If asked out of context, it seems reasonable to expect most people to answer that they do not particularly enjoy the feeling of fear. And yet, many actively seek out the most frightening horror movies they can find, even when the scenarios projected across the screen inspire an unsettling sense of anxiety, and even terror, that persists long after the credits have rolled.

There is no question that these movies are able to effectively stimulate very real feelings of fear, even if we are cognitively aware that we are in no real danger. During intense sequences, our brains have the ability to temporarily synchronise with what we witness on-screen, resulting in the corresponding activation of brain regions involved in our perception of fear, such as the amygdala (Nummenmaa, 2021).

One might wonder if people who enjoy horror movies are less susceptible to fear. However, this is not necessarily the case. Rather, the positive and negative emotions felt by horror movies enjoyers were generated simultaneously, and were positively correlated with each other, a pattern that is reversed for those who tend to avoid horror movies (Andrade & Cohen, 2007). In fact, both groups experienced similar levels of negative affect; fascinatingly, positive emotions would arise concurrently even for those who disliked horror movies, if they were made conscious of the fact that what they were watching was fictional (Winner, 2018).

One factor potentially contributing to this contrast is personality traits. People with a greater need for sensational or thrilling new experiences are more likely to like horror movies, whereas high empathy might cause one to relate or respond strongly to the on-screen suffering of the
characters, undermining elements of the film that might have otherwise been enjoyable (Robinson et al., 2014). In addition, Kiss et al. (2024) have proposed that a distinction be made between enjoyment and excitement, which do not always overlap. For example, horror scenes that prompt disgust might reduce enjoyment, but remain exciting, and thus appeal to viewers nonetheless.

On a final note, it is interesting to consider what the art and stories we produce and consume might reflect about us as a species. It is highly possible that our survival is enhanced by being biologically predisposed to fear stimuli associated with danger, such as the full moon, following which humans have faced greater risk of predation throughout history (Packer et al., 2011). If art carries some degree of self-expression, it makes sense that the full moon has always been a prevalent motif in our myths and legends, even before the advent of film-making and horror movies.

Given how some of our fears appear to have an evolutionary origin, and may thus be applicable to many of us as a collective, the genre of horror might have become a medium through which these fears find expression. The next time that you decide to watch a horror movie, why not take a moment to ponder the fears that echo your own, and what evolutionary functions, if any, they may serve?

 

Written by:

Laura Zheng Kailin

National University of Singapore (NUS)

 

References:

Andrade, E. B., & Cohen, J. B. (2007). On the Consumption of Negative Feelings. Journal of Consumer Research, 34(3), 283–300. https://doi.org/10.1086/519498

Kiss, B. L., Deak, A., Veszprémi, M. D., Blénessy, A., & Zsido, A. N. (2024). The role of excitement and enjoyment through subjective evaluation of horror film scenes. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 2987. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-53533-y

Nummenmaa, L. (2021). Psychology and neurobiology of horror movies. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/b8tgs

Packer, C., Swanson, A., Ikanda, D., & Kushnir, H. (2011). Fear of Darkness, the Full Moon and the Nocturnal Ecology of African Lions. PLoS ONE, 6(7), e22285. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0022285

Robinson, T., Callahan, C., & Evans, K. (2014). Why Do We Keep Going Back? A Q Method Analysis of our Attraction to Horror Movies. Operant Subjectivity, 37(1/2). https://doi.org/10.22488/okstate.14.100537

Winner, E. (2018). Drawn to Pain: The Paradoxical Enjoyment of Negative Emotion in Art. In E.

Winner, How Art Works (1st ed., pp. 88–100). Oxford University Press New York. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190863357.003.0007