Some people can’t get enough of scary movies. They’ve seen scores of scary films –over and over. They catch horror flicks on opening night. They have DVD collections at home.
Personally, I wouldn’t be caught dead watching a scary movie. They freak me out, leaving me unsettled for days — the images a record player in my mind. In fact, I have a hard enough time sitting through the scarier scenes of “Sons of Anarchy.” (I watch it with my boyfriend, and sometimes need to leave the room.)
With Halloween upon us — the prime season for horror films — I was curious to find out why some people savor scary movies. And others, like me, can’t stand them.
The Excitation Transfer Process
According to Glenn Sparks, one reason for the appeal is how you feel after the movie.
Glenn Sparks
This is called the excitation transfer process. Sparks’s research found that when people watch frightening films, their heart rate, blood pressure and respiration increases.
After the film is over, this physiological arousal lingers, Sparks said. (We’re just not aware of it.) That means that any positive emotions you experience – like having fun with friends – are intensified, he said. Instead of focusing on the fright you felt during the film, you recall having a great time. And you’ll want to come back for more, he said.
However, if your experience was negative, you might not. For instance, let’s say you were on a date that wasn’t going well or you got into a car accident on your way home, Sparks said. Again, because your lingering arousal heightens any emotions you experience, the negative feelings might sway you to skip a scary flick in the future.
Other Reasons
Glenn Sparks
Joanne Cantor, Ph.D, director of the Center for Communication Research at University
of Wisconsin, claims that some people may like scary movies because they enjoy the adrenaline rush of being scared while being safe. Cantor said , “Some people like anything that gets their minds off their own problems”.
If you want to enjoy a horror flick, but don’t know how, Eduardo Andrade, a professor
Professor Eduardo Andrade
of marketing at the University of California, Berkley, who co-authored the 2007 studywith Cohen, suggests learning to detach yourself from the film’s events. By understanding that the films are acted out, and that all of the blood, guts, and gore are only special effects, you might be able to enjoy them a bit more. “No one’s arm is being sawed off. It’s a special effect. People are not being maimed. These are actors,” Andrade told LiveScience, referring to the movie Saw.
So is the fear you feel when you watch someone being chased by an axe-wielding murderer any different from the fear you might feel if you were actually being chased by an axe-wielding murderer?
The answer is no, at least not from where Glenn Sparks sits. Sparks, a professor of communication at Purdue University, studies the effects of horror films on viewers’ physiology. When people watch horrific images, their heartbeat increases as much as 15 beats per minute, Sparks tells WebMD.
Their palms sweat, their skin temperature drops several degrees, their muscles tense, and their blood pressure spikes.
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. Tension – created through mystery, suspense, gore, terror, or shock. This is pretty straight forward elements of horror, the craft and technique of filmmaking. Unrealism-despite the graphic nature of recent horror films, we all know at some level that what we are watching is not real. 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 you’re seeing on screen isn’t 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.
Some people can’t get enough of scary movies. They’ve seen scores of scary films –over and over. They catch horror flicks on opening night. They have DVD collections at home.
If you want to enjoy a horror flick, but don’t know how, Eduardo Andrade, a professor
Before we try to explain the psychological attraction to horror lets try to establish what the allure of horror is.
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