OUR FASCINATION WITH FRIGHT

Theres something about horror that speaks directly and instinctively to the human
animal. Millions of years of evolutionary psychology have ingrained in our minds
certain fear triggers a survival instinct Fear of the Dark where predatory animals
might be laying in wait Fear of animals with large sharp teeth who would make a
quick meal of us. Fear of Poisonous Spiders who can kill with one bite. So ingrained
into our developmental psychology that research done by Nobuo Masataka show
that children as young as three have an easier time spotting snakes on a computer
screen than they do spotting flowers. Research by Christof Koch show that the right
amygydala, the portion of the brain associated with fear learning, responds more
vigorously to images of animals than to images of people, landmarks or objects even
though those are much more dangerous in our civilized world.
This may explain the shape of our movie monsters: creatures with sharp teeth or
snake like appearance. The fear of being eaten alive also explains the cannabilistic
traits of human monsters like Dracula and Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
But brain scan research in 2010 by Thomas Straube at the Friedrich Schiller
University of Jena show that scary movies dont actually activate fear responses in
the amygdala at all. Instead, it was other parts of the brain that were firing the
visual cortex the part of the brain responsible for processing visual information, the
insular cortex- self awareness, the thalamus -the relay switch between brain
hemispheres, and the dorsal-medial prefrontal cortex the part of the brain
associated with planning, attention, and problem solving.
So were not really being scared at the movies at least not necessarily in the brain
chemistry way whats going on?

WHAT IS HORROR ANYWAY?

Before we try to explain the psychological attraction to horror lets try to establish
what the allure of horror is. Psychologist Dr. Glenn D. Walters identifies three primary
factors of the horror film allure.
 LOVE AT FIRST BITE

The first is tension created through mystery, suspense, gore, terror, or shock. This
is pretty straight forward elements of horror, the craft and technique of filmmaking.
The second factor is relevance. In order for a horror film to be seen, it has to be
relevant to potential viewers. This relevance can take the form of universal relevance
capturing the universal fear of things like death and the unknown, it can take on
cultural relevance dealing with societal issues. Audiences can find subgroup
relevance groups like teenagers which many horror films are about. Lastly, theres
personal relevance either in a way that identifies with the protagonist or in a way
that condemns the antagonists or victims to their ultimate fate.
The last factor, which may be the most counter intuitive is unrealism. Despite the
graphic nature of recent horror films, we all know at some level that what we are
watching is not real. Haidt, McCauley and Rozin conducted research on disgust,
showing students in 1994 a series of gruesome documentary videos few could
make it to the end and yet these same students would pay to see even worse acts
conducted on a movie screen. Why? Perhaps its because when we walk into a
theater we know what were seeing on screen is fabricated reality. Movies are edited
from multiple camera angles with soundtracks and sometimes horror is tempered
and made palatable with black humor a sly wink that what youre seeing on screen
isnt real. This also explains why we all remember that scary movie we saw when we
were way too young but looks hokey now. Children have a harder time separating
reality and fiction especially when its on a movie screen
According to Walters, movies that bring high levels of tension, are relevant in
universal, cultural, subgroup and personal ways while maintaining an air of unrealism
will have greater horror appeal.

8 INCOMPLETE THEORIES ON OUR

ATTRACTION TO HORROR
So we have an idea of what horror is why are people drawn to it?

SIGMUND FREUD
The Psychoanalytic community, including Sigmund Freud himself posited that
horror came from the Uncanny emergence of images and thoughts of the
primitive id that were being suppressed by the civilized ego. Jung thought that horror
movies tapped into primordial archetypes buried deep in our collective subconscious
images like shadow and mother play important role in the horror genre. But
psychoanalysis is hard to test empirically, so its hard to say if these ideas fall more
in the realm of philosophy.

ARISTOTLE

Speaking of philosophy the Greek Philosopher Aristotle, yes he I know, he didnt

exactly get to watch scary movies he thought that people were attracted to scary
stories and violent dramatic plays because it gave them a chance to purge their
negative emotions a process he called catharsis. Using Aristotles argument, we
would watch violent movies and play violent video games to release the pent up
feelings of aggression. Unfortunately for Aristotle, research has shown the opposite
watching violence actually makes people MORE aggressive. Pent up feelings of
anger can actually be reduced by watching something else like humor or erotica. But
there may still be a correlation between watching horror films and the reduction of
fear.
 DOLF ZILLMAN

The Excitation Transfer theory is sort of a new take on Catharsis. Dr. Dolf Zillmann,
argued in 1978 that the negative feelings created by horror movies actually intensify
the positive feelings when the hero triumphs in the end. But what about movies
where the hero doesnt triumph? And even in some small studies have show that
peoples enjoyment was actually higher during the scary parts of a horror film than it
was after.
 NOL CARROLL

Film Scholar Nol Carroll puts forth the idea that horror films are the product
of curiosity and fascination. Horror exists outside of the everyday existence of
normal behavior. Studies by Tamborini, Stiff and Zillmann have shown that there is a
significant correlation between people who are accepting of norm-violating behavior
and interest in horror movies. But that doesnt explain why some viewers respond
positively when the norm violators such as the sexual promiscuous teenage couple,
the criminal, the adulterer are punished and killed by the movie monster.
This enjoyment of the punishment of those that deserves it makes up
the Dispositional Alignment Theory. We like horror movies because the people on
screen getting killed deserve it. But this may give us insight into who the audiences
want to see eat it but its not a clear picture of why horror films are popular in the first
place.
 MARVIN ZUCKERMAN

Another theory put forth by Marvin Zuckerman in 1979 proposed that people who
scored high in the Sensation Seeking Scale often reported a greater interest in
exciting things like rollercasters, bungee jumping and horror films. Researchers have
found correlation but it isnt always significant. Even Zuckerman noted that picking
only one trait misses the fact that there are lots of things that draw people to horror
films.
The Gender Socialization theory put forth in 1986 by Zillman, Weaver, Mundorf
and Aust considers horror films as sort of a codification of traditional gender roles
which is often referred to as the Snuggle Theory. Experiments with adolescent
boys found that they enjoyed a horror film more when their female companion (who
was a research plant) was visibly scared. The opposite was true with girls who found
horror films less enjoyable when their male companions were physically scared. The
girls enjoyed the film more when their boys were brave and handled their fear. This
may be one shade of how horror films play in our culture but it doesnt explain why
some people go to horror films alone or what happens after adolescence.

DAVID J. SKAL

Finally, DJ Skal posits that horror films are a reflection of our societal fears. Looking
at the history of horror you have mutant monsters rising in 50s from our fear of the
nuclear bogeyman, Zombies in the 60s with Vietnam, Nightmare on Elm Street as a
mistrust in authority figures stemming from the Watergate scandals and Zombies
again in the 2000s as a reflection of viral pandemic fears. But for as many horror
cycles that fit the theory, there are many that dont. And horror films work on a
universal level crossing national boundaries while still working in different cultures..

4 CATEGORIES OF HORROR WATCHING

If these 8 theories are at best incomplete -whats going on?

First we have approach the question with the idea that not all of us watch all horror
movies for the same reason. In a 1995 study Deirdre D. Johnston studied 220 high
school students watching slasher films and found that motivations fell into four
general categories:
 Gore watching characterized by low empathy, high sensation seeking, and
in males a strong identification with the killer
Thrill watching high empathy and high sensation seeking motivated by
the suspense of the film and more identification with the victims.
Independent Watching high empathy for the victim with a high positive
effect of overcoming fear
Problem Watching high empathy for the victim but characterized by
negative effect sense of helplessness.
With just a small sample of adolescents in a subset of horror films the slasher
genre we can see that there are many reasons people watch horror and
sometimes those motivations might change from day to day or from movie to movie.
The complexity of the brain and variation in peoples tastes, dont allow for a simple
universal explanation, though the brain scan research I mentioned earlier may shed
some light on this topic.

HORROR AS A VEHICLE FOR GROWTH

Film is the ultimate artistic medium so far devised by mankind. It combines
photography, motion, visual arts, acting, writing, and music a sensory experience
that engages us so completely that watching a movie is often compared to dreaming.
So would that make horror films nightmares?

The truth is we still dont know why we dream. The Contemporary Theory of
Dreaming as described by Ernest Hartmann, the professor of psychiatry at Tufts
University School of Medicine, sees dreams as the brains sorting through the bits of
information its gathered throughout the waking hours. But the images and
connections we make while dreaming arent totally random, theyre guided by our
emotions maybe working through a recent trauma or dealing with angst and fear.
So perhaps watching a film is somewhere between being awake and being in a
dream state. Much like play films are a safe place where we can sort through stuff,
learn skills to apply in everyday life. How do you defeat the a slow walking Jason
Vorhees you cant outrun his slow stride. The only way is to face him straight on.
Though a zombie apocalypse is a far fetched reality, the survivorship skills on display
in a zombie horror film have some practical merit in our normal every-day world.

ZOMBIELAND

Horror movies require us to face the unknown to understand it and make it less
scary. They allow us to see our fears and put them into context, to play what if, and
in doing so, they shape our belief systems, how we see each other and ourselves.
They are a safe place to explore and for some just a good bit of fun. The fact is we
are just getting to understand how our brains work, but Scary stories that is
something that will never go away in the words of Aurther Conan Doyle: Where
there is no imagination there is no horror go out and make something terrifying!