[Edit: Alas, for this particular TV show episode – and reading about the ending of another one (“The Last Weekend”) from the same series – this technique was less effective than it initially seemed to be. In the months after preparing the first draft of this article, I still found myself haunted by the memory of these episodes – although, thanks to simple time and repetition of the memories, it has gotten less intense. If nothing else, the intensity of memories of scary films/TV shows does fade over time because they become known, familiar, less shocking etc… Still, in case it turns out to be useful for anyone else, I’ve decided not to ditch the article. The technique isn’t “100% effective” but it might be useful nonetheless.]
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Well, I thought that I’d talk about one of the ways that you can recover from watching a film or TV show that was scarier than you expected it to be. This was something that I ended up thinking about in early November last year when I watched the “Inside No. 9” episode “3 by 3” (2023) (MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS ahoy!).
This was an episode of this long-running dark comedy/horror anthology TV show I was curious about because, although I set up the DVR for the 2023 series (but didn’t get round to watching it), I accidentally deleted this episode because of the weird way it was released. It was one of those pranks where they “replaced” the show with a seemingly different show – which I mistook for a recording error – only to eventually reveal that it was “Inside No. 9” all along.
Anyway, I was curious about this episode and – at the time – couldn’t find a detailed summary of it online, just ominous hints about its “shocking” ending. My imagination went wild, terrifying me with all sorts of horrifying explanations of what it could be. I realised that I HAD to watch this episode, if only to end the uncertainty. Fortunately, it was still on BBC i-player 🙂
On paper, the episode sounds hilariously funny – in a twisted way – but when you are actually watching it, especially if you are familiar with British TV game-shows, it’s terrifying! A lot of this is to do with how well they capture the “feel” of these TV shows. How you’ll realise that something is amiss fairly early on, and might even realise what it is, but won’t know how it will all play out. The episode is a masterpiece of ominous subtlety and implication… until the sudden, grisly ending.
And, yes, it is technically dark comedy – an evil scientist decides to get extra funding by entering a daytime TV quiz show with her latest experiment, a young woman with psychic powers who can read the answers from other people’s minds. Naturally, the scientist doesn’t realise just how much her test subject hates her… or the full extent of her powers. The ending is technically a parody of both “Carrie” (1976) and “Scanners” (1981). But, when you’re actually watching it all in context – thanks to the acting and presentation – it’s more frightening than funny.
Anyway, after watching this, I didn’t know if I should dare to watch any more of the episodes from last year’s series of “Inside No.9”. So, I chickened out and scoured the internet for spoilers… but even these absolutely scared the crap out of me. I was seriously scared! And I initially used a technique which gave me some temporary relief from all of this.
Simply put, I realised that I was seeing the stories on their own terms. Following their logic, rather than thinking about them for myself. The instant that I remembered to do this, I started spotting plot holes and “Why didn’t that character just do this instead…“. In other words, I realised that – in order to be scary enough that even just written descriptions were enough to terrify me – the stories had to be extremely contrived.
I was scared because I was following the logic of the show’s writers, rather than thinking for myself. And, as soon as I realised this, the fear began to recede [Edit: Well, temporarily…].
So, yes, spotting when you are following the writers’ logic can be a way to recover from watching something scary. In order to make a film or TV show ridiculously scary, the writers have to make things a bit contrived or unrealistic. And, as soon as you actually spot this – and break the “willing suspension of disbelief” – then it becomes at least somewhat less scary 🙂
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Anyway, I hope that this was useful 🙂
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