The Psychology of Scary Movies Pt. 2

What makes horror films so attractive to audiences? What are some of the theories around the popularity of horror films? How do horror films relate to nightmares?

    The thing that makes horror films so attractive to audiences is a variety of reasons, primarily having to do with the emotions which they evoke. Some theories around the popularity of horror films are catharsis, excitation transfer, curiosity and fascination, disposition alignment, sensation seeking, gender socialization, and societal fears. The first theory is that horror allows audiences to "purge" or experience their negative emotions in a safe way through catharsis. The excitation theory is where the negative feelings created will later amplify the positive feelings of the hero winning at the end. Another theory is that these films exist outside of the norm of the real world, thus the allure is in seeing something abnormal. The sensation seeking theory is that people are seeking the thrill from horror films, much like one does on a rollercoaster or bungee jumping. The disposition alignment theory is essentially that people want to see "bad" people punished, often by being killed off. The gender socialization, or "snuggle," theory is where people enjoy it for how horror films can be a sort of representation or strengthen gender norms, such as a girlfriend being scared or a boyfriend not being scared. Societal fears often drive the premise or reflect the themes of horror films that are made in that time. Because of how many different theories there are, it is safe to say that many of these could be true for different people as people who watch horror movies could watch them for different reasons. Horror films relate to nightmares as movies and cinema is often compared to dreaming; thus horror could be attributed to nightmares. A primary theory about why we dream is to sort through information, thus watching a film is like that as we could observe scenarios and gain understanding or practice skills in a way. Thus, horror films allow us to practice or instinctual survival skills, such as fight or flight, in a safe space.