I’ve always been terrified of horror films. So I was greatly honoured when invited on the International Jury of the 25th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (Bifan) in South Korea, but had mixed feelings. Yet, the festival was an eye-opener. Literally. Usually, during a scary scene, I always cover my eyes and tell the person next to me in the theatre to tell me when the scene is over. But on the jury, I had to watch entire scary films—that too with my eyes open.

So I gamely watched a woman eat the flesh of a man’s bleeding, wriggly maggot-infested leg (cannibalism? Wormism?). An iron rod pierced the forehead of a man driving a car, after cracking his windshield. Another fellow, in a coma, had a metal thingie pierced in his forehead, that began to rotate like helicopter blades while still in his forehead. Don’t ask. A woman organising dinner skinned two rabbits in front of the camera. Uff!