How Scare Me’s horror stories reflect Fred and Fanny's conflict
While the scary tales Fred (Josh Ruben) and Fanny (Aya Cash) tell each other in Shudder's Scare Me might seem disconnected from the main plot, their ideas actually tell us a lot about their characters and growing conflict.
WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Scare Me
Fanny
Fanny's wildly successful debut novel Venus looks to continue the zombie subgenre's tradition of using the undead for political commentary. From the drug-addled abridged version we're treated to, we learn the zombie plague only affects women in the novel. Is the corpses return from the grave to menace women metaphorical for the dusty patriarchal values which seek to undermine Fanny's success?
Fanny's first off-the-cuff story in the cabin centres on a young girl who attempts to kill her grandfather, but ends up killing his dog by accident and earning his ire from beyond the grave. At its heart it's a story of generational conflict - with a daughter trying to rid herself of her creepy male elder. Perhaps it's similar to Fanny's literary achievements against a backdrop of predominantly male precursors and sexist attitudes.
While the next two stories are more of a collaborative effort, Fanny's idea to have the troll encourage a woman to kill her slimy boss is another example of the murder of a powerful and corrupt man. Meanwhile, her hilarious musical number where a singer's cutesy performance on a talent show turns into an anthem about mass murder could represent her anxiety about her newfound celebrity and the expectations following Venus.
Fred
Fred's fantastically bad movie idea - "werewolves have guns... get revenge?" - doesn't seem to stand up to much analysis, but bear with. Fred's grudge against Fanny (who he describes as "one of those lucky freaks who just has it easy") is also a perceived revenge narrative.
Werewolves, who are generally men who can't help but kill, are emblamatic of how Fred can't take responsibility for his own failures and aggressive tendencies. Werewolf stories tend to be more personal, psychological studies compared to the satirical potential and wider canvas of zombie narratives - similarly, Fred struggles to see beyond his own personal difficulties while Fanny has a clear-eyed view of gender politics and societal issues.
It's later Fred's idea to do a story about a troll which he mainly voices - perhaps a sign he sees himself as ugly and monstrous after his ex-girlfriend's protection notice against him. He later suggests having the singer possessed by the devil in the final story - again a sign of his inability to take reponsibility for his own actions.
Fred's climatic flip into murderous psycho is also originally framed as a fireside story - fitting since his own entitlement to literary success is a story Fred tells himself to boost his self-confidence.
Scare Me is now streaming on Shudder.
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