Horror Film Countdown Day 6 – Movies Anxious Parents Should Avoid

Welcome to our countdown to the most anxiety-inducing horror films for parents!  Today is day six.

Each day, we are covering the films I both love and hate because they’re awesome and they give me panic attacks now that I’m a mom.

Today’s collection is a cross between horror and medical thrillers.  A group we don’t like to think about, even something we try to force out of our minds entirely.  Why?  Because like so many others, it’s not the blood, the over-acting, the special effects that get to us anymore.  It is the very real possibility which makes these films terrifying for any parent.

Disclaimer: Trigger warnings are a given when you talk about horror, but I’m going to say it anyway.  Many subjects covered by horror films are disturbing to parents in ways we can’t possibly understand and each is unique to the parent and his/her experiences. Tread carefully and know your limits.  If this begins to be too much, there’s no shame in closing the window.  Also, this post contains some spoilers throughout. 

26. Cabin Fever & The Virus Films
(Including; Contagion, Quarantine, etc.)

Now, there has to be a distinction made here- we’re talking about viruses that are somewhat within the realm of our current reality; a flesh-eating virus or a bird flu-type thing.  The viruses that cause zombies are an entirely different topic altogether.  That being said, any contamination movie ever made discusses something highly probable – no matter how hard we try to protect them, we can’t be sure they won’t get sick with something as simple as the flu and end up with deadly consequences.

As parents, we are taught from before our children are born how susceptible they are to disease and death by unknown, unseen pathogens floating around in our air.

We are taught to fear these tiny death agents and vaccinate, keep our babies in the house for the first three months, breastfeed as long as humanly possible and sanitize literally EVERY SINGLE THING they touch, taste, walk on or breathe until they have fully formed, adult immune systems.  We buy cart covers so they don’t touch the shopping cart germs.  We start buying hand sanitizer in bulk.  We stock up on Lysol and don’t allow sick people to come over or to hold our children.

This is a reality of parenting that has absolutely ZERO to do with horror films, but when you are a normal parent who has been taught to fear the unseen death machine lurking on the doorknob your child is about to turn who has ALSO seen movies like Contagion, Quarantine and Cabin Fever… “normal parent worry” turns into “psycho, hyper, germ-fearing insane” in about four seconds.

Yes, this absolutely affected my choice to never let my child visit the nursery after birth.  It also affects the fact that I don’t let them play on the floor, touch walls, hand-rails or public doors without sanitizing them immediately after and they’re busted if they put their fingers anywhere near their faces until their hands have been washed.

So, today as we meander the sickly, bloody, flesh-eating streets and forests in these films, we can grasp the graphically captured horror – the true essence of that helplessness we already feel as parents, magnified by a story where no one is safe and no one can work fast enough to save everyone.  They each show us in their own, special ways just how much we are fooling ourselves into believing our babies are truly safe from death by a virus.

How many late-night trips to the ER took place in that first year of each of my children’s lives becuase of strange marks, bumps, hives, scratches that didn’t want to heal or crying for no reason took place?  How often was it, deep down, JUST so I could make sure they weren’t dying of some horrifying flesh-eating disease?  Too many to want to admit it.

Want to know how bad my crazy is with this one?  Here’s a reoccurring scenario that takes place in my brain in the wee hours of the night:

We are somewhere out in public.  Me and one of my children.  Nowhere special, just someplace like the grocery store.  We are on our way out and suddenly we are met at the door by someone in a yellow jumpsuit telling us we can’t leave.  The store is under quarantine and each of us have to be tested to make sure we’re not sick.  “Well,” I think – “I’m careful and we were only here for a few minutes, so I’m sure we are fine.”  So I casually allow us both to be tested thinking it’ll be fast and done and we’ll be home soon.  The results come back.  I’m fine, but my child is not.  My child is infected with some fast-working, deadly disease that no one can fix and we aren’t allowed to leave but I MUST go becuase I’m fine and if I stay, I will die, too.  They won’t tell me what happens, what kind of disease it is, what she will die of, what she will become… all I know is she won’t make it out of there alive and no one can fix her.  My husband shows up on the other side of the door with my other child, who is pressed up against the glass, asking me to go to him, but I can’t leave his sister.  I have to choose – stay with my dying daughter, knowing I will die with her, or leave her terrified by herself to be with my son who also needs me?

This is what films like this do to a parent’s mind.  And just think… I used to watch them and laugh at the gory special effects!  How times have changed…

Oh, and yes – I check them thoroughly any time they have played in any outside water source like a lake, river, ocean and pools.  I scream at them to keep their mouths shut while they are in the water and I am secretly cringing if they walk into the ocean with any cuts of any kind.

Don’t laugh at me…You never know and because of Cabin Fever, now I’m crazy.  Thanks, Eli.  You’re the best.  Really.  I love having nightmares about my child’s face falling off after a forest hike, don’t you?

Speaking of horrors in the deep, dark woods… Check back in for tomorrow’s article for one of my favorites!