‘Bro has survival instincts’: Family masterminds the perfect horror movie prank when brother arrives home in the dark

There is, presumably, nothing on this Earth that human beings love more than making fun of horror movies. Not only does this verbal lampooning allows us to alleviate whatever fear we might have about the viewing experience, but there’s a certain schadenfreude in watching a fictional character — who’s very clearly, very obviously dumber than you specifically — succumb to their bad decisions.

But are we really that much better than the denizens of the land of so many horror movie body counts? Would we really turn tail at the first offering of morbid curiosity? After all, horror movies aren’t real, so why should we be afraid of horror movie-esque situations?

This might have been the line of thinking that the family of TikTok‘s @maiya.arissa had here, but it’s much more likely that they just needed an outlet for collective mischief.

When Maiya’s brother wound up returning to the family’s quarters late one night, he probably wasn’t expecting a very eventful state of affairs, and he certainly wasn’t expecting his kin to channel The Blair Witch Project into a frightfully choreographed prank. Upon opening the door, the first thing he saw was everyone staring at the wall, rhythmically murmuring the Pledge of Allegiance; a development he slapped with a big old “nope” as he quickly retreated back outside.

But then, he goes and proves that real humans aren’t actually any better than horror movie characters, and gingerly creeps upstairs while contemplating this utterly unnerving behavior. A spontaneous jumpscare from one of the other brothers closes out this saga with many a chuckle and perhaps even more sighs of relief.

So there you have it, folks; we can officially get off our high horses, as it’s clear that we would absolutely do the stupid things that we always see in horror movies. But, on the other hand, maybe the fear of demons is just more prevalent in some people than others; there’s a medical term for such a thing, after all. According to RxList, the fear of demons and supernatural evils is known as “demonophobia,” and the discussion of demons, watching movies that involve demons or possession, or simply wandering into a dark house by oneself can trigger such a fear. The colloquial term is “common sense” or “a very natural reaction.”

But who’s to say that this is actually real life? Who’s to say that Maiya didn’t cut out the footage that captured an actual demon descending upon the family after the fact, throwing the entire household into bloody, accursed mayhem? It is common, after all, for a horror film to include a fakeout before the opening kill. Indeed, maybe this is all a ruse by the demons to convince us that we’re allowed to be as stupid as horror movie characters, all in hopes of picking us off easier. Have a good sleep, everyone!