Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.
Preparation
Transcript
I want to talk about, erm, horror films and why I like them and what my favourite types are.
When I was young, I watched the classic horror films like Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th. My mum told me that when I was about six, she came downstairs in the middle of the night because there was a noise, and it was me watching The Omen on TV in the dark, on my own. So I guess I've always liked horror films.
I really like what are called 'slasher films' – the really gory, bloody, violent films like Final Destination and The Hills Have Eyes. I just find them quite funny and I like the special effects. I don't really find them scary at all. I think the scariest sort of films are the ones that are very tense, like Hitchcock films. I think the scariest one for me is The Birds because it's just very sinister the way that the birds come and sit and look at the people. And you know that it's going to be really bad very soon.
But I think my favourite, favourite sort of horror films are zombie movies. I've watched loads of zombie movies and I really like them. Again, I don't really think they're very scary. Dawn of the Dead is my absolute favourite horror film, I think. It's a film where people just wake up one morning and there are zombies everywhere. If a zombie bites you, you turn into a zombie. And the survivors end up in a shopping mall ... in a shopping centre and they're surrounded by zombies. And it does not have a happy ending.
There's a British comedy horror film called Shaun of the Dead, which is a bit of a joke on the idea of the Dawn of the Dead, which is also really great. The most recent one I watched was a New Zealand film called Black Sheep, which is about zombie sheep. That was pretty funny as well.
The most recent horror film I watched was on a plane last time I went back to the UK. It was a Stephen King film, it was based on a Stephen King book – I think a short story – and it was called The Mist. It was about people who lived in a small town in America and there was a hurricane, or typhoon, as we call them here. And after the typhoon, they wanted to go into town to get some supplies to fix up the house. And it started to get misty or foggy. It was quite a strange mist – it didn't look normal. And these people ended up in a hardware store in the town, all trapped together because there were sort of monsters in the mist – these unrealistic giant creatures that were in the mist that were killing people. There was quite a lot of blood and guts and people died in horrible ways, which is what I like about horror films. I would recommend it if you like horror films as much as I do.
Discussion
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I'm not a fan of horror films. I prefer watching black comedy-drama series and films. I've recently watched a lot of British comedy-drama series such as Fleabag, Back to Life, After Life, Am I Being Unreasonable, Extraordinary, etc. Moreover, I highly recommend watching them to everyone who wants to level up their English. They are very efficient and productive.
I really appreciate your lesson. But, I have something confused to ask you. It is the number 6 of task 1. The answer showed me that the right answer is ''True''. But, I am not sure why this is true. I think it has not been shown in the audio. Let me get this straight, please.
Hi MgKanKaung,
We are glad that you enjoyed the listening lesson :)
It's true because the speaker describes the monsters as "these unrealistic giant creatures". The word "unrealistic" shows that she thought they were a bit unbelievable, or not very realistic (i.e., she wasn't convinced by them).
I hope that helps to understand it.
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
No, I don't like horror movies.
Thank God.
Well first of all I adore your website a lot beside I have been using the baltform of BBC learning English both of you are marvelous baltforma for learning English I can't thank you Enough the team who worked to build this exotic website I owe you a lot Britich concul, for me horror movies had caused me a lot of me, I think it not fit for me.
Hello esta,
Thanks very much for your kind words! We wish you the best.
Best regards,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team