“kowai” (scary) is easy to mix up with “kawaii” (cute). Please try to avoid doing this as it is rather awkward to accidentally tell a new mother “Your baby is incredibly frightening”.
You should also know that “kowai” can refer not only to “being scary” but also to “feeling scared”. So you have to look at the context of the sentence to figure out what the other person is saying. If someone describes themselves with “kowai” they probably mean that they feel scared, not that they personally consider themselves to be terrifying.
Vocabulary
映画 = えいが = movie
怖い = こわい = scary
Transcript
言語ガールズ #72
Gore Or Bore?
Blue: その映画は怖かったです
Yellow: いいえ。怖くなかったです。
Blue: You didn’t think it was scary? Event the scene with all the zombies?
Yellow: Zombiesは怖くないです
Yellow: What’s scary about a slow moving target that can be picked off with a single shot from a hunting rifle?
Blue: Maybe one zombie isn’t a threat, but what happens when there are hundreds?
Yellow: I guess shooting that many one by one would get pretty tedious…