To celebrate the DVD release of American Horror Story: Freak Show, 20th Century Fox invited me along to an evening of ‘Freakercise’ at the Old Blue Last in Shoreditch. Intrigued by the prospect of what this could entail, I went along.
On the very top floor of the venue, a small partition was set up by means of a thick, heavy curtain. Behind this was a lone arm chair placed in front of a big screen. The room was lit only by candlelight and decked out in fake cobwebs, to intensify the atmosphere of horror. I think what bugged me the most, however, was the lone armchair – I’m not sure why, but there’s something eerie about the idea of someone sitting by themselves in a dark room.
To start off with, I had my resting heart rate measured – they had to wait a while to take mine, as after sucking down a cigarette in two drags and legging it up every flight of stairs in the pub, it was about ready to burst out of my chest. Eventually, after strapping a Smartband 2 to my wrist (it resembles one of those white bracelets that says “on constant medication, return wearer to hospital), they were able to measure my heart rate using a Sony Xperia Z5 Compact – 77 beats per minute, not bad!
Finally, I relaxed into that creepy looking armchair, facing the screen and they pressed play. My first reaction was to jump at how fucking loud it was – I’m a bit of an old fart when it comes to noise, if I’m not at a gig then I expect silence; I like to sit with my tea and listen to music or watch TV at a reasonable volume and I’ll tut if I can hear the neighbours watching Eastenders. Once I’d gotten over my shock of how loud it was, I was then subjected to six of the scariest scenes from Freak Show.
Having already watched the series, I should have known what to expect, instead I behaved like a total wimp and had my hands over my face the entire time (you try to watch people being beheaded and stabbed to death in surround sound and see if you don’t shit your pants a little). It was the atmospheric build up to each scare that was the worst, the juxtaposition between periods of deafening silence and circus music thickened the tension and then when the frightening parts happened they were made all the worse (not to mention they were also incredibly loud).
Once it was over, I had my heart rate measured again; it had gone up to 102 beats per minute (a 32% increase!) So, onto the sciency bit: why does your heart rate increase when you’re scared? Because of the ingrained “Fight or Flight” process. When scard by something, there are two things you can do: attack it or you can run away from it (I suppose by covering my face, I opted for ‘flight’). The body reacts by releasing adrenaline into your system, which increases your breathing rate, heart rate and causes your pupils to dilate. This means that you are better prepared to deal with the thing making you scared – in particular, the increased breathing rates will deliver more oxygen to your muscles, making it easier for you to get away if you need to (or slap your hands over your eyes).
Thankfully, there were Halloween themed vodka and orange cocktails on hand afterwards to help steady my nerves, so I helped myself to two. Needless to say, if I end up watching Freak Show again, I’ll make sure the volume is nice and low! If you’d like to create some Freakercise of your own then American Horror Story: Freak Show is available on DVD and blu-ray now.
(Angela ‘Scaredy Cat’ Davey)
28/10/2015 at 12:56 pm
“One of us! One of us!”