Why We Love Horror Movies

Fear is powerful — especially at the movies. From creature features to social thrillers, this is the psychology of why we love horror films.

Transcript

00:00Ultimately, horror movies are a social experience.

00:09We want that monster to be killed, and just like everyone else in the theater, we want

00:15to see the people in the cabin escape with their lives.

00:18We love the thrill of testing our sensations, of being scared while knowing that we're really

00:24in a safe place and no harm will really come to us.

00:27When we're watching movies, we typically are suppressing our motor action.

00:31We know it's a movie, we know we should stay in our seat.

00:34But sometimes, the perception is so strong that it triggers an emotion that overrides

00:39our cognition, and we jump or we scream.

00:43After we do that, we might be a little embarrassed that we've done that.

00:46After all, it is only a movie.

00:48So we look to our friends, and we start laughing.

00:50Oh, I can't believe the movie got me to do that.

00:53And that laughter is really a social conditioning.

01:27It's a field where neuroscientists and film scholars are working together to understand

01:32what movies do to our brain, what's actually happening in our brains while we watch movies.

01:38What makes horror movies different than reading a horror book or listening to a ghost story

01:44is that we have more immersion.

01:46We're actually seeing things happen in front of us.

01:49We're actually seeing the stabbing motions, the monster jumping from off screen.

01:57What are the dangers of horror movies?

02:02What are the risks?

02:05What are the risks of horror movies?

02:08What are the risks of horror movies?

02:11What are the risks of horror movies?

02:14Horror movies, as a genre, allow filmmakers to express ideas that they may not otherwise

02:21be able to do as safely.

02:23So for instance, Jordan Peele's Get Out and Us wrestle with questions of race in American

02:31culture, but are able to do that within the safety of the horror genre.

02:37So people think that they're going to see a horror movie and are really getting lessons

02:42in the history of race relations.

02:54So we're coming back to this visceral turn in the movies where by seeing, perceiving,

03:07hearing what's happening in front of us, we're testing our emotions to see does anything

03:13really scare us anymore?

03:15So I think horror movies still sit in that special place of shockiness, of surprising

03:20us.

03:22And because we're so used to other media trying to do that to us, it's a real pleasure when

03:28something authentically can do that for us.