that terrify overseas visitors. We tend to take them in our stride. It’s all part of living in Australia.
And yet, it took a mechanical shark from Hollywood to frighten the life out of me.
I’ve never been particularly interested in horror films, but when Jaws was released, everyone was talking about it. So a group of us went along to the cinema to watch it. It was terrifying.
I remember sitting on the edge of my seat for much of the film. The tension was extraordinary. Every time someone went into the water, you knew something dreadful was about to happen. Our hearts were still racing when we left the cinema.
We laughed about it afterwards, as you do when you’ve been thoroughly frightened by something you know isn’t real.
But here’s the irony. We were Australians. We’d grown up swimming at beaches where all sorts of sharks inhabit the waters. We knew they were out there, but we’d never given them much thought. Yet a couple of hours in a cinema had us terrified of going back into the water.
So what did we decide to do the following day? Go to the beach, of course.
What’s a book or movie that genuinely scared you?
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