When we talking about horror movies, many people love it, but some don’t, and even cannot understand them. As for me, I am a big fan of horror movies and feel excited when watching them. Well, why people love horror movies?

In psychology, the human evolution, the environment that our ancestors live determine the fear that lurking in our subconscious. “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” (“The psychology of scary movies”, n.d.). When human look at something scaring like monsters, ghosts, or even places that seem dangerous and horrible, part of our brain will be activated. In the article “The psychology of scary movies”, the author pointed out several factors that influence why human love horror. They are tension, relevance, and unrealism. It is kind interesting that unrealism is included in these factors. We all know that the monsters, freaks on screen are not real, while we are still fearing of them, and sometimes cannot help to think of them when we are alone at night.  Carroll claims, “the disclosure of the existence of the horrific being and of its properties is the central source of pleasure in the genre” (282). This is a process that we find out that these horrible things are not real. Furthermore, many horror movies are related with real events in history and why people love them may be a reflection of societal fears. In the source that I found pointed out several examples like “mutant monsters rising in 50s from our fear of the nuclear bogeyman, Zombies in the 60s with Vietnam, Nightmare on Elm Street as mistrust in authority figures stemming from the Watergate scandals and Zombies again in the 2000s as a reflection of viral pandemic fears”. (n. d.) Although this theory is still incomplete, it still can explain some reasons anyway. There’s another theory about the preference of horror is they are choose to be unhappy. The authors explain that “when individuals who typically choose to avoid the stimuli were embedded in a protective frame of mind, such that there was sufficient psychological disengagement or detachment, they experienced positive feelings while still experiencing fearfulness.” This theory is quit fit for me. When I watching horror movies, I feel really being scared but cannot help to watch them. I really enjoy the feeling being scared and the relax after the movie is end and breathe the fresh air out of the cinema.

Reference:

Carroll, N. (2002). Why Horror?. In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., Chap. 17). New York, NY: Routledge.

The Psychology of Scary Movies. (n.d.). Retrieved November 9, 2014, from http://filmmakeriq.com/lessons/the-psychology-of-scary-movies/

University of Chicago Press Journals. (2007, July 31). Why Do People Love Horror Movies? They Enjoy Being Scared. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 10, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070725152040.htm