JENNIFER CONNELLY - CONNELLY OVERCOMES HORROR FILM FEARS WITH MOVIE FESTIVAL

Actress JENNIFER CONNELLY overcame her fear of horror movies by watching back-to-back spooky classics with her husband - as she prepared for her scary new thriller DARK WATER.

The Oscar winner knew she'd have to face her fears when she signed up to play a young mum fighting an apartment building's spooks in the WALTER SALLES film.

So she turned off all the lights in her New York apartment and sat through one terror ride after another, clutching husband PAUL BETTANY's hands.

She says, "I have always been very affected by horror stories and I am a little afraid of them. I watched the original Japanese film before I signed on for the role and it opened up a whole world for me because I hadn't seen a scary film in ages.

"I thought of myself as someone who didn't do scary movies and I was really impressed by it and realised that I had been missing out.

"Then I had these scary movie film festivals, which basically meant my husband and I watched like two or three a night. There are fantastic films that have been made over the years like ROSEMARY'S BABY and DON'T LOOK NOW, which has become one of my favourites."