horror movie classification essay

What is Horror? Definition and Examples in Film

W hy are humans drawn to the horror genre? From books to film, we can’t seem to get enough of what scares us most. In this article, we will look at the definition of horror and why we enjoy the genre so much. We will also look at a brief history of American cinema and how horror has evolved over the years. While this article will provide a general definition of horror, the genre is open to interpretation. After all, what is horror to you, is Child’s Play to me.

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Define Horror

The horror genre explained.

Horror is one of the most popular genres in storytelling. What began in literature can now be found in movies, television, theatre, and video games. The horror genre has been divided into many sub-genres with their own definitions and criteria. Before we get to those, let's define horror at a basic level:

HORROR DEFINITION

What is horror.

Horror is a genre of storytelling intended to scare, shock, and thrill its audience. Horror can be interpreted in many different ways, but there is often a central villain, monster, or threat that is often a reflection of the fears being experienced by society at the time. This person or creature is called the “other,” a term that refers to someone that is feared because they are different or misunderstood. This is also why the horror genre has changed so much over the years. As culture and fears change, so does horror.

What are some defining elements of the horror genre?

• Themes : The horror genre is often a reflection of the culture and what it fears at the time (invasion, disease, nuclear testing, etc.). 
• Character Types : Besides the killer, monster, or threat, the various sub-genres contain certain hero archetypes (e.g., the Final Girl in Slasher movies).
• Setting : Horror can have many settings, such as: a gothic castle, small town, outer space, or haunted house. It can take place in the past, present or future.
• Music : This is an important facet in the horror genre. It can be used with great effect to build atmosphere and suspense.

Horror Subgenres

Different types of horror movies.

The horror genre has given birth to many sub-genres and hybrids of these various types. Each has its own unique themes, but all of them share one common goal: FEAR.

Found Footage

The point-of-view takes place from the perspective of a camera. Famous titles include  The Blair Witch Project  and  Rec .  

Lovecraftian

Focuses on cosmic horror. Monsters are beings beyond our comprehension. Often incorporates science fiction, including horror classics like  Alien  and  The Thing . 

Psychological

This sub-genre focuses on the horror of the mind. What is real? What is madness? Two great psychological horror movies are  Silence of the Lambs  and  Jacob’s Ladder . 

Science Fiction

Focuses on the horror and consequences of technology. Monsters are often aliens or machines. Two great sci-fi horror movies are  The Blob   and  War of the Worlds .

The monster is a psychopath with a penchant for bloody murder. Often focuses on the punishment of promiscuous teenagers. Popular movies include  Halloween  and  A Nightmare on Elm Street .

Supernatural

Focuses on the afterlife. Primary creatures include ghosts and demons. Great titles include  Poltergeist   and  The Exorcist .

Similar to slasher; focuses on the punishment of people. The villain takes pleasure in the physical and psychological torment of victims. Famous movies include  Hostel  and  Saw . 

One of the oldest horror sub-genres in which icons like Dracula feed on human blood. Some of the best vampire movies include  Nosferatu and Interview with the Vampire . 

When a full moon is out, beware of these beastly shape-shifters. The best werewolf movies include  An American Werewolf in London  and  The Wolf Man . 

A group of survivors is usually attacked by a horde of flesh-eating undead.  Night of the Living Dead  is considered one of the best zombie movies along with  28 Days Later... and Shaun of the Dead .

A History of Horror Movies 1896-2018

Horror vs thriller, the relationship of horror and thriller.

While the two genres are often confused, there is a clear difference between horror and thriller movies. Horror movie rules demand violence and a monster that appears early and relatively frequently. The climax revolves around a final fight or an escape from the monster. The "monster" in horror is typically "unnatural" or even "supernatural," whereas thrillers tend to rely on human threats.

In a thriller, there is much more mystery and discovery. Tensions rise as the protagonist gets closer to discovering the evil threat. The climax revolves around a big reveal, such as the true intentions of the villain.

The two genres con blend, of course, such as the modern horror/thriller Get Out (2017). Something like  Halloween  might also be considered a crossover since the killer is human but he exhibits supernatural abilities — like how he never seems to die when he's "killed."

Now that we've covered our horror film definition, let's take a look back at a history of horror movies. Through the decades, the horror movie has evolved to reflect what we we fear the most, as explained in this video.

The Horror Genre and Cultural Fears

1930’s horror, horror and the depression.

The 1930s was a tough period for America. We were in the midst of the Great Depression and Americans were feeling more desperate than ever before.  Despite the economic turmoil, people spent what little they had on entertainment, like movies. One of the first great American horror films that garnered much popularity was Dracula (1931), based on the novel by Bram Stoker. And it set the standard for the  Best Vampire Movies thereafter.

But why was Dracula so terrifying? Americans were afraid of European influence. World War I ended only 13 years prior. The American mindset was still heavily influenced by the atrocities that took place. Combined with the influx of European immigrants, people were afraid of outsiders corrupting American culture. Someone had to be the scapegoat.

Another film that was a reflection of the fears of the time was  Frankenstein (1931), based on the novel by Mary Shelly. This movie created a more sympathetic monster; one that was fleeing from the oppression of his creator.

Below is the original disclaimer that ran before the movie began. It is a warning played up for dramatic effect ("...it might even horrify you!"). 

Frankenstein Disclaimer

Americans felt as though they that their government had failed them.  They blamed their leaders for their misfortune, much like how Dr. Frankenstein failed to protect his creation.

A recurring theme in horror is that the monster is often mankind itself. The villagers lashed out against something they didn’t understand, becoming monsters themselves.

What is Horror? Dracula (1931)

1950s horror, horror in the '50s.

World War II ended in 1945, but it left a huge mark on the world, both literally and figuratively. The use of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki gave way to a new era of fear in the nuclear age. The consequences of mankind’s use of science and technology would become a common theme.

Often not thought of as horror, Godzilla (1954) is a Japanese film that came to America. It was a response to the bombs used by the U.S. In this story, an animal is transformed by nuclear radiation into a giant monster and terrorizes the country. With the advent of the nuclear age, many questions and fears were brought up with this powerful but dangerous energy source.

The monster movie has a rich tradition within the horror genre, dating back to the very first movies. Do yourself a favor and watch this documentary on the history of the monster movie.

History of the Horror Genre  •  Monster Movies

The 50’s also gave to the Red Scare and the fear of communism. The theme of invasion became prevalent in many monster movies. Science fiction would blend with the horror genre, giving birth to films such as   War of the Worlds (1953) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).

In the first film, aliens begin an invasion of earth in a small town, indicative of a communist attack. In the second film, humans are replaced with alien duplicates, which represents the fear of communism overtaking democracy.

What is Horror? War of the Worlds (1953)

1960s-'70s horror, when the monster became human.

The 1960s-'70s was a period of uncertainty and violence for America. We were in the midst of the Vietnam War, a conflict that caused much controversy. For the first time, the U.S. was no longer in the right for a global conflict. The violence committed by men led to the fear of what we as a species were capable of.

Night of the Living Dead (1968) came as a result of this fear and uncertainty. The monsters, which looked very human, would mercilessly attack, kill and devour people. What made the zombies most terrifying was that they could take on the appearance of our loved ones. If we cannot trust our fellow human, who can we trust?

Thanks to a copyright error,  Night of the Living Dead belongs in the public domain. That means you can watch it for free right now. Any self-respecting horror genre fan has to watch this movie.

Watch Night of the Living Dead in its entirety

The 70’s were also known for the increase in news coverage on serial killer murders. Media outlets reported on these maniacs as if they were celebrities. People were afraid of the monster next door coming by and killing them in their homes.

This gave rise to the first “slasher,” Halloween (1978). Despite appearing human, Michael Myers was  an unstoppable killer that stalked his victims with murderous intent. Slashers grew immensely in popularity, even affecting movies that are not slashers .

The slasher sub-genre would also explore the subject of morality. The sexually promiscuous would be punished and violently murdered, while the moral “Final Girl” would survive to the bitter end.

One would think that these human monsters would drive people away from horror. But the blood-soaked films would make the genre more popular than ever.

What is Horror? Halloween (1976)

1980s-'90s horror, what is self-aware horror.

Coming out of the serial killer era in the '70s, the '80s would continue the trend of slashers with a massive influx of these movies. Friday the 13th ,   A Nightmare on Elm Street   and even Halloween would spawn numerous sequels, each one more absurd than the last.

Hitting a breaking point, the horror genre became more "aware" of itself in the form of Scream (1996). Though very much still a slasher, this film acknowledged the well-worn tropes established by its predecessors, such as the Final Girl.

What is Horror? Scream (1996)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) would take the trope of the weak high school girl and turn her into a monster killer. While the protagonist, Buffy, was killing vampires and other monsters, she and her friends would still experience the woes of being a teenager.

The '90s would also pave the way for a new sub-genre: found footage. The Blair Witch Project   (1999) gave the audience the point-of-view of a camera, putting them in the shoes of the victims. This made the horror more personal for viewers, revitalizing the genre as a whole.

Horror Sub-genres  •  Found Footage

2000s horror, when the horror film took a dark turn.

After 9/11, the war on terror would spawn a generation of films that would redefine what horror is: torture. The prospect of psychos capturing and torturing their victims, both physically and psychologically proved to be a box office success.

Perhaps the most notorious of these is Saw (2004). In this film, a sociopath captures several people and forces them to play his sadistic games if they want to survive. This gruesome concept would spawn a plethora of sequels and copycats, flooding the market and coining a new term for the excess of violence: torture porn.

Global fears and international terror attacks made the end of the world seem more plausible. People became more fascinated than ever over the prospect of a catastrophe like a zombie apocalypse.

As such, the horror genre would reflect this with shows such as The Walking Dead (2010-present). How would any of us survive? How can something so overwhelming ever be stopped? As zombie movies grew in popularity, so did the number of movies. And as this video explains, what we now call "zombies" began as something quite different.

Horror Sub-genres  •  Zombies

The future of horror, what is horror today.

To say we live in a new world would be an understatement. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we act, think and feel. Global culture as a whole has changed and it will continue to do so for some time. As such, expect the horror genre to reflect this evolution of fear. Don’t be surprised when an influx of movies revolving around isolation and global pandemics hits theaters.

There has been a sort of renaissance of horror movies in the last decade that has been quite excited to watch. Films like The Witch , It Follows and Hereditary have been dubbed "elevated horror" — a divisive term to say the least. Whatever we call them, they are all still really strong and effective horror movies. Here's a breakdown of Midsommar and how the shape of the horror genre continues to evolve.

How Ari Aster Uses the Background  •   Subscribe on YouTube

The best horror movies of all time.

We just covered a very broad horror genre definition and there is a lot more to explore. We've been talking a lot about the horror genre but now it's time to face our fears and actually watch some. Through the last century, across genre to sub-genre, from ghouls to goblins, here are the Best Horror Movies of All Time.

Up Next: Best Horror Movies →

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I would like to know the 5 elements of horror but I liked it

This was amazing!

On Facebook, many horror devotees stated decisively that "FREAKS" 1932 was the first horror movie with a female lead named Cleopatra. Cleopatra is transformed into a deformed duck in this famous movie. However, to my way of thinking and perhaps yours (Jonathan Scott), a deformed duck is not particularly horrifying nor does it fit your definition of an alien, monster or a human threat. What do you think? Does FREAKS somehow fit into the horror genre?

Wow… was that a ride or what?!?!… Thank you for that great knowledge. I just stepped onto the scene and into the Movie Industry with a wealth of knowledge. Thank You

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) is a fascinating movie I've seen many times. It's funny: the film stock is grainy, the acting is sketchy, black-and-white means you never see red blood, the music is generic potboiler they found somewhere and grafted it on. Yet it remains for me such an unnerving, iconic picture. Its very flaws actually seem to enhance the horror effect…

I like horror that emerges from very plausible, quotidian places… as with THE EXORCIST. In fact, I don't need ski-masks, gothic mansions or weird costumes… I love the horror that comes from being alive everyday, as with BLACK SWAN. JACOB'S LADDER works this way, too.

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The Codes and Conventions of Horror Films

Introduction.

Horror films often feature the dark and ominous atmospheres of dimly lit rooms, nightmarish music, and characters who should not be venturing down into their basements alone. Perhaps the house is cursed by malevolent spirts or the rural community is being terrorised by a masked maniac.

We enjoy watching horror films because they provoke a pleasing sort of terror.

It does not matter if the story takes place in an old graveyard, the haunted woods at the end of the lane, or in the vacuum of deep space where no one can hear you scream. The film just has to be scary. That is why Brigid Cherry (2009) argued the “function of horror to scare, shock, revolt or otherwise horrify the viewer” was more important to the definition of the genre compared to “any set of conventions, tropes or styles”.

As filmmakers continue to find new ways to frighten the audience, we are going to focus on the essential conventions and aesthetics of the genre , its enduring appeal, and why companies continue to profit from horror films.

The Iconography of Horror Films

Iconography refers to the pattern of signs which are closely associated with certain genres. We already know horror films are set in bleak and gloomy locations, such as haunted houses, abandoned buildings, small towns, and remote cabins in the woods. There is usually a sense of isolation and confinement in these dark spaces. The audience will expect to hear the wind howling across the desolate landscape and the old floorboards to creak with every step.

The poster for The Conjuring uses some of codes and conventions of horror to grab the audience’s attention. First, the title denotes paranormal tricks and demonic possession. The references to Saw and Insidious establishe the director’s genre credibility. Of course, the lonely farmhouse looks forsaken along the rough and misty trees. This isolation increases the sense of threat because its occupants will be helpless against the evil forces.

Perhaps the most sinister signifier is the noose tied to the bare and misshapen tree. Did you notice the shadow of the girl? The combination of these elements is the punctum designed to strike fear into the audience.

Finally, the macabre tone is reinforced by heavy, grey sky and the dying leaves scattered across the field. The poster is certainly trying to make the audience feel uneasy and want to experience this nightmare for themselves.

Many horror posters will contain variations of this fusion of codes – their settings and props will be just as menacing. We might see incomplete glimpses of the monster, such as a close up of its hideous fangs or its shadow cast against the wall, so its reveal will be shocking when it appears the big screen.

In his discussion on genre, Steve Neale (1980) wrote “all the resources of the costume and make-up department are mobilised” in horror films to “frighten and terrify” the audience. These monsters are coming to get you, Barbara.

Most of the characters will not make it to the closing credits, but another common trope in horror movies is the “final girl”. She is the last survivor of a group of friends who defeats villain. Inevitably, there will be plenty of guts and gore along the way.

Technical Codes

Imagine paying a penny in the early days of cinema to see the black and white film stock being projected onto the large screen. There is no doubt that flickering, spectral quality made the characters and settings seem scarier. Even more recent films shot on digital cameras, such as The Blair Witch Project or 28 Days Later , can give the footage a gritty reality which will terrify the audience.

The genre has always exploited a range of filmmaking techniques to elicit fear.

Music and Sound Effects

A lot of effort and innovation goes into creating a scary mix of dialogue, effects, and music.

Orchestral scores are a familiar, unnerving presence in horror films. Dissonant chords and demonic whispers help create the unsettling atmospheres and deepen our understanding of the characters. How many times have you heard the music build to a crescendo during moments of high tension, such as a frenetic chase scene, or jump scares punctuated by sudden and jarring sounds? Composers will also use motifs to signal the arrival of certain events – epitomised by John William’s famous theme each time the shark appears in Jaws .

Another famous piece of music is Bernard Hermann’s score for Psycho which uses an amazing range of deep bass sounds and screeching violins to great effect. Perhaps the budget was only enough for string instruments. This article by Aaron Gilmartin is a good introduction to the composition and contains relevant extracts from the film.

Synthesisers became popular in horror films produced in the 1980s because they were more cost-effective. Listen to John Carpenter’s distinctive theme for Halloween – its disturbing pattern of pulses will have you looking over your shoulders. 

Music can enhance the emotional impact of a horror film, but diegetic sound is just as important. When the protagonist moves down the dark hallway of the farmhouse, the audience will expect to hear the nerve-tingling creaks of old floorboards – the awful silence in between each footstep should emphasise the character’s vulnerability. The sound of a distant clock ticking can develop a sense of impending danger and the awful buzz of chainsaw will surely disturb any viewer.

An interesting example is the motion tracking beep in Aliens when the increasing speed indicates the vicious monsters are getting closer and closer.

This scene also stresses the importance of dialogue. Private Hudson counts down to 6 and Ripley exclaims, “That can’t be. That’s inside the room.” The effective use of sound can be the difference between a good horror film and a truly terrifying one.

Lighting Design

Lighting sets the tone of the film. Bright and well-lit scenes feel safe, comforting and uplifting. By contrast, dark and dimly lit spaces create a sense of uncertainty and danger by playing on our natural fear of the unknown. When a character is alone in the dark, they are cut off from others which should make them seem more vulnerable.

Filmmakers also use deep shadows to obscure details and only show glimpses of the horror. Leaving the signifier to the viewer’s imagination can be more terrifying than actually seeing the monster or villain.

Light can be just as effective in creating a sense of dread and unease. A harsh spotlight might draw attention to a character’s face, making their frightened expression more intense for the viewer, or a flicking strobe light could highlight the monster’s erratic movements. Have you ever held a torch under your face while you told your friends a ghost story? This effect is called uplighting.

Consider the lighting design in this scene from The Conjuring which relies on light bulbs and matches to terrify the audience.

Derived from the Italian words chiaro (light) and scuro (dark), the term chiaroscuro refers to the use of strong contrasts between light and dark in a composition. In horror films, the effect can make the viewer feel incredibly anxious about what is lurking in those shadows.

This iconic shot from The Exorcist makes excellent use of the technique.

The image of Father Merrin arriving at the home to perform the exorcism was used all over the world for the film’s original poster. Symbolising the intense battle between good and evil, the chiaroscuro draws our attention to the connection between the silhouetted priest and the room where the demon has possessed the innocent girl.

By manipulating light and shadow, filmmakers can deliver a cinematic experience that is both visually striking and emotionally terrifying.

Framing the Horror

In cinematography, framing refers to the way the image is composed within the boundaries of the screen. Filmmakers have to decide what to include in the shot and how to arrange those elements in the frame to elicit the right response from the audience.

Wide shots are used to establish the setting, but they can also encode a sense of isolation and vulnerability by showing the characters in large, empty spaces. If a director wants the audience to connect with a character’s fear, they can tighten the camera into a close up of their face. Close ups are often used to highlight details of a monster’s face or body to make it more terrifying. The audience might even feel like they are the ones being hunted by the monster when the director cuts to a point-of-view shot.

Low-angle shots can make the villains appear larger and more powerful, while high-angle shots can make victims seem small and exposed. Tilted angles are disorientating and disrupt our comfortable view of the world.

Camera Movement and Editing

The process of selecting, arranging, and manipulating the different shots into a congruent narrative or visual sequence is called editing. These decisions can make or break a horror film. Have a look at the opening shots of It Follows .

The wide frame pans around the suburban street suggesting there is some sort of invisible danger stalking the young girl. There is a tremendous sense of dread encoded in that shot. The first take lasts an unnerving one minute and fifty seconds before we cut to an interior shot of the car. It is an over the shoulder shot. When Annie turns around to see if she is being followed, the fear is obvious in her eyes.

The third shot is another wide frame. She looks completely lost in that horizon between the sand and black sky. Even in the next shot, which is tighter on the character, encodes her vulnerability.

Annie reacts to the hidden threat, and we cut to a POV shot. The lights of the car make it appear demonic, especially the red taillights. Perhaps the evil force is hidden in the empty spaces either side. Then there is the shock cut. The appearance of her broken body is sudden and unexpected. Horrifying.

In this next sequence, the protagonist is in school when she notices a strange figure in the distance.

The slow push in, which moves the audience closer to the window, is intercut with Jay’s increasing anxiety. The more the old woman dominates the frame, the greater the threat. Jay’s distress is reinforced by the close up and then wide frame of her awkwardly leaving class.

The Steadicam follows her around the school corridor. This camera movement suggests she is disorientated by her distress, especially the image of her walking away from the lens cutting to a shot of her walking towards the audience.

When she realises the old woman is in the corridor, the smoother camera dolly pulls back in each shot, almost invading the audience’s space. The series of quick cuts intensifies the conflict between the characters.

The Interplay of Codes

Steve Neale (1980) argued cinema was a “semiotic process” and meaning was constructed through the “interplay of codes”. Horror films are “specific variations” of these codes. It is the combination of scary visual elements, frightening music and diegetic sound, careful lighting design, and cinematography which provokes that pleasing sort of terror we want to experience when we sit down in our comfortable seats to watch a horror film.

The Narrative of Horror

Horror films explore a variety of themes that tap into our deepest fears and anxieties, raise questions regarding our mortality and what lies beyond, and depict the darker aspects of human nature. Some stories explore the psychological impact of trauma, often featuring characters who are struggling with past events or mental illness. Other films feature a vengeful antagonist seeking revenge for perceived wrongs, creating a sense of moral ambiguity and justice.

Neale (1980) suggested “the disruptions in horror films are often violent”. The gruesome monster attacks the isolated village, a wicked demon takes possession of an innocent child, or a crazed killer begins their terrible revenge on the group of teenagers. Moving the narrative into a state of disequilibrium , these inciting incidents are “often linked to questions about being human and what is natural”.

The narratives obviously rely on action codes – the protagonist closes the bathroom cabinet to reveal the stalker is standing behind them or the vicious dogs chase our heroes through the foggy cemetery.

The Conjuring’s poster also draws attention to the film’s use of enigma codes with the reference to the “true case files of the Warrens”. The two demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren, agree to investigate the origins of the dark forces which are haunting the farmhouse. They soon discover the terrible story of the witch and her unholy sacrifices to the devil.

The Japanese horror film Ringu is also driven by enigma codes because the protagonist is a journalist who sets out to uncover the truth about a series of bizarre deaths. The clues lead her the tragic story of Sadako who could project her rage onto video tapes.

We might try to classify horror films into the genre of order because the central conflicts are “externalized, translated into violence, and usually resolved through the elimination of some threat to the social order”. In many early Hollywood studio productions, the monsters were defeated by the end of the story, providing reassuring and confident messages to the audience. More recently, in The Conjuring , for example, the curse is lifted and the witch is condemned to hell. Despite The Mist’s incredibly grim ending, the army are exterminating the creatures and saving the world.

Thomas Schatz (1981) suggested a “genre film’s resolution may reinforce the ideology of the larger society”. He also emphasised the narratives could “challenge and criticize” our values. Perhaps that is why horror films tend to have more ambiguous conclusions.

A great example is when Damien turns to the camera in The Omen , breaking the fourth wall, and smiles at the audience. The image of the devil relishing his victory leaves us with despair.

Horror Subgenres and Hybrids

Cherry (2009) argued the horror genre was “constantly shifting” with “new conceptual categories in order to keep on scaring the audience”. Her outline of these subgenres is a good summary of the different forms of horror.

The Gothic refers to films based on classic tales of horror, often adapting pre-existing horror monsters or horrifying creatures from novels and mythology. Cherry classified films which involved “interventions of spirits, ghosts, witchcraft, the devil, and other entities into the real world” as supernatural, occult and ghost films.

Psychological horror films explore psychological states and psychoses, including criminality and serial killers. Monster movies feature invasions of the everyday world by natural and extra-terrestrial creatures leading to death and destruction. Slashers portray groups of teenagers menaced by a stalker, set in domestic and suburban spaces. There are also body horror and splatter films, including postmodern zombie stories.

Filmmakers borrow codes and conventions from other genres, such as science fiction, war and even westerns, to find new ways of terrifying the audience.

Finally, Cherry noted “what might be classed as the essential conventions of horror to one generation may be very different to the next”, so the genre will continue to diversify and fragment.

What Makes Horror Films Appealing?

Horror films are constructed to provoke negative emotions from the audience. Some people find the stories too scary and distressing to be enjoyable, but others are eager to experience that thrill of being frightened for many different reasons. Some horror franchises even have dedicated fandoms .

Going to the cinema for a good scare is a chance to escape the horrors in our own lives. In terms of the uses and gratifications theories, this motivation is called diversion. As well as being entertaining, watching a horror film with family or friends can create a shared experience and develop our personal relationships. It is almost a rite of passage for two young lovers on a romantic date to protect each other from the frightening images on the big screen.

Horror films can also be life-affirming because they empower the audience to confront and process their fears in a safe environment. Many story arcs conclude when the evil presence is destroyed, and a new equilibrium is established. Seeing the protagonist defeat the supernatural villain might inspire us to overcome the lack in our own lives.

There might be even deeper psychological explanations for our desire to watch horror films. For instance, Sigmund Freud (1919) argued the “uncanny” signifiers in fairy tales, such as severed hands and re-animation of the dead, could help readers resolve some of the emotional disruptions they experienced in childhood. He also suggested the supernatural themes challenged our rational view of the world and allowed us to imagine spaces beyond our own mortality: “it is no matter for surprise that the primitive fear of the dead is still so strong within us and always ready to come to the surface at any opportunity”.

Sometimes horror films raise interesting questions about our values and ideologies . For instance, The Dawn of the Dead is set in a large shopping mall and is an obvious criticism of our culture of consumerism. Other films might present concerns about the collapse of morality in society.

Of course, some people are simply fascinated by the darker aspects of human nature. When it comes to the gory and visceral horror stories, some thrill-seekers like to push the limits of what is acceptable.

Finally, we can appreciate horror films for their artistic value, especially when filmmakers challenge the conventions of the genre and produce something new.

Scary Profits

Although the industry seems full of creativity and glamour, making films comes with huge financial risks. Some productions will generate significant profits while many others will suffer substantial losses.

Keith Barry Grant (1986) described how the “profit-motivated studio system” in Hollywood “adopted an industrial model based on mass production” and attempted to exploit “commercially successful formulas”. If a particular style of film did well at the box office, the studios would try to replicate that success in their next feature. For instance, Universal Pictures developed Dracula , Frankenstein , and The Mummy in the early 1930s to satisfy the audience’s increasing demand for fantasy horror films. These hits were soon followed by the inevitable sequels Dracula’s Daughter , Son of Frankenstein , and a series of stories based on Kharis, an Egyptian mummy.

In his analysis of the Hollywood studios, David Hesmondhalgh (2013) described three important strategies the production companies used to “minimise the danger of misses” and ensure a return on their investment. This formatting process included a focus on star power, genre films and the development of franchises.

Neale (1980) suggested we liked to repeat our experiences of genre films because “pleasure lies in both the repetition of the signifiers and the fundamental differences”, so producers know there is always an audience ready for the next scary story. It is also worth noting horror films have a clear identity which can make the advertising message more effective.

Importantly, horror films do not need large production budgets. They usually have shorter run times which means less footage needs to be shot and edited. If the story takes place in a single location, such as a haunted house, the production company might save money on fewer sets. The producers can also reduce costs by featuring lesser-known actors.

As long as the genre remain profitable, producers will continue to make horror films.

Cherry, Brigid (2009): “Horror”. Freud, Sigmund (1919): “The Uncanny”. Grant, Barry Keith (1986): “Film Genre Reader”. Hesmondhalgh, David (2013): “The Cultural Industries”. Neale, Steve (1980): “Genre”. Schatz, Thomas (1981): “Hollywood Genres Formulas, Filmmaking, and The Studio System”.

Further Reading

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Iconography

Steve Neale and Genre Theory

Genres of Order and Integration

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Subgenres of Horror Films Explained

What’s Your Favorite Genre of Horror?

Horror is one of the most entertaining and studied genres in filmmaking. The threshold to make a horror film is relatively low. It’s an opportunity for creatives to experiment with effects and revive folklore storytelling devices. Filmmakers use many methods of manipulation to heighten horror and make the viewer fear whatever is coming next. Depending on the intended reaction, some techniques include the classic jump scare, mounting suspense, and over-extended scenes to make audiences squirm in their seats a little longer. These movie techniques are frequently used in almost all subgenres of horror films. People are drawn to horror movies because there isn’t just one type of horror film —there are many.

Horror includes many subgenres that date back to the beginning of film history. Take for instance the silent era of filmmaking. Nosferatu (1922) was the first film to feature the vampire, a European folklore figure that exists on the warm blood of a living victim. Vampires are now ubiquitous in the horror movie genre and have hit the mainstream with blockbuster movies such as The Twilight series.

October is the harbinger of horror, but one does not need to wait for a certain season to enjoy a rush of adrenaline from a good scary movie. Here are the popular subgenres of horror films viewers can enjoy year round.

10 Popular Subgenres of Horror Films 

Demonic possession.

Sometimes thought of as supernatural horror, this subgenre plays into the unknown of the human experience. Demons have been part of historical storytelling for centuries. They represent evil in many forms including mythical, religious and supernatural. One of the most known demonic movie examples of all time is William Friedkin’s 1973 movie The Exorcist . Pazuzu , the main demon, is never actually mentioned in the movie, but is arguably the best-known demon of today’s horror movies. As the star character in The Exorcist , Pazuzu is an ancient mythological demon in Mesopotamia who possessed Regan MacNeil played by Linda Blair. The movie skyrocketed Pazuzu to Hollywood fame and helped shape the demonic genre of horror in modern moviemaking.

Paranormal horror is closely related to the demonic subgenre in that it focuses on characters who aren’t living beings. Spirits and ghosts spook viewers and create fear without a physical presence on screen. For example, furniture moves without anyone touching it or a chill passes through the air out of nowhere. Those are elements of paranormal activity that can be from a demon spirit, supernatural power or ghost. Paranormal Activity , The Conjuring , The Amityville Horror , The Omen , Carrie , and Poltergeist are all examples from the Paranormal subgenre.

Vampires, aliens, and giant sea creatures are all antagonists in the Monster movie genre. Unlike their supernatural counterparts, monsters can wreak havoc on a community of people in one fell swoop. Monsters terrorize and kill whatever is in their path and use their strength and size to destroy. Universal Studios popularized the monster genre in Hollywood from the 1930s and ‘50s with Frankenstein, Dracula, the Creature of the Black Lagoon, and many other iconic monsters. Before Universal found success in making horror films, it wasn’t considered a big player during Hollywood’s early years. Once they discovered that audiences loved to be thrilled and simultaneously terrorized by giant monsters, the studio built a media franchise around their monster movies. Today, when you visit the Universal Studios backlot, you’ll see a giant mural with popular monsters painted on an outdoor wall.

Slasher movies focus on villains who are human. Slasher villains are usually serial killers and typically have a high body count by the end of the movie. They stalk their victims and brutally murder the film’s protagonist(s) and anyone who gets in their way. Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, and Jason Voorhees (better known as Jason) are iconic slasher villains in horror film history. John Carpenter’s 1978 cult classic movie Halloween ushered in the era of masked serial killers as part of the slasher movies genre. Audiences are particularly terrified by the slasher genre because of how close to reality these fictionalized villains make viewers feel.

Zombie movies cross multiple horror subgenres. One part monster movie, one part possession, zombie thrillers make a perfect cocktail of terror. Somehow they are the most difficult villain to kill off and just keep coming back for more. These corpse-like characters are cannibalistic by nature and can infect their victims with a single bite. Shows like The Walking Dead created a cult following for the zombie genre of horror. With 11 seasons spanning from 2010 to 2021, The Walking Dead TV series showcased a horrifying post-apocalyptic story of zombie invasions. The success of the show has kept audiences interested in zombie horror that will likely continue for years to come.

Gore (Splatter)

Also known as the splatter genre, gore is all about the portrayal of graphic violence. Blood, guts and body trauma are classic elements in gore movies. Films in the gore category rely heavily on special effects to disfigure body parts. New filmmakers can experiment with effects and get creative with theatrical makeup. This genre is the most gratuitous of all horror films when it comes to violence and the dismemberment of characters. Classic examples of gore movies include Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead and Eli Roth’s Cabin Fever .

Witches have a long history of mischief in folklore. They use the power of magic to cast spells on their victims turning them into all kinds of tortured beings. Similar to the paranormal genre, witchcraft uses supernatural elements to create fear. Movies like The Witch and Susperia are great examples of the terror caused by witches.

English literature popularized vampire stories, which were basically just ghost stories of the dead returning to haunt the living. It wasn’t until the slowburn success of Dracula that helped launch vampire stories into the mainstream. There have been countless low-budget Dracula movies throughout the years including Horror of Dracula , The Brides of Dracula , Dracula’s Dog . One of the more successful vampire movies (besides, the Twilight Series) is Neil Jordan’s adaptation of the 1976 novel Interview with a Vampire . A young Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt play vampires. The film focuses on Lestat (Cruise) and Louis (Pitt), beginning with Louis’s transformation into a vampire by Lestat in 1791.

Psychological

Psychological horror is not about what we see on the screen but how it makes us feel. This genre plays tricks on the viewers’ mind by creating paranoia. A viewers’ emotional state is heavily influenced by psychological horror. Since this type of horror can feel a little too real compared to the other genres (gore and monsters), people may walk away feeling uneasy. The main characters in these types of horror movies are mentally unstable or emotionally disturbed to the point of being violent. One of the best examples of the psychological horror genre is Stanley Kurbrick’s The Shining starring Jack Nicholoson. From the beginning of the movie you can see Jack Torrence slowly turn more mad with each developing scene.

Comedic horror is possibly the most fun of all horror movies out there. It’s a subgrene that is equally funny as it is scary. It takes the viewer to complete opposite ends of the horror spectrum resulting in a rollercoaster of emotions. Classic examples of comedy-horror films include Scream , Shuan of the Dead , and The Cabin in the Woods.

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Defining the Horror Genre in Movies and TV

The horror genre in film and television is one of the most popular money makers. let's dig deeper. .

If you were going to bet on an original movie to be a box-office hit, what genre would you pick? The truth is, there is only one genre that again and again provides hits across both film and television. It's horror.

Even before Jason Blum became one of the most powerful producers in Hollywood, horror has been a valuable bet. Alfred Hitchcock dabbled in the darkness with Psycho , but prior to Norman Bates, we had the Universal monster movies and things like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari .

The horror subgenres are aplenty, and we'll get to them later.

Horror has been around since someone could hold a movie camera. And it's not just on the big screen. We also had shows like The Twilight Zone and Tales from the Crypt scaring our pants off at home.

So today I want to look at the horror genre in movies and television. We'll explore examples, look at current things on the air and in theaters, and talk about why these stories continue to terrify and entertain us.

The Horror Genre Definition

Horror is a genre of film and television whose purpose is to create feelings of fear, dread, disgust, and terror in the audience. The primary goal is to develop an atmosphere that puts the audience on edge and scares them.

Where does the word "horror" come from?

The term actually came from the Old French word " orror," which meant “to shudder or to bristle.”

Horror filmmaking has roots in religions across the world, local folktales, and history. It's a universal genre. Every culture has its scary stories and fears. These elements are meant to exploit the viewer and engage them with the possibility of death and pain.

Most importantly, to be a true horror project, your story should deal in the supernatural. Death, evil, powers, creatures, the afterlife, witchcraft, and other diabolical and unexplainable happenings must be at the story's center.

There is some debate over whether this stuff needs to be supernatural to divide horror from thriller... but we will let you work that out in the comments.

Creeping Around the Horror Genre in Movies and TV

Ghouls, ghosts, slashers, creatures, and gore. Horror film and television focus on adrenaline rides for the audience that dial up the blood, scares, and creative monsters. Horror is always re-inventing old classics, like adding fast zombies and CGI creatures. It also is seen as the most bankable genre with a huge built-in audience.

Horror movies and shows consistently do well.

They have passionate fans, launch successful franchises, and get people excited.

The History of Horror in Film and TV

Even before the earliest cameras were made, people were telling spooky stories.

What was the first horror movie ever? Well, as far as we know, the first horror movie was made by French filmmaker Georges Melies, and was titled Le Manoir Du Diable (AKA The Devil's Castle/The Haunted Castle ). It was made in 1896 and was only about two minutes long.

What's striking to me is that even then, we had certain tropes. That movie contained a flying bat, a medieval castle, a cauldron, a demon figure, and skeletons, ghosts, and witches. There was even a crucifix to destroy the evil.

These kinds of movies and TV shows were initially inspired by literature from authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, and Mary Shelley.

Horror has existed as a film genre for more than a century. And things keep changing with the times.

Horror films often reflect where we are as a society and are a good way to track progress and social consciousness.

Check out the infographic below that shows the evolution of the horror film and TV shows.

Tropes and Expectations

The final girl, the "not dead yet" scare, and the dystopian endings.

Horror is famous for having story beats that we come to expect, like jumpscares. Filmmakers must lean into them, but also find ways to subvert. You have subsets of these tropes like haunted houses, slashers, zombies, evil creatures, and others. Each comes with a set of rules.

Scream famously subverts many of these tropes by making its characters aware of them, in a meta sense. This keeps the audience on the edge of their seat. Anyone could die in this world, and anyone could be the killer.

Another film that subverts slasher tropes is Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon . In it, characters address things like the apparent superpowers slashers have. How do they always seem to be one step behind the heroine? It makes for a very different kind of horror film.

Elements of Horror

People go to these movies and shows because they want to feel their heart beating out of control. They want the scare, but also the relief and enjoyment that comes after.

What are some basic elements they might expect?

General elements include ghosts , extraterrestrials , vampires , werewolves , demons, Satanism , evil clowns , gore, torture, vicious animals, evil witches , monsters, giant monsters , zombies, cannibalism , psychopaths , and serial killers.

Horror Subgenres

Horror is a genre that encompasses a wide range of subgenres, each with its own unique themes, tropes, and styles. Here are some of the most notable subgenres within horror:

• Gothic Horror: Known for eerie settings such as haunted castles, it emphasizes terror and suspense. Notable works include Dracula and Frankenstein .
• Psychological Horror: This subgenre focuses on the unstable psychological states of characters. Films like Psycho and The Shining are prime examples.
• Slasher Horror: Features a serial killer as the antagonist who systematically murders people. Key films in this category are Halloween and Friday the 13th .
• Supernatural Horror: Involves supernatural entities like ghosts and demons. Classic examples are The Exorcist and Poltergeist .
• Science Fiction Horror: A mix of science fiction and horror, often featuring aliens or dystopian futures. Alien and The Thing stand out in this subgenre.
• Body Horror: Centers on the distortion or transformation of the human body. Films such as The Fly and Hellraiser exemplify this style.
• Found Footage Horror: The film is presented as discovered video recordings. Notable examples include The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity .
• Monster Horror: Focuses on mythical or scientifically mutated monsters. Iconic films in this subgenre are Godzilla and Jaws .
• Zombie Horror: Features zombies, typically resulting from an epidemic. Night of the Living Dead and 28 Days Later are key films in this category.
• Survival Horror: Emphasizes survival in hostile environments. Examples include The Descent and The Ruins .

Each of these subgenres brings a unique flavor to the horror genre, offering a diverse range of terrifying experiences for audiences.

Horror is such a malleable genre that you can mash it up with almost anything. There are subgenres that involve different kinds of monsters, and there are subgenres that pull in other elements. You can see movies and shows that involve comedy, body, folk history, found footage, Gothic elements, natural elements, slasher, teen, psychological, gore, and many others I'm sure you'll tell me about in the comments.

Here's what you really need to know. There are four main horror areas: Killers, Monsters, Paranormal, and Psychological Horror.

Everything else kind of fits underneath them.

What are Horror Genre Characteristics?

Horror film and TV shows are designed to frighten and panic audiences. You want people leaving theaters or hiding while watching shows because you've invoked our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale.

The AMC site defines horror as, "Whatever dark, primitive, and revolting traits that simultaneously attract and repel us are featured in the horror genre. Horror films are often combined with science fiction when the menace or monster is related to a corruption of technology, or when Earth is threatened by aliens. The fantasy and supernatural film genres are not synonymous with the horror genre, although thriller films may have some relation when they focus on the revolting and horrible acts of the killer/madman. Horror films are also known as chillers, scary movies, spookfests, and the macabre."

Examples of the Horror Genre in Movies and TV

When we look at movies and TV show within this genre it's hard to narrow down the perfect list of examples. There are so many horror moves and TV shows to pick from, but I wanted to highlight a few here.

I think these are shows and films that you can classify as straight horror, no mashups.

First, Netflix just dropped The Haunting of Bly Manor , a spiritual sequel to their The Haunting of Hill House . From the mind of Mike Flanagan , it takes typical haunted house stories and turns them into a series.

Overall, horror on TV is hard, because you have to develop it in multiple episodes. Usually, mashups work best here, so there's more to talk about. Something like Lovecraft Country excels by using every episode to dig deeper into the horrors of Lovecraft.

When it comes to the cinema, there are thousands I can pick from.

We have horror adaptations like The Shining , or from Mike Flanagan again... Doctor Sleep .

I think Hitchcock's Psycho was so important to the jumps and scares we see today. Or a slow burn like The Sixth Sense , which rocketed the genre forward and helped it be taken seriously again. That hadn't really happened since The Exorcist .

How about Mary Harron 's take on the dark underbelly of corporate America in American Psycho ? There is a wealth of fresh perspectives to be found in the work of horror directors like Karyn Kusama , Coralie Fargeat, and Jennifer Kent.

Of course, we can look at franchises like Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream and even The Conjuring and see how horror takes off and becomes part of the cultural lexicon.

Movies and shows like this take off because audiences cannot get enough of the thrills and chills. Whether it's the spooky season or now, horror can take over and keep people on edge. You can release these movies around any time of year, and they can be a hit.

You can put them on streamers and find their audience.

And you can mash them up with every other genre and create something new and exciting.

Mash-up Potential for the Horror Genre

Some subgenres of horror film include comedy horror, folk horror, body horror, found footage, holiday horror, psychological horror, science fiction horror, slasher, supernatural horror, Gothic horror, natural horror, zombie horror, and teen horror.

These all open you up to mashing up other genres with horror. Creative mixes help capture the horror audience and put a spin on the tropes.

Think about movies like The Mummy , which adds adventure. Or even something like Shaun of the Dead , which adds comedy.

Or what about a show like Dexter ? Police procedural meets serial killer.

Summing up the Horror Genre in Movies and TV

It's hard to look at a genre like this and not feel the awe of human terror. We have so many things we are afraid of, and we put them all out into the open for audiences to relate to. Horror is evolving as more and more people get voices.

We read and see new stories every day. Horror is one of our most interesting genres because it continues to change with the times. It's always in flux, and it's always going to be with us.

From the works of Jordan Peele to a movie like Promising Young Woman , horror allows you to get something off your chest and find audiences who relate. So what do you have to say? And can you say it with blood spatter?

Horror might be for you.

What's next? Learn every film genre !

Film and TV genres affect who watches your work, how it's classified, and even how it's reviewed. So how do you decide what you're writing? And which genres to mash-up? The secret is in the tropes.

Click the link to learn more!

Dig this spooky post? Then check out the rest of our Horror Week coverage for more tips, tricks, and terrifying takes.

• What Does the Horror Genre Mean to Two Legendary Horror Masters? ›
• What Is the Cosmic Horror Genre in Film and TV? (Definitions and Examples) ›
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• What Is the First Horror Film? | No Film School ›
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How the NO FAKES Act is a Bipartisan Challenge To AI

Attorney douglas mirell breaks down the promising new legislation combatting the unethical use of ai..

By Douglas Mirell, Partner at Greenberg Glusker

It is an extraordinarily rare day when Democrats and Republicans in the United State Senate can agree upon anything. But July 31, 2024 was just such a day.

On that date, two Democrats (Chris Coons, Delaware and Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota) joined two Republicans (Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee and Thom Tillis, North Carolina) to introduce the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act of 2024 (known colloquially as the “NO FAKES Act”)—a measure designed to protect the voice and visual likeness of all individuals from unauthorized AI-generated recreations .

Beginning in October 2023, these four Senators and their staffs spent countless hours working with numerous stakeholders to craft legislation that seeks to prevent individuals and companies from producing unauthorized digital replicas, while simultaneously holding social media and other sites liable for hosting such replicas if those platforms fail to remove or disable that content in a timely manner.

Nearly as unprecedented as the bipartisan co-authorship of this bill was the coalition of frequently adversarial organizations that endorsed the NO FAKES Act . Among these groups was not only the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), the Recording Industry Association of America, and the Recording Academy, but also the Motion Picture Association, Warner Music Group, and Universal Music Group. Other endorsers included Open AI, IBM, William Morris Endeavor, and Creative Artists Agency.

Key to the formation of this coalition was a set of exclusions that seek to safeguard First Amendment interests by, for example, exempting digital replicas that are “produced or used consistent with the public interest in bona fide commentary, criticism, scholarship, satire, or parody.”

Also exempted are “fleeting or negligible” usages, as well as a Forrest Gump -inspired exception that applies to documentary-style usages so long as the use of the digital replica does not create a “false impression that the work is ... [one] in which the individual participated.” In addition, advertisements and commercial announcements for such excluded uses are permissible, but only if the digital replica is “relevant to the subject of the work so advertised or announced.”

Notwithstanding the exceptional importance, and attendant dangers, of artificial intelligence to the entertainment community, the NO FAKES Act is not limited to protecting the rights of actors and recording artists. So long as what is being exploited is “the voice or visual likeness of an individual”—whether living or dead—the NO FAKES Act provides protection against unauthorized AI exploitation for all human beings, including minors.

Liability extends to two general categories of misconduct:

• The unauthorized production of a digital replica
• The unauthorized publication, reproduction, distribution, and transmission of a digital replica.

In the event of a violation, a civil lawsuit against individuals and online services can result in the imposition of damages of $5,000 per work, or $25,000 per work in the case of an entity other than an online service.

Alternatively, actual damages are available to the injured party, “plus any profits from the unauthorized use that are attributable to such use and are not taken into account in computing the actual damages.” Injunctive and other equitable relief is also available, as is an award of reasonable attorney’s fees to a prevailing plaintiff in the event of willful misconduct.

Finally, among the most significant aspects of the NO FAKES Act is its declaration that the rights it defines constitute “a law pertaining to intellectual property.” The ramifications of this characterization are profound. For nearly 30 years, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has effectively given blanket immunity to platforms that host user-generated content. This means that websites and social media sites have no legal obligation to respond to demands that defamatory and other offensive content created by such users be removed or disabled. But, under that same Section 230, this immunity dissolves in the face of any intellectual property law.

The trade-off for this major concession is that platforms can still receive protection for the third-party content they post if they abide by a notice-and-takedown regime akin to that which has worked reasonably well with copyright infringement claims brought under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

While it is perhaps an understatement to suggest that the U.S. Congress does not typically move with alacrity when confronted with legislation addressing new technologies, the bipartisan recognition of the manifest threat posed by generative artificial intelligence may yet prove to be a notable exception to this traditional paradigm.

Douglas Mirell has consulted with SAG-AFTRA on “deepfake” and other artificial intelligence issues affecting the entertainment community. Most recently, Mr. Mirell strategized with SAG-AFTRA about the conversations it was having with various stakeholders beginning in October 2023 that led to the introduction of the NO FAKES Act.

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How to write an essay about horror movies.

Adrian Halen 06/26/2024 Articles special , Exclusive Articles

Horror movies have long been a popular genre in the film industry, thanks to those pulse-quickening thrill rides featuring heart-stopping moments of terror and suspense. Whether you’re a film student, a horror fan or just someone who has long been curious about the genre’s cultural significance, there’s no better way to hone that hankering for horror than to write an essay about the subject. If you need assistance, services like Academized writing service can help write my paper in a week , offering expert guidance and support in crafting essays on various topics, including horror movies.

1. Understanding the Genre

First, there are (literally) countless subgenres of horror movies, and to write about all of them as if they were basically the same thing would be a terrible read. You need to get a handle on the stereotypes: there are countless readers who might recognise you as a timid young woman when you look a lot more like an authoritative priest in their brain.

• Identify Subgenres: Although it is a diverse category, horror is not a genre unto itself but rather a domain that hosts a surprising amount of variety, with subgenres such as: supernatural horror (eg, The Exorcist); psychological horror (eg, Psycho); slasher horror (eg, Halloween); and more. Within these, different techniques produce different kinds of fear and suspense.
• Lesson (theme/subject): horror films elaborate a lot of Universal Ideas, some of which at the very root of human nature and explain things like fears of the unknown, driving instincts that test our core survival, meddlesome human curiosity and its catastrophic consequences. For instance, even though Jaws is about a fully grown, nearly indestructible shark that goes on rampage, it’s actually primarily about primal fears of nature and all the other things that lie just beyond our field of vision.
• Cultural Importance: Viewing horror films through a cultural lens shows how they reflect and address our cultural anxieties; for example, the zombie movie has been read as a metaphor for social problems, from consumerism (Dawn of the Dead) to pandemic (28 Days Later).

2. Analysing Techniques with Examples

Many films use horror as a setting or backdrop to their story, but a truly effective horror film subverts our expectations by using a range of audiovisual strategies to elicit fear and suspense from the viewer. By analysing films in detail, and understanding how they might create an atmosphere of dread, we can add depth and sophistication to our analysis of horror. For those seeking guidance, utilising the expertise of the best essay service can provide invaluable support in crafting insightful essays that delve into the intricacies of horror cinema.

• Use of Sound: Sound and score are crucial to bis, as are manipulations of sound (such as silence and sudden noises) that leave an audience tense and on edge. See how they use these tactics in A Quiet Place.
• The visual imagery: Whether in cinematography or visual effects – can also be hugely instrumental in generating responses. For example, the utilisation of poor lighting and shadows in The Babadook can lead viewers to feel disconcerted and afraid.
• Characterisation: Character, particularly antagonists, is vital in horror. Explore how iconic evil characters such as Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street) or Leatherface (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) represent pure misgivings and become long term symbols of terror.

3. Constructing a Strong Thesis Statement

A strong thesis statement represents the heart and soul of your essay, summing up its main argument or interpretation:

Thesis Development: Choose a specific claim about the horror film you’re writing about and state it as a thesis; it should then help to determine the shape your essay will take. For example, ‘Supernatural forces in the film The Conjuring series function as a figurative way of depicting the vulnerability of family bonds to harmful influences from beyond the home.

4. Comparative Analysis

Analysis of horror movies can be improved by better drawing out contrasts between them. It can be quite helpful to write an essay drawing out similarities and differences between two movies, well-presented in a comparative table:

Setting these next to each other allows you to show how different horror directors treat the genre, and also what makes each film emotionally resonant with viewers.

5. Incorporating Critical Perspectives

To establish your essay, introduce what film critics and scholars who have written extensively about horror cinema have stated:

Critical Reviews: Look for reviews of a particular film studied by reliable or credible sources. These may present alternative perspectives, enabling you to see films through different lenses. Disclaimer: All Boris Karloff clips on our website are taken from the DVDs History’s Greatest Villains Boris Karloff and Universal’s Classic Monsters Complete 30-Film Collection, released by Shout! Factory.

Academic Analysis: Read textbook articles or chapters that analyse horror cinema in theoretical terms (psychoanalysis, feminist theory, cultural studies, etc) in order to understand how the movies are intended to communicate more ‘serious’ (or, given one’s acquaintance with other theoretical frameworks, perhaps ‘just as serious’) meanings and affective ‘lessons’.

6. Applying Theoretical Frameworks

To take a step further, try using theoretical tools that shed light on the wider themes present within horror cinema: theology/religion; psychoanalysis; queer theory; feminist theory/psychoanalysis.

• Final Girl Theory: Dubbed by American film scholar Carol J Clover, this theory investigates how films such as Halloween (1978) perpetuate the trope of the ‘final girl’ – often a sole female survivor in slasher films who triumphs over the killer – by reversing genre conventions. These conventions privilege male perspectives as the norm and relegate women to symbolism, as one of the ‘screaming girls’. Discuss how the representation of the final girl subverts or reinforces traditional gender roles.

In writing this essay, you would need to account for themes and techniques that drive the genre, as well as understand the cultural contexts that facilitate its development as a cinematic genre with subgenres of its own. By engaging with those requirements, your essay would utilise the appreciation and analysis of relevant cinematic techniques and develop a focused thesis. You might present a comparative analysis of horror genres, critically engage with a horror trope, or fully address a theoretical perspective on horror.

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(Why) Do You Like Scary Movies? A Review of the Empirical Research on Psychological Responses to Horror Films

Why do we watch and like horror films? Despite a century of horror film making and entertainment, little research has examined the human motivation to watch fictional horror and how horror film influences individuals’ behavioral, cognitive, and emotional responses. This review provides the first synthesis of the empirical literature on the psychology of horror film using multi-disciplinary research from psychology, psychotherapy, communication studies, development studies, clinical psychology, and media studies. The paper considers the motivations for people’s decision to watch horror, why people enjoy horror, how individual differences influence responses to, and preference for, horror film, how exposure to horror film changes behavior, how horror film is designed to achieve its effects, why we fear and why we fear specific classes of stimuli, and how liking for horror develops during childhood and adolescence. The literature suggests that (1) low empathy and fearfulness are associated with more enjoyment and desire to watch horror film but that specific dimensions of empathy are better predictors of people’s responses than are others; (2) there is a positive relationship between sensation-seeking and horror enjoyment/preference, but this relationship is not consistent; (3) men and boys prefer to watch, enjoy, and seek our horror more than do women and girls; (4) women are more prone to disgust sensitivity or anxiety than are men, and this may mediate the sex difference in the enjoyment of horror; (5) younger children are afraid of symbolic stimuli, whereas older children become afraid of concrete or realistic stimuli; and (6) in terms of coping with horror, physical coping strategies are more successful in younger children; priming with information about the feared object reduces fear and increases children’s enjoyment of frightening television and film. A number of limitations in the literature is identified, including the multifarious range of horror stimuli used in studies, disparities in methods, small sample sizes, and a lack of research on cross-cultural differences and similarities. Ideas for future research are explored.

Horror: An Introduction

“It seems an unaccountable pleasure which the spectators of a well-written tragedy receive from sorrow, terror, anxiety and other passions, that are in themselves disagreeable and uneasy” ( Hume, 1907 ).

Why do people watch, and enjoy watching, horror films, and why is this an important or useful question to ask? The primary aims of the horror film are to frighten, shock, horrify, and disgust using a variety of visual and auditory leitmotifs and devices including reference to the supernatural, the abnormal, to mutilation, blood, gore, the infliction of pain, death, deformity, putrefaction, darkness, invasion, mutation, extreme instability, and the unknown ( Cherry, 2009 ; Newman, 2011 ). It is the emphasis on these characteristics that tend to distinguish horror from the related genre of thriller or psychological thriller ( Hanich, 2011 ). Thrillers are designed to create suspense and terror, but the creation of these feelings is dependent not on the presence of mutilation, gore, or the supernatural but via more human devices. These boundaries, however, can be fuzzy. If these features are utilized in thrillers, they are not the principal focus of the film but are incidental to it (an example would be the ear-cutting scene in Reservoir Dogs, which is bloody and brutal but is contained within a film, which has a non-horror theme). Together with Westerns, science fiction, comedy, musicals, documentaries, and other film genres, which are characterized by particular tropes, styles, themes, characters, and visual leitmotifs, horror sets itself apart from other film types via its distinctive characteristics.

Although commercially successful, the cinematic reputation of horror film has been less than stellar. It has been frequently regarded (if it is regarded at all) as the runt of the cinema family and held in lower esteem than other film categories ( Stone, 2016 ). Etchison (2011) observed that “The horror film occupies in popular culture roughly comparable to that of horror literature. That is to say, it is generally ignored, sometimes acknowledged with bemused tolerance, and viewed with alarm when it irritates authority - rather like a child too spirited to follow the rules that rendition has deemed acceptable” (p. ix), a view that is echoed elsewhere. For example, Tudor (1997) noted that “a taste of horror is a taste for something seemingly abnormal and is therefore deemed to require special attention” (p. 446). Part of the reason for the disdain, apart from the broad and base nature of the content, may be the relative cheapness of horror film: these are often much less expensive to create than are other genre films such as westerns, comedies, or science fiction. The first horror film can probably be dated to 1855/1856. The Lumiere Brothers’ L’arrive d’un train en gare de la Ciotat depicts the arrival of a train into a station, the appearance of which, if anecdotal although possibly apocryphal accounts are to be believed, resulted in the audience becoming consumed with a fear that the train would emerge from the screen, such was the novelty of such a depiction at the time.

In terms of industry regard, the reputation of horror has not been high. The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts, which awards the Oscars, has nominated only six horror/supernatural films for Best Picture, and only one has won the Award ( The Silence of The Lambs in 1992, which also won the award for Best Actress, Actor, and Director). Other horror films to have been nominated include The Exorcist (1973), Jaws (1975), The 6th Sense (1999), Black Swan (2010), and Get Out (2017). The latter also nominated for best comedy/musical at the Golden Globes and was winner of the Oscar for Best Screenplay. Industry recognition for horror film has tended to be reserved for technical achievements; hence, the Oscars awarded for best art direction and cinematography for Phantom Of The Opera (1943), best score for The Omen (1976), best visual effects for Alien (1979), and best-make up for An American Werewolf In London (1981) and The Fly (1986). The number of actors to have won an Oscar nomination for horror roles is low – Frederic March ( Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde , 1931), Ruth Gordon ( Rosemary’s Baby, 1968), Kathy Bates ( Misery , 1990), Natalie Portman ( Black Swan , 2010), and Hopkins are exceptions.

Despite the relative lack of formal industry recognition and professional respect, horror thrives. In 2017, the second cinema adaptation of the Stephen King novel IT (2017) generated $700.4 m in global ticket sales, making this the most financially successful horror film of all time based on recorded box office sales (its production budget was $35 m). The success led to a sequel released in 2019 ( IT: Chapter 2 ), which has achieved global ticket sales of $185 m in its first week of release. In 1989, two horror films had grossed over $38 m ( The Fly II and The Abyss , earning $38.9 and $89.8 m, respectively). In 2017, this number was 15, with IT leading and occupying 13th place in box office revenue. The Mummy occupied 23rd position, Resident Evil: Final Chapter the 30th position, Annabelle: Creation the 32rd, and Get Out the 37th ($255 m). Nine horror films earned more than $100 m in 2017. These numbers illustrate how successful and popular the horror film has become and that viewers’ appetite for it is rapacious.

This commercial enthusiasm exists against a backdrop of considerable fan enthusiasm for the genre, as evidenced by the number of major, significant genre-specific international film festivals which exist. These include the UK’s three Frightfest events, the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival in Catalonia, Toronto’s After Dark Film Festival, Screamfest and Fantasticfest in the USA, the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, Australia’s A Night of Horror International Film Festival, Amsterdam’s Imagine Festival, Argentina’s Rojo Sangre, Italy’s Ravena Nightmare Film Festival, Wales’s Abertoir, and several others. A number of print magazines devoted to horror is available (such as Rue Morgue, Diabolique, Scream , and The Dark Side ) as are various horror websites, online film streaming services (such as Shudder and Screambox ), and specialist satellite/Freeview TV channels such as The Horror Channel and SyFy . The TV company AMC airs and produces original horror content (and created Shudder ), and an Asian-based pay-TV horror channel is available called Thrill . Given the popularity of horror film, a useful question to explore is why people are attracted to this genre of film, given its distinctive nature, and why people are attracted to horror in the first instance, a question addressed in this review.

Historically, horror has formed a significant part of “Western” literary tradition since the Babylonian Gilgamesh and the English Beowulf . The Gothic tradition, a period that covers 1,760–1,820 features fiction in which the omphalos is their archaic themes, haunted castles, stylized period settings, a supernatural element in the story telling, suspense, and chaos ( Punter, 2014 ). Examples include Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto , Radcliffe’s Mysteries of Udolpho, and The Italian and Lewis’ The Monk, among others. Although modern horror clearly has its roots and traditions in Gothic horror (and castles, spirits, and ghosts are well-documented tropes of horror films), very little modern horror film has been directly inspired by, nor has adapted, these works. Victorian literature has exerted a much greater and direct influence, as evidenced by the re-imaginings and remakes of films based on literary characters from this period, such as Dracula, Frankenstein (doctor and creation), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Phantom of the Opera, Dr. Moreau, Dorian Gray, the monsters and protagonists in Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and the trolls of Nordic literature. These figures have been interpreted and re-interpreted throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in different fictionalized forms – in theater, drama, radio, television, short stories, novels, and, especially, film.

Given the longevity of horror as a genre and its history in cinema, what is it that draws people to this particular genre and how does the genre create the psychological effects that it does? The study of individuals’ response to horror can be illuminating for several reasons. It may help us understand why people are attracted to a very commercially successful genre of film making but one which is seen as very distinctive and highly specialized. It may also help us to explain why some material that is perceived as being unpleasant and disgusting is appealing to some people more than it is to others. The study of horror film may also help us understand how emotions are generated and processed and may help us understand elements of fear (and the attraction of fear).

The current paper sets out to review the literature regarding the appeal of horror and why and how horror cinema exerts the effects that it does. Specifically, it will consider whether there are personality types or other individual differences associated with preference for, and enjoyment of, horror films; whether sex differences exist in the preference for, and enjoyment of, horror film; how fear of horror film develops and how coping strategies are recruited to manage the fear elicited by horror; the psychological and emotional consequences of watching horror and whether watching horror is associated with any adverse, short-term, or long-term psychological consequences; the behavioral responses reliably elicited by exposure to horror film; and the use of auditory stimulation to manipulate our response to horror. A number of texts exists that have discussed and addressed various aspects of horror and horror film, including the cinematic portrayal of the “mad scientist” ( Tudor, 1989 ; Frayling, 2013 ), the esthetics of horror film ( Sipos, 2010 ), the philosophy of horror ( Carroll, 2003 ), the process of horror fiction writing ( King, 2010 ), the use of sound and music in horror ( Hayward, 2009 ), and the marketing of horror films ( Hantke, 2004 ), among others. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first attempt to assimilate the psychology and related literature in a comprehensive review of our understanding of the enjoyment of horror film, the motivation to watch horror film and the effects of watching horror film. This review was based on keyword searches made via Google Scholar and PsycInfo between 2018 and August 2019 and included combinations of the words and terms “horror,” “terror,” “film,” “movie,” “cinema,” “fear,” “thriller,” “slasher,” “fright,” “gore,” “anxiety,” “the unknown,” “the uncanny,” “Gothic,” “blood,” “guts,” “scream/screaming,” “shudder,” shivering,” “trauma,” and “disgust/disgusting.” Material was also sourced from the reference sections of the papers obtained and of books where the topic was horror. The review begins with a definition of horror.

What is “Horror”?

The word “horror” derives from the Greek phryke (meaning “shudder”) and describes the physical manifestations of shivering, shuddering, and piloerection. In the fourth stasimon of Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus , the chorus says after the protagonist blinds himself: “Alas, poor man, I cannot ever look at you … such is the shiver (phryke) you cause in me” ( Cairns, 2015 ). An exact and precise modern definition of horror, however, is difficult to determine. Horror has been defined as a “spontaneous response to shocking visual stimulus” (Ceirus, 2015) and as “a compound of terror and revulsion” ( Kawin, 2012 ). In Kawin’s interpretation, “imagined horror provides entry to the made-up world where fears are heightened but can be mastered … it accesses a core of fears we may share as humans, such as the fear of being attacked in the dark … it provides a way to conceptualize, give shape to and deal with the evil and frightening.” Horror, Stone (2016) argues, “confronts us with the disgusting and the fascinating simultaneously,” two aspects of horror returned to later. Horror, according to Marriott (2012) , is “the madwoman in the attic.”

One view of horror considers it to be of two types: horror, which is genuine and is designed to make us afraid because it is advantageous to our survival (e.g., fear arising from attack and being motivated to fight or flee), and “art horror,” which describes the imagined horror found in horror films ( Carroll, 1987 ). Carroll also argues that “horror novels, stories, films, plays and so on are marked by the presence of monsters of either a supernatural or sci-fi origin” (p. 52). In Carroll’s definition, it is the presence of a monster, which defines the essence of a horror film, as monsters do not exist within our conventional realm of understanding or reason; they defy science; they should not exist. Carroll views films that are typically classed as horror (e.g., Psycho ) to be of a different type (tales of terror) because “though eerie and scary, [they] achieve their hair-raising effect by explaining extreme psychological phenomena that are all too human.” This definition, of course, would exclude a significant number of obviously horrific horror films such as The Silence of the Lambs , Henry – Portrait of A Serial Killer , the Saw and Hostel franchises and other exemplars of the “torture porn” horror sub-genre and the cannibal films of the 1970s (e.g., Cannibal Holocaust and Cannibal Ferox ). The view has also been challenged ( Gaut, 1993 ). “Slasher” movies, for example, are clearly horror films but do not necessarily contain monsters as described by Carroll (although some, such as Freddie Kruger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers, possess supernatural elements, and Freddie Kruger is an oneiric fiction). Also, Chewbacca and The Force defy the conventions of science, but Star Wars would not be classed a horror film.

Horror invariably includes an element of evil, channeled via a human, a creature, or a supernatural force, which has the power to change events causing disruption and instability and which must be challenged and defeated ( Kjeldgaard-Christiansen, 2016 ). If this force is not human or supernatural (ghostly, spectral), it is natural – plants, monkeys, ants, leeches, sharks, birds, dogs, bats, rats, bees, fish, earthworms, alligators, spiders, snakes, cockroaches, and dinosaurs have all been employed to create chaos and instability in horror films. Freud (1919/2003) referred to horror as the uncanny (a peculiar translation of “unheimlich, meaning “unhomely”): “the name for everything that ought to have remained secret and hidden but has come to light.” Horror films also invariably present a Manichean view of the world, where good battles evil (as is literally the case in films such as Dracula, The Exorcist, and The Omen ). There is a driving motivation to overcome “a pure and unmotivated desire to inflict suffering” ( Clasen, 2014 ). But horror film, despite the features that the genre shares, is not a unitary cinematic phenomenon and distinct sub-genres or branches exist which are characterized by similar features or styles of film making and storytelling. Often, these are post hoc classifications of films, which seem to share core features, and the classification can seem like an exercise in pattern recognition. There are films, which do not easily lend themselves to these classifications (and some may straddle boundaries). However, the most common and typical sub genres include gothic, supernatural/occult/parananormal, psychological horror, monster movies, slasher films, body horror/horror typified by extreme gore, exploitation cinema ( Cherry, 2009 ), and found-footage, which have a very specific technical film-making approach and its own identifiable tropes bequeathed from such films as Cannibal Holocaust (1980) but more demonstrably from The Blair Witch Project (1999).

Horror film is the only fictional genre, which is specifically created to elicit fear consistently and deliberately rather than sporadically or incidentally. Behaviorally, horror film can create shivering, closing of the eyes, startle, shielding of the eyes, trembling, paralysis, piloerection, withdrawal, heaving, and screaming ( Harris et al., 2000 ). It can produce changes in psychophysiology, specifically increasing heart rate and galvanic skin response (see below). Mentally, it can create anxiety, fear, empathy, and thoughts of disgust ( Cantor, 2004 ). One of the earliest empirical studies to examine the effect of watching horror or suspenseful cinema on behavior asked participants to watch three programs, which varied in suspense (high and low) and in outcome – where the film had a resolved ending or an unresolved ending ( Zillmann et al., 1975 ). The suspenseful programs with the resolved endings were better appreciated than were those with unresolved endings. However, similar – but smaller – results were also found for the unresolved endings (i.e., appreciation levels were high if the program was suspenseful). Cantor (2004) asked students to write about their experiences of horror films and analyzed 3 years’ worth of the students’ papers (530 in total). Approximately 46% of the sample reported experiencing sleep disturbances after the event and 75% reported having experienced anxiety. The four most frequently cited causes of frightening experiences were the films, Poltergeist (5.5%), Jaws (4.3%), Blair Witch Project (4.2%), and Scream (3.2%). There were some film-specific anxieties – respondents would express fear of swimming in lakes and oceans, uneasiness around clowns and televisions, and avoidance of camping and woods.

Behavioral change has also been examined experimentally. Hagenaars et al. (2014) , for example, asked 50 participants to watch neutral, pleasant, or unpleasant film clips while “standing on a stabilometric platform.” This device measures a person’s motoric behavior as participants engage in some exercise or task. They found that when participants watched unpleasant films, the participants would freeze, show reduced body sway, and heart rate deceleration. The reduced body sway was found early on in the viewing of the unpleasant material (1–2 s after stimulus onset) suggesting that the behavioral effects of watching horror are immediate. The study is one of the few, methodologically well-controlled studies of behavioral response to films designed to elicit strong emotions (pleasant or unpleasant) and demonstrated empirically how exposure to certain types of film affects physical behavior and, in this specific example, how certain types of film inhibit motor behavior.

People’s enjoyment of horror can also be affected by priming. Cantor et al. (1984) found that providing adults with information about the types of events they were about to see in four horror films increased the degree of fright and upset that the participants experienced. Neuendorf and Sparks (1988) extended Cantor et al.’s study by presenting 121 attendees of two horror films ( The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Night of the Living Dead ) at a US cinema with three levels of warning – the low warning involved the transmission of basic information such as the film’s name, the release date, and its R rating; the moderate warning involved all of the low information plus a description of the film’s content; the high warning included both of these plus a statement about a graphic scene in the film (e.g., a paraplegic being sawn in half by a saw-wielding maniac). If individuals reported being previously afraid of the specific types of content mentioned by the experimenters, these “cues” significantly predicted overall fear when prior experience of the film and anxiety was controlled for (fear was measured via questionnaire rather than behaviorally). There was no significant correlation between a trait known as sensation seeking (see below) and liking and enjoyment of either film. There was a correlation between prior experience and enjoyment for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre suggesting that viewers repeated their viewing because they enjoyed it the first time. Viewers’ anxiety level predicted the fright generated by Night of the Living Dead , as did fear cues. The greater the experienced anxiety and the fear cues, the greater the experienced fright. The availability of spoilers – the reveal of key scenes and plot points in a work of fiction in advance of viewing – appears to have little effect on the positive enjoyment of horror film or the experience of suspense ( Johnson et al., 2019 ).

Our behavioral reaction to horror tends to be consistent, although there is not much research that has explicitly investigated this response. The next section considers some of the reasons why people watch horror film and considers some of the dominant theories and models in interdisciplinary research that have been proposed to explain our enjoyment of horror film. It considers first some of the most salient ways in which horror film sets out to frighten viewers including sound.

Sound in Horror

In addition to the visual and verbal (dialogue) impact of horror, perhaps one of the most significant elements of horror film is auditory. To this end, some authors have argued that “horror is primarily a sound-based medium” ( Kawin, 2012 ): The creaking door, the scream, the shriek of an owl, the hiss of a cat, the squelching of a head as it meets a sledgehammer, the ringing of a phone, the bang of a falling object, and the crack of a branch in an otherwise quiet forest at night are all auditory devices deigned to make viewers and listeners afraid and to create suspense.

One of the most successful, and the most common, auditory tropes in horror is the use of a loud sound after a prolonged period of silence – the so-called “jump scare.” Often the sound is unconnected with what is on screen, but a loud noise might accompany a reveal, such as a face (an example from the genre would be a character opening a mirrored bathroom cupboard door, then closing to discover the reflection of another person standing behind them, with accompanying loud noise or musical note). A distinction is sometimes made between diegetic sound (which the characters can hear) and non-diegetic sounds (which is external to the characters, such as incidental music). Famous examples of the latter are the stabbing and screeching sound of Bernard Herrmann’s violins during the shower scene in Psycho, John Williams’s double bass that precedes the appearance of the shark in Jaws, John Carpenter’s “stings” and soundtrack in Halloween, and the foreboding chorus in The Omen. Carpenter has noted that when his film was screened without a soundtrack to a film executive “she wasn’t scared at all. I then became determined to ‘save it with music’” ( Hayward, 2009 ). The high strings and low bass of Psycho were influences on Carpenter and Dan Wyman’s score and its 4/5 signature leitmotif, as was the use of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells from the opening of The Exorcist.

Some examples of diegetic sounds in horror film include the bangs and creaks caused by entities that are invisible to the actors on screen; one horror film that relies less on gore and blood and more on the potency of audition to increase suspense is The Blair Witch Project with its use of nocturnal wails, screams, and creaking branches. The use of sound to amplify horror can be identified in many early horror films – Ruben Mamoulian’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931), for example, which includes the first use of the sound of a human heartbeat in film, is familiar for the creation of the “Mamoulian sound stew” of noise, and sound used to generate suspense and excitement in the film.

The second most common auditory influence in horror cinema is the use of music and soundtrack. Research suggests that different styles of music can affect the emotional perception of what is seen in film, regardless of the content ( Bullerjahn and Guldenring, 1994 ), and this accompaniment allows us to interpret what we see in the context of this music ( Gorbman, 1987 ). In horror film, music even has its own trope or leitmotif – the tritone or diabolus in musica (“the devil in music”) otherwise known as the Devil’s tritone ( Lerner, 2010 ) and can be heard in Beetlejuice, Hocus Pocus (1993), and The ‘Burbs (1989).

Some types of music are designed to be unpleasant, be perceived negatively, and to create tension, and there are many examples of this design in horror film, as discussed earlier. Discordant music has been associated with activity in different brain regions to those found when listening to harmonic or pleasant music; these regions include the right parahippocampal gyrus and precuneus and bilateral orbitofrontal cortex ( Blood et al., 1999 ) and may suggest that these regions are involved in mediating our auditory response to some aspects of horror film. Frightening music has been associated with changes in monoamine receptor activity in the caudate nucleus and right amygdala (decreases) and in the neocortex (increases) in 10 men ( Zhang et al., 2012 ). This study did not include a comparison film clip, however, so the conclusion that can be drawn from it is limited.

The most well-used auditory (and visual) device in horror film is the startle reflex (SR), and this tends to be provoked by the jump scare referred to earlier – the sound of a bump, a sudden burst of noise, some dialogue, or music ( Baird, 2000 ). The first known example of a startle effect in horror film is seen and heard in The Cat People (1942) when the sound of a bus door opening occurs just when the viewer is expecting an attack, but the film cuts to this noise and the shot of the door opening. A more recent example can be found in Fatal Attraction where a child’s scream and the whistling of the kettle in the reveal of the boiled rabbit overlap. In the same film, Glenn Close’s character’s resurrection in the bath provides another example of the jump scare that employs an auditory device.

Under laboratory conditions, a startle reflex (SR) is produced by delivering 50 ms of 95 db of white noise at unpredictable intervals, while eyeblink is measured. The stimulation is not always auditory and can be visual or tactile. The acoustic startle reflex describes an in involuntary eyeblink, measured at the orbicularis oculi muscle via EMG, in response to this noise. The startle reflex can be potentiated when individuals anticipate danger ( Grillon et al., 1993a , b ; Bublatzky et al., 2013 ; Bradley et al., 2018 ) and when pleasant stimuli signal threat ( via conditioning) ( Bradley et al., 2005 ). This is called affective modulation of the startle reflex, and the startle potentiation is thought to reflect a person’s emotional reactivity to threat. When people watch fear-related or violent films, the blink magnitude (SR) is larger than when people watch films with sexual content ( Jansen and Frijda, 1994 ), neutral content ( Koukounas and McCabe, 2001 ), or sad content ( Kreibig et al., 2011 ). The startle reflex is also greater when people watch unpleasant slides – and smallest when people watch pleasant slides ( Vrana et al., 1988 ) – and when people listen to unpleasant music ( Roy et al., 2009 ). Roy et al.’s study, however, includes a very small sample of 16 participants.

The SR is higher when people recall fear-related sentences than when recalling neutral sentences ( Vrana and Lang, 1990 ) and is higher when people are exposed to negative stimuli than positive or neutral stimuli ( Cook et al., 1991 ), and this is referred to fear-potentiated startle ( Grillon et al., 1993a , b ). Women’s SR tends to be higher than men’s when stimuli are disgusting ( Yartz and Hawk, 2002 ). Fear, however, is the stimulus that creates the greatest SR ( Bradley et al., 1999 ) and people with specific phobias show potentiated SR when phobia-related stimuli are viewed. Some studies find that a SR does not occur to some types of negative stimuli such as mutilation or surgery ( Stanley and Knight, 2004 ). The startle effect is a highly replicable behavioral phenomenon and can be reduced with the administration on anxiolytics and when lesions are made to the amygdala ( Hitchcock and Davis, 1986 ; Angrilli et al., 1996 ; Davis, 2006 ). It would be instructive to study whether those high and low in empathy or sensation seeking (see below) and whether individuals who like horror film and those who dislike horror film would generate different SRs.

Why do People Watch Horror?

Suspense and resolution of suspense are two important components of horror and our response to horror film. Suspense refers to the build up to threat, the tension created prior to the manifestation of threat, and the resolution/elimination of threat. It has been defined as “acute, fearful apprehension about deplorable events that threatens liked protagonists” and “an experience of uncertainty whose hedonic properties can vary from noxious to pleasant” ( Zillmann, 1996 , p. 108). The tension created during the feeling of suspense can arise from events, which signify conflict, dissonance, and instability ( Lehne and Koelsch, 2015 ). One theory of horror enjoyment, Zillmann’s (1980 , 1996) excitation transfer theory, argues that we derive our enjoyment of horror film from this feeling of suspense (this theory might also explain the enjoyment of non-horror film, which involves the invocation of suspense). When a threat is resolved, our negative affect converts to euphoria and suspense ends. The vital aspect of the theory is that enjoyment is derived from the degree of negative affect built up during exposure to the horror film and from the positive affect/reaction that results from the resolution of the threat. If the resolution does not occur, then residual negative affect will lead to increased dysphoria. If there is no suspense but a complete certainty about what will happen, suspense is replaced by dread ( Oliver, 1993a , b ). Very few studies have tested the theory, although limited reviews provide some support for the model ( Hoffner and Levine, 2005 ). Zillmann et al. (1975) showed children animated cartoons that varied in suspense and measured participants’ facial expressions, physiological arousal, and cognitive responses. They found that liking of the film increased as suspense increased. Liking was especially great when the threat was overcome, but the relationship between fear and liking was not examined in the study.

Individuals high in empathy will express more negative affect regardless of a successful resolution to the threat in the film ( Zillmann et al., 1986 ; Hoffner and Cantor, 1991 ; Sparks, 1991 ). Zillmann’s model has some difficulty accounting for the motivation to watch and for the enjoyment derived from horror films in which the sympathetic characters are (1) dispatched and (2) where the story does not end happily ( Hoffner and Levine, 2005 ). There is also evidence that enjoyment of horror may not be affected by the availability of resolution and that unresolved horror is perceived as just as enjoyable as resolved horror ( Hoffner and Cantor, 1991 ).

An alternative model to Zillmann’s suggests that enjoyment is associated with the presence of destruction, excitement, and unpredictability in films ( Sparks, 1986a , b ; Tamborini et al., 1987 ; Tamborini and Stiff, 1987 ). This model, the uses and gratification theory of film consumption ( Katz et al., 1973 ; Palmgreen, 1984 ), argues that the enjoyment and seeking out of material are determined by their specific need for stimulation and the satisfaction they derive following the achievement of gratification. Some research suggests that certain personality types and individuals who are high or low on some psychological traits may seek out horror or violent material for gratification but that the material itself may not always provide this satisfaction (see the Individual Differences section below). Sensation seeking, verbal aggression, and argumentativeness, for example, have been found to be positively correlated with enjoyment of horror and violent films, but these are not consistent predictors of liking for horror/violent material ( Greene and Krcmar, 2005 ).

Zillmann (1980) has argued that a positive outcome for the protagonist and a poor one for the antagonist are the key predictors of satisfaction with a film. If neither occurs but a threat is removed, this would also lead to a satisfactory experience, but the experience would be diluted. A positive outcome is, however, necessary for the “cognitive switch from dysphoria to euphoria” (p. 148). There is no consistent evidence to support this view and the success of films where the threat is still very much present in some way at the end of a horror film (e.g., The Exorcist, The Omen, Friday the 13th, and so on) and even in thrillers such as Basic Instinct and Presumed Innocent, suggests that this explanation may not account fully for why we watch and enjoy horror.

It has been proposed that arousal itself might be self-rewarding – the act of watching horror provides us with a thrill regardless of the resolution and we like and enjoy the film for this reason ( Tamborini, 1991 ). The pleasurable experience of arousal motivates us to continue watching in order to sustain that level of arousal, as Berlyne (1967) suggests. Sparks and Spirek (1988) , for example, found a positive correlation between skin conductance (a physiological measure of emotional arousal) and self-reported arousal in people who watched a clip of A Nightmare On Elm Street , suggesting that the arousal we report also correlates at the physiological level, although whether the psychophysiological changes determine the arousal or the cognitive and emotional arousals (the interpretation of the material) determine the psychophysiological changes is an argument, which dates back to James.

Individual Differences in Response to Horror

Carroll (2003) asked, “How can horror audiences find pleasure in what by nature is distressful and unpleasant?” Some research has attempted to answer this question by studying the type of individual who enjoys and likes horror. Some of the personality traits and cognitive/affective traits that have been implicated in horror preference and/or enjoyment of horror include sensation seeking, empathy, theory of mind, need for affect, the dark tetrad, and personality. Other individual differences include age and sex (considered later). Unless a person expresses an interest and liking of horror, the response to graphic violence tends not to be positive. Weaver and Wilson (2009) , for example, assigned 400 people to one of three groups who watched either clips from five television programs showing graphic violence, clips with the violence sanitized, or clips with the violence removed. The non-violent programs were regarded as more enjoyable than the violent versions, a finding which is consistent with earlier research indicating that removing the violent content from a film does not reduce the film’s enjoyment ( Sparks et al., 2005 ). A meta-analysis of the enjoyment of media violence (not horror film specifically) found that greater selective exposure to violence (i.e., choosing to watch violent media) leads to a reduction in the enjoyment of its content ( Weaver, 2011 ). The implication of this finding appears to be that even though individuals may seek out exposure to violent media, they do not often enjoy what they find. In addition, participants may vary according to the degree of material they are routinely exposed to. When graduate nursing students and psychology students were shown videos of graphic medical procedures, for example, the nurses expressed less disgust and fear but more sadness ( Vlahou et al., 2011 ). Both groups, however, showed evidence of psychophysiological arousal (measured via Galvanic Skin Response) in response to watching the procedures.

Sensation Seeking

The most widely studied trait in the research on horror is sensation seeking. According to Zuckerman (1994) , sensation seeking is the “seeking of varied, novel, complex and intense sensations and experiences, and the willingness to take physical, social, legal and financial risks for the sake of such experiences” (p. 27). It peaks in the teenage years and declines thereafter ( Zuckerman, 1988 ). Zuckerman’s measure of sensation seeking describes four related but different factors: (1) thrill and adventure seeking; (2) experience seeking; (3) disinhibition; and (4) boredom susceptibility. In the original conception of the model ( Zuckerman, 1979 ), individuals thought to be high sensation seekers would experience much more positive emotion when highly aroused and stimulated and would seek negative stimulation to maximize their arousal because this stimulation was intense. A negative stimulus (such as a horror film) might, therefore, be interpreted by a person high in sensation seeking as being very positive; but a person low in sensation-seeking would find the stimulus unpleasant. High sensation-seeking individuals would also be less vulnerable to the experience of threat in these films ( Franken et al., 1992 ).

All four factors of the sensation-seeking scale have been found to predict enjoyment of horror film to some extent, but some factors are better predictors than others. For example, disinhibition was found by Edwards (1984) to be the strongest predictor, followed by experience seeking, thrill and adventure seeking, and boredom susceptibility. Edwards reported a positive correlation between high sensation seeking (in general) and interest in horror film. Tamborini and Stiff (1987) found a positive correlation between liking for horror and a combination of the sensation-seeking factors. Zuckerman and Litle (1986) found that frequency of horror film attendance correlated with disinhibition, thrill and adventure seeking, and boredom susceptibility, but in men only. The sex difference in this study highlights an important constraint on the model, and that is, individual differences (such as sex) may interact with sensation-seeking type to predict viewing, preference for, or enjoyment of horror film (see below). Cantor and Sparks (1984) found that sensation seeking was positively correlated with the enjoyment of frightening films in men and women. However, components of sensation seeking predicted enjoyment differently – thrill and adventure seeking were the best predictor for men, whereas disinhibition was the best predictor for women.

Other studies have reported no positive correlation between sensation seeking and liking and enjoyment for horror films ( Neuendorf and Sparks, 1988 ). Aluja-Fabregat (2000) found that disinhibition and psychopathy – a personality trait which describes a charming, remorseless, callous, and manipulative personality type – correlated with curiosity about morbid events in 470 eighth graders in Catalan. Sensation seeking correlated with consumption of violent films and consumption was associated with psychopathy, specifically in boys.

In a study of the enjoyment of fear experiences in video gaming, Lynch and Martins (2015) found that in their sample of 269 18–24-year-old players, men reported more enjoyment of violent video games and played more games and played more often. Sensation seeking and enjoyment were positively correlated, with high sensation seekers reporting less frequent fear (although p = 0.05) and low empathizers enjoying the violent games more. Low empathizers also played more but did not play more frequently. Resident Evil was the most commonly played game, and the game’s inclusion of zombies and surprises was cited as a cause of fear and fright. Agency in such games, however, appears to be important to the experience of the medium. When players were either asked to watch or to play a horror computer game (Konami’s “ PT ”), players showed increased heart rate and galvanic skin response (emotional arousal) compared to participants who watched ( Madsen, 2016 ). There were no differences between the two groups in self-reported fear.

While sensation seeking might be strongly associated with enjoyment of horror, it may not be the strongest predictor of attendance at horror films. Tamborini and Stiff’s (1987) study of 155 people (78 men; average age 21 years) attending a horror film in a US Midwestern city reported that men and younger participants scored the highest on the sensation-seeking scale, but that men and women attended for different reasons: men attended because they sought sensation and to experience the destructive nature of the horror while women attended because of they wanted to experience a just ending. More important than sensation seeking appeared to be participants’ expectations of the film: The greatest predictor of film attendance was not sensation seeking but a desire to experience a satisfying resolution (especially by women) and to see destruction (men).

Also of note is that there is evidence that sensation seeking is related to the startle potentiation described earlier. Lissek and Powers (2003) found that people low in sensation seeking (as measured via the thrill and adventure-seeking subscale) produced the typical startle potentiation during the viewing of threatening (vs. neutral) images but that those high in sensation seeking showed equal levels of startle to neutral and threatening images. One explanation for this finding is that high levels of sensation seeking are related to low levels of reactivity to threatening images. Because high sensation seeking involves a degree of sensory overload, less stimulation is required for a startle potentiation to occur and those scoring high in sensation seeking show less fear startle potentiation.

The literature on sensation seeking, therefore, suggests that this trait and specific components of it, especially disinhibition, may predict enjoyment of horror film, but this prediction does not apply to men and women consistently (a conclusion considered in more detail in the section on sex differences below). The literature also highlights a limitation in this – and other areas – of the horror research literature in that samples are often heterogeneous, the film selections are heterogeneous, and sample sizes tend to be small. These limitations are returned to at the end of the review.

Empathy is a multidimensional concept whose components have been defined in different ways but which in general are reflected in two types: a cognitive component (e.g., perspective taking) and an affective/emotional component (sympathy and concern for others and sharing of negative affect). One model suggests that empathy comprises a wandering imagination (a tendency to fantasize and daydream about fictional situations), fictional involvement (transposition of oneself into a story), humanistic mentation (a sensitivity to the emotional welfare of others), and emotional contagion (a susceptibility to be influenced by the emotions around oneself) ( Tamborini et al., 1990 ). Zillmann has proposed a three-factor model of empathy in which emotional behavior arises from the interaction of between these dispositional (a “response-guiding” mechanisms, which result in motor reactions to a stimulus), excitatory (“response-energizing” mechanism, which enables immediate arousal), and experiential (the conscious experience of the first two). Davis (1983) , who originally developed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, argued that empathy was not a unitary or binary concept but was best considered as a set of constructs, which involve our reactions to others but are distinct from each other. These constructs included perspective taking, a fantasy scale (which measures the degree to which a person transposes themselves into the feelings or actions of fictional characters), empathetic concern (which measures the degree of sympathy felt for others), and personal distress (a description of unease or distress experienced in interpersonal relationships).

There is evidence that each component can predict enjoyment of horror film, with low empathy consistently associated with greater enjoyment. In one study ( Tamborini et al., 1990 ), 95 young people in same-sex pairs watched clips from two 1-h documentaries or two full length horror films ( A Nightmare on Elm Street and Boogens ). The study found that tendency to daydream and fantasize predicted the ability to sense the feelings and actions of the films’ characters. Those scoring high on the wandering item, fictional involvement, humanistic mentation, and contagion scales described above found graphic horror less appealing. Those scoring low in empathy preferred graphic horror. People low in fearfulness also prefer graphic horror ( Mundorf et al., 1989 ). Hall and Bracken’s (2011) study of 199 undergraduates found that fantasy empathy (but no other type) predicted narrative transportation (immersion in a text/film or “getting lost” in a story) and was associated with increased enjoyment of the film, although not necessarily horror film exclusively.

In a variant of this procedure, Tamborini et al. (1993) asked participants to watch a pleasant (a comedy) or an unpleasant ( Videodrome ) film, with a confederate. To evoke empathy, after the film, the confederate said they were distressed because they thought they were going to be thrown out of school and asked “what am I going to do?” If there was no reply, the confederate left. If they received a reply, the responses would be rejected. Those participants scoring high in fictional involvement and empathetic concern provided more comfort and more social support. Those who watched the horror film, however, provided less support than did those who watched the comedy. While providing a potentially useful contribution to the study of how people respond to horror and the effect of this on our interaction with others – the greater the empathy, the greater the responsiveness to others’ distress – the sample size is small ( N = 21).

Empathy has also been associated with less enjoyment of suffering displayed in frightening films but with more enjoyment of danger, of excitement, and of happy endings ( Hoffner, 2009 ). People high in enduring negative affect have been found to experience more distress and less enjoyment of suffering. Those who had prior exposure to frightening films enjoyed danger more and enjoyed happy endings less.

Classifying participants according to the degree of empathy and sensation seeking has not been the only approach that has been taken to determining the types of people who watch and enjoy/prefer horror. Johnston (1995) , for example, notes that not all audiences respond to horror in the same way, as this section has demonstrated and has typologized viewers and their motivations to watch into three types: (1) resolved-ending types; (2) thrill watchers; and (3) gore watchers. Resolved-ending types enjoy film with a satisfying, definite closure; thrill watchers enjoy being frightened and empathize with the principal characters; gore watchers watch because they enjoy the destructiveness in film. The typology is based on some of the research reviewed here. A prediction that can be made from this typology is that thrill watchers will have higher levels of empathy and adventure seeking, whereas gore watchers will be low in empathy and fearfulness but will be high in adventure seeking and will seek out high arousal ( King and Hourani, 2007 ). Research suggests that gore watchers are curious about the ways people are killed, are vindictive (they require satisfaction that characters receive their just desserts), and are attracted to blood and guts (gore) in film ( King and Hourani, 2007 ). Gore watchers are more likely to be men, to identify with the killer in films and are less likely to identify with the victim.

King and Hourani identified types of watchers from 229 individuals and showed them four horror films. Half the sample saw the films with a traditional ending (in which the evil antagonist is destroyed) or with teaser endings (in which the evil antagonist is revived/resurrected). The traditional ending was more entertaining than was the teaser ending, but it was especially enjoyable and entertaining for high gore and thrill watchers than low gore and thrill watchers. Traditional endings were less distressing and more frightening for high than low gore watchers and were regarded as being more frightening by high thrill watchers. High thrill watchers found the teaser ending version of the film to be less scary than did low thrill watchers. High gore watchers regarded the teaser to be more predictable than did low thrill watchers. The traditional ending was considered to be less predictable by high gore watchers than by high thrill watchers and by high thrill watchers than by low thrill watchers. Very little research exists on this typology, however.

Although individual studies indicate a relationship between empathy and horror enjoyment, a meta-analysis of studies investigating the enjoyment of mediated fright and violence has found that empathetic concern and personal distress were negatively correlated with enjoyment, but correlations for personal distress were not consistent ( Hoffner and Levine, 2005 ). The authors note that the inconsistencies may be attributable to differences in the content of the film employed in these studies, and this is a problematic issue common to the field: There are no consistently chosen materials in either nature, content, length, age, or narrative. What is noteworthy, however, is that Hoffner and Levine’s review found that the strongest effects (reported in two studies) were for studies, which included horror films, and those films depicted torture ( Johnston, 1995 ) or brutal horror with no positive resolution ( Tamborini et al., 1990 ). When these studies were removed, the correlation between empathy and enjoyment became non-significant. The authors note that the other four films measured participants’ enjoyment of horror film as a genre (rather than their enjoyment of specific horror films or acts of graphic violence), and this methodological limitation in the literature is returned to the conclusion of this paper.

Need for Affect

A different form of individual difference – need for affect – may also mediate horror film preference and enjoyment, but the literature is limited. Need for affect ( Maio and Esses, 2001 ) is based on the assumption that we are motivated to seek interesting or positive experiences and avoid unpleasant ones. Need for Affect (NfA) is measured via a questionnaire, which comprises two subscales: the tendency to approach and the tendency to withdraw. People who prefer sad films experience more enjoyment when watching sad films, for example, because they regard viewing sad films as an enjoyable and a gratifying experience; their need for affect is satisfied by watching sad films ( Oliver, 1993a , b ; Oliver et al., 2000 ; Maio and Esses, 2001 ). Few studies have explored the relationship between NfA and horror film viewing. One study asked 119 attendees (mean age = 23 years) at a German cinema how likely they would be to watch United 93 or the 2006 horror film remake, The Omen ( Bartsch et al., 2010 ). Participants with higher NfA approach scores experienced more intense emotions and experienced more negative emotions such as anger, fear, and disgust. United 93 evoked more negative emotions than did The Omen . Higher NfA withdraw scores were associated with a more negative evaluation of emotions. Controlling for personality did not affect these results significantly. While NfA is little studied in horror, one possible research question that could be explored is whether preference for film genres correlates with NfA; no study to date has systematically examined this relationship.

Other Personality Traits

Other personality traits thought to be implicated in horror film preference or enjoyment include the Big Five, the Dark Tetrad, and repressive coping style. Dark personality traits are those which express some abnormal, sinister, and unpleasant aspect of behavior. Four such traits are Machiavellianism, Narcissism, Psychopathy (described earlier), and Sadism. Machiavellianism (the enjoyment of power and the manipulation of power) has been found to correlate with enjoyment of horror, and the correlations between these two variables are stronger than the correlation between Machiavellianism and sensation seeking ( Tamborini and Stiff, 1987 ). High psychopathy scores have been associated with preference for graphically violent horror movies ( Weaver, 1991 ), and individuals scoring high in callousness and who habitually express little or no emotion show reduced facial expressions of sadness and disgust when watching violent films ( Fanti et al., 2017 ).

A repressive coping style is characterized by the repression of negative affect caused by stressors ( Weinberger, 1990 ; Sparks et al., 1999 ). Sparks et al. investigated repressive coping style and enjoyment of horror film stimuli in 59 individuals. Based on a median split, 30 repressors and 29 non-repressors were identified and were asked to view a 25-min extract from When A Stranger Calls (in which a babysitter receives frightening phone calls and discovers that the calls have been coming from inside the house she is in). Women in general expressed greater negative affect than did men, as expected (see section below), but the repressors in general showed greater physiological arousal during the film than did non-repressors. An interesting pattern emerged across the course of exposure. Physiological arousal was similar for both groups at the beginning of the first two sections of the movie and then diverged in the final three sections as the suspense increased. No explicit analysis was provided of the psychometric response to the film (how much it was liked, how frightening it was, and so on). The study suggests that those who repress negative affect may nonetheless show high levels of physiological arousal during exposure to frightening films. What is less clear in this study is the relationship between this phenomenon and enjoyment of the film. It is also based on a very low sample of participants, and little subsequent research has focused on this particular personality trait/style.

Despite being the most commonly accepted model of personality, the Big Five has been the focus of very little published research in the context of horror film enjoyment and consumption. The Big Five proposes that personality is comprised of five core traits along which individuals differ. These traits are Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience, Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Agreeableness. One study employing a version of the Big Five found that a trait described as Intellect/Imagination (defined as a proclivity to engage in imaginative activity) was the strongest predictor of horror media consumption ( Clasen et al., 2019 ). There was a small but statistically significant and positive correlation between extraversion and frequency of horror media use, using horror media with others, enjoying horror media with others and being more scared with others. Agreeableness was positively correlated with being easily scared by horror media, using horror media with others, enjoying horror media with others, and negatively correlated with being more scared with others. People high in conscientiousness were less scared after using horror media, and people high in emotional stability were found to be less easily scared than those low in emotional stability, a finding which was also reported by Reynaud et al. (2012) , who found that psychophysiological arousal was greater in participants who were high in neuroticism when they watched a film designed to elicit fear. The number of participants in Reynaud et al.’s study, however, was small.

The finding regarding agreeableness contrasts with research on violent video game playing where people lower in agreeableness have been found to be more frequent violent video games players; individuals who score high in extraversion and openness and low in neuroticism have also been found to be more frequent users ( Chory and Goodboy, 2011 ). Low agreeableness is a significant predictor of enjoyment of the horror film genre but not exclusively – it is also a significant predictor of enjoyment of parody, animation, neo-noir, and cult genres across different media including books, television, and film ( Cantador et al., 2013 ). While the findings of Chory and Goodboy (2011) are informative, they are limited in terms of the measurement of response to horror film specifically because the stimuli used were not specifically horror film. A similar limitation can be found in Clasen et al.’s (2019) large Mechanical Turk study of 1,070 participants which asked participants for their responses to and perceptions of horror media generally, not horror film specifically. The study also administered a variant of the Big Five personality inventory and a variant of the sensation-seeking scale (Hoyle et al.’s (2002, Brief Sensation Seeking Scale) not normally administered in research examining the relationship between personality and horror film. Although research on violent video games might help understand some of the correlates between use frequency and personality trait, it should be acknowledged that violent video games are qualitatively different stimuli to films. Films are a passive experience – viewers are unable to influence the action they see on screen – whereas gaming is specifically an active experience where the player engages with what they see and are expected to do so as this is the principal motivation for gaming. Horror films and horror games are not equivalent stimuli, although they share many characteristics and elements of content.

In conclusion, the literature studying the relationship between personality and horror film consumption has been limited in number and scope. Two studies have reported a correlation between low agreeableness and preference/enjoyment of horror media, and one has not. It is noteworthy that in one of the studies reporting an association, agreeableness was the only trait to be significantly associated with horror media use. This aspect of personality may be worth exploring further.

Sex Differences

The most consistent individual difference predicting individuals’ response to horror film is biological sex: men and boys enjoy frightening and violent visual material more than do women and girls ( Zuckerman and Litle, 1986 ; Harris et al., 2000 ; Hoffner and Levine, 2005 ). Correlations between intensity of “scary media” or horror and the enjoyment of horror in men are consistently positive ( Hoffner and Levine, 2005 ). Men enjoy horror media more than do women, are less scared by horror media, use horror media more, and show a greater preference for frightening horror media ( Clasen et al., 2019 ). One of the earliest experimental studies of sex differences investigated the role of social comparison in individuals’ response to horror. Zillmann et al. (1986) asked 36 men and 36 female undergraduates to watch horror films ( Nightmares , Nightmare on Elm Street ) in the presence of a same-age, opposite-sex companion who either expressed control, indifference, or distress during the film. Men enjoyed the horror more and found it less boring and more satisfying and frightening than did women. Men expressed more distress if the female companion expressed distress (but engaged more with them than with a masterful woman) and less if the female companion was masterful. Zillmann et al. also manipulated initial appeal of the companion (high and low). Women enjoyed the films more in the company of a man with high appeal, but women’s appeal had little effect on men’s responses. Women engaged more with masterful than with distressed men. Cutting violence from films can increase enjoyability and decrease arousal in women (but has no effect on men): women regard these films to be generally more disturbing than do men ( Berry et al., 1999 ).

Male undergraduates experience less distress and anxiety than do women when watching horror film ( Sparks, 1991 ), and women find film clips depicting sadness and fear more unpleasant and distressing; they also show greater arousal to fear clips than to clips depicting compassion ( Davydov et al., 2013 ; Maffei et al., 2015 ). The findings reflect a more general sex difference in that women, in general, report greater fear and anxiety than do men. Women have been found to express more fears, more severe fears, and greater fear of repulsive but harmless animals ( Tucker and Bond, 1997 ), a finding that applies cross-culturally ( Arrindell et al., 2004 ). Anxiety disorders are more commonly reported by women than men ( McLean and Anderson, 2009 ), and women appear to be more susceptible to variety of anxiety-related disorders such as panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, PTSD, and agoraphobia ( Kessler et al., 1994 ). The exception to this pattern is fear of bodily injury, social stimuli, noise, or enclosed spaces, where no consistent sex differences have been reported ( McLean and Anderson, 2009 ). Disgust sensitivity – the degree to which individuals find stimuli repulsive – also tends to be higher in women, and this phenomenon might provide an explanation for the sex difference in the fear of animals – and horror film ( Connolly et al., 2008 ). This is considered in more detail below. Women and girls, for example, are less likely to enjoy violent media when blood and gore portrayed are described as extreme, rather than mild or moderate ( Hoffner and Levine, 2005 ).

The sex difference is not only reported in the horror genre but also across a number of cinematic genres. One study of 150 undergraduates in Germany ( Wühr et al., 2017 ) asked participants to indicate which types of films they believed that men and women would generally prefer. In a second study, participants were asked to indicate the films they themselves preferred. In the first study, men were regarded as preferring action, adventure, erotic, fantasy, historical, horror, sci-fi, thriller, war, and western films, whereas women preferred animation, comedy, drama, heimat, and romantic films. Both sexes liked crime and mystery equally. In the second study, women expressed a preference for drama and romance, and men preferred action, adventure, erotic, fantasy, horror, mystery, sci-fi, war, and Western films. Animation, comedy, crime heist, history, and thrillers were liked by both sexes.

Enjoyment and liking of the degree of explicit (graphic) horror also appear to show sex differences. Men tend to prefer very graphic horror material more than do women ( Hoffner and Levine, 2005 ). Men also report watching more violent television and attend more horror films. One explanation for this finding has been proposed by gender socialization theory ( Zaslow and Hayes, 1986 ), whereby boys and men are socialized to not be afraid and to not make expressive shows of fear, whereas girls are not constrained by such expectations and can “express their sensitivity by being appropriately disturbed” ( Hoffner and Levine, 2005 ). Such an explanation is probably locked in a prison of its own time in the sense that it is unclear whether such attitudes still exist now, at the end of the second decade of the twenty-first century.

Sex differences have been reported in the context of other behaviors such as the identification with a film’s character. Tamborini et al. (1987) asked 44 male and 50 female undergraduates to rank their preference for two different versions of 13 films (12 of which were fictional). In one version, the victim of graphic violence was male; in the other, the victim was female. One theory of horror enjoyment discussed earlier (the uses and gratification perspective; Rubin, 1994 ) argues that our reasons for watching horror and the benefit and gratification we derive from it will determine whether we identify with a victim or an aggressor ( Johnston, 1995 ). Viewers who identify with a female victim are usually more likely to experience distress ( Zillmann and Cantor, 1977 ) and are not satisfied by happy endings ( Tannenbaum and Gaer, 1965 ). Oliver’s (1993a , b) study of 96 16-year-old high school students found that there was a correlation between gore watchers and enjoyment of retribution (liking to see victims get what they deserve). Participants’ high punitive sexual attitudes have been found to be positively correlated with higher ratings of enjoyment; men prefer horror films in which the female rather than the male is the victim, but there is no significant association between enjoyment and the films’ portrayal of victimization of sexual characters, of women, or of women expressing their sexuality.

Tamborini et al. (1987) found that participants’ recent and past viewing of horror film strongly predicted enjoyment of graphic horror in general. However, the responses to men and women as victims in the film interacted with other viewing preferences. For example, men’s enjoyment of pornography was correlated with preference for graphic horror, which depicted female victimization but not male victimization. Preference for graphic horror correlated with disinhibition, moderately for boredom susceptibility and experience seeking, and not at all for thrill/adventure seeking. Sensation seeking in general did not predict preference for graphic horror. Women regarded the films with female victims to be higher in violent content than films featuring male victims; the opposite pattern was found in men. Boredom susceptibility was a good predictor of preference for graphic horror in men. No one factor was a strong predictor of graphic horror preference in women when the victim was male. Deceit and boredom susceptibility predicted graphic horror preference when the victim was female. Physiological arousal (measured via GSR) has also been correlated with enjoyment of horror after men finish watching a film ( Sparks, 1991 ).

A retrospective study of 233 psychology students (125 men) asked participants to recall details of a date they had been on as a teenager/young adult during which they watched a frightening film ( Harris et al., 2000 ). The participants reported that the films most commonly seen were Scream, Scream 2 , I Know What You Did Last Summer, and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer . Men were younger when they watched the film (16.7 vs. 17.6 years), and the study found some notable and significant sex differences: Thirty-one percent of women reported looking away from the screen, whereas only 7% of men did. About 61% of women reported feeling anxious, whereas 44% of men did; 34% women reported that it had increased their imagination (men – 1%); 19% of women said they feared sleeping alone afterward (men – 8%); 67% of women said their heartbeat were faster (men – 53%); 56% of women said they became very jumpy (men – 31%); 41% of women were amused and entertained (men – 59%); 55% of women held onto their date (men – 21%); 32% of women screamed (men – 6%); and 26% of women felt disgusted (men – 10%). Men gave more positive reactions than did women, and women gave more negative reactions than did men, and women reported more sleep disturbances than did men. About 80% of women reported being somewhat or very afraid (men – 46%), and 18% reported not being afraid or being a little afraid (men – 51%). This study also measured empathy and found a positive correlation between overall empathy scale scores and negative reactions but not between negative reactions and any one specific subscale. There were some associations between negative reactions and empathetic responses. Low empathetic concern, for example, predicted sleep disturbance. Higher boredom susceptibility was associated with fewer negative reactions and with increased liking but not with sleep disturbance. Women who scored high on empathy were more likely to be scared at the time of the study (i.e., they were more likely to express fear as adults) than were low-scoring women or men generally.

In a similar study, Hoekstra et al. (1999) asked 202 introductory psychology students to describe their reactions (especially fear reactions) when they recalled the frightening movies they watched as children. The mean age at watching was 10.8 years, a similar finding to Cantor (2004) . Female participants as adults liked slasher films less than did male participants as adults – of the 14 categories included, this was the least liked by women. The most liked genre by women was romantic comedy; by men, action and adventure. Men reported choosing to watch horror more often than did women. Both sexes noted fear-related changes after watching films as children but not during the film, with women reporting more negative reactions during the watching of the films when they were girls. The earlier their exposure to horror films as children, the greater was the sleeping disturbance they experienced afterward. The behavioral measures indicated the typical sex differences reported earlier: more girls than men hid their eyes (64 vs. 26%), held someone (35 vs. 6%), and were jumpy (65 vs. 45%).

In terms of the enjoyment of specific content, one study asked participants to rate a 10-min horror film in which the sex of the victim and sexual content was manipulated ( Oliver, 1994 ). The context of this study concerned the types of victim and protagonist in slasher films. An earlier content analysis of 10 slasher films found that a third of sex scenes concluded with the death of a character ( Weaver, 1991 ). Women, however, are not more likely to be killed. In an analysis of 56 slasher films, Cowan and O’Brien (1990) found that men and women were equally likely to be killed off. Women were more likely to be survivors, a cliche that has its own term in horror film: the Final Girl. More screen time is devoted to the deaths of women than men, however, and non-surviving women are more likely to be promiscuous, wear revealing clothes, appear nude, use sexual language, and undress and engage in sex when they are killed. Non-surviving men appear to be identified only by their use of sexual language. Oliver (1994) found that sexual portrayals of victims were associated with increased viewer enjoyment, especially in men. These films were also regarded as more frightening.

As discussed earlier, one possible explanation for women’s reaction to horror may be their disgust sensitivity. Women in general report greater disgust sensitivity than do men. Disgust is a protective response to a direct threat to survival, such as contamination, lesions, sores, or disease ( Krusemark and Li, 2011 ). People high in disgust sensitivity show higher levels of disgust toward low, moderate, and severe facial disfigurement ( Shanmugarajah et al., 2012 ). Individuals with anxiety disorders are more prone to be disgusted, especially those who are anxious about contagion ( Olatunji et al., 2017a , b ). People who are exposed to disease primes are more likely to judge themselves to be less extravert and open to experience ( Mortensen et al., 2010 ), and people distance themselves from contagion or symptoms of contagion ( Neuberg et al., 2011 ). Women’s disgust thresholds for imagining incest, reacting to images of insects, seeing open sores, feces or dirty clothing, and statements about death and sex are significantly lower than those for men, and women are less likely to work in environments in which pathogen exposure is likely ( Al-Shawaf et al., 2018 ). Women’s sexual disgust and pathogen disgust are higher than that for men, but their moral disgust appears to be no difference. This elevated sense of disgust sensitivity in women may partly explain why they enjoy horror film less than do men.

The literature on sex differences in response to, and preference for, horror film provides the most consistent finding in the field that men and boys prefer and enjoy horror film more than do girls and women. One possible explanation for this, besides differences in empathy, may lie in differences in higher-order traits such as anxiety proneness and disgust sensitivity. This possibility, and the evidence for it, is discussed in a later section.

Horror Films and Mental Health

While a typical person’s response to horror film is fear and anxiety, some studies have suggested that exposure to horror films can lead to abnormal stress or distress reactions requiring psychological or psychiatric intervention, a condition called cinematic neurosis ( Ballon and Leszcz, 2007 ). The rarity of these case studies and the details they present – Ballon and Leszcz found only seven such case studies – suggests that the individuals’ behavior arise because of causes unrelated to the horror film and that the horror film was a catalyst for provoking an underlying and pre-existing pathology that would have been provoked by any, other relevant stimuli. The pattern of behavior has echoes in Freud’s (1919/1971) account of seventeenth century “demonological neurosis,” whereby depression or psychosis arose from experiencing the death of a father and individuals made a pact with the Devil to relieve their distress.

According to Johnson (1980) , at least a quarter of horror film viewers had experienced “stress-type” reactions, although this is likely to be within the confines of the normal stress reaction that horror is specifically designed to evoke. Many of the studies reported are case studies, lacking in control participants and largely anecdotal. In a typical example, Horowitz and Wilner (1976) observed that after the release of The Exorcist in 1973, individuals lost “control over thought and emotions,” experiencing “denial and numbing … extremes of anxiety, tension and impaired relationships.” The Exorcist is the source of a number of abnormal behaviors reported by individuals responding extremely to horror film.

Bozzuto (1975) described four adults who developed abnormal stress behavior within a day of watching the film; participants reported insomnia, excitability, hyperactivity, irritability, and decreased appetite. The symptoms dissipated after seven sessions of psychotherapy. Mathai (1983) reported the case of a distressed 12-year-old boy who felt that when somebody touched him, they would go right through him and that when sitting on a chair, he would fall through it. Prior to presentation, he had watched The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers with two of his siblings. Waking from his sleep, he saw “an awful face with bulging veins staring at him.” Hamilton (1978) reported the case of a young woman who had seen The Exorcist and presented with “acute unremitting anxiety and a pervasive fear of being alone especially at night” and refused to go to work. She felt that the “Devil was in a young girl” and “she dreamt of the Devil with a penis in his mouth” (p. 569).

Five of the cases identified by Ballon and Leszcz (2007) cited The Exorcist as the cause of their distress. The other two were Jaws and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers . Robinson and Barnett (1975) reported the case of a 17-year-old girl who had watched Jaws and experienced anxiety and sleep disturbances consequently. She was found the next day jerking her limbs, screaming about sharks. Turley and Derdeyn (1990) reported the case of a 13-year-old boy who became “addicted” to horror films, particularly A Nightmare On Elm Street . One study found that two 10-year-old boys experienced anxiety for up to 8 weeks after watching the TV program Ghostwatch ( Simons and Silveira, 1994 ). Symptoms included fear of ghosts and of the dark, refusal to go upstairs alone, nightmares, sleeping with the light on, and panic attacks. Ballon and Leszcz (2007) reported the case of a 22-year-old unemployed woman with three children who were at 23 weeks’ gestation but felt possessed and had flashbacks of watching The Exorcist . According to the authors, all of the cases of “cinematic neurosis” they reviewed involved individuals who had experienced a recent loss (or potential loss) of a family member about whom they were ambivalent. Individuals also held strong religious or cultural ideals, and their behavior included recalling imagery from the films they had seen. The films also appeared to have some personal meaning to the individuals.

Sparks (1989a , b) found that around half of the women and the quarter of the men surveyed in his study reported enduring fright after watching horror. Women appeared to be particularly affected ( Sparks et al., 1993 ) with around half of the women subsequently avoiding such films, 68% perceiving specific rooms as anxiety provoking (compared with 10% of men), and 43% reporting nervousness. Harrison and Cantor (1999) found that 90% of their sample of 136 young people (average age – 20.6 years) had experienced a film that was so frightening that the experience had lasted beyond the viewing of the film. More than 50% of the sample reported sleep disturbances and eating problems.

The rarity of such extreme emotion distress requiring psychiatric intervention suggests that horror film, while designed to evoke fear and panic, has no significant long-term consequences than can impair an individual’s mental, social, and occupational function and that those individuals who do report this impairment in functioning have other characteristics or have undergone other experiences, which may underlie the condition they report. While there is no evidence that exposure to horror films has adverse or sustained effects on mental health in individuals with no pre-existing mental health issue, there is evidence that watching horror films can lead to self-reported short-term anxiety and disturbed sleep.

Development of Fear and Horror Liking/Avoidance

Children express fear to horror, just as adults do, and they also express enjoyment of horror and graphic violence, just as some adults do, and some have argued that this interest peaks at adolescence ( Twitchell, 1989 ). The form of the stimulus children fear appears to change as they develop, with unfamiliar or threatening versions of concrete objects the source of anxiety in infancy and imaginary and symbolic stimuli the source of fear in the pre-school years. Fear stimuli become more concrete and realistic when children are at school age ( Hyson, 1979 ). Bauer (1976) found that drawings of imaginary feared objects decreased with age (from kindergarten to age 11 or 12), whereas depictions of realistic injury increased. Fright reactions occur to violence, injury, or physical danger ( Cantor and Wilson, 1988 ).

Early Childhood

An early study of children’s preferences for scary movies found that 24% of 43 7–8-year olds and 13% of 46 11–12-year olds reported having nightmares, and younger girls reported more fears than did younger boys ( Palmer et al., 1983 ). Younger boys liked scary films more than did younger girls. About 40% of the younger children liked scary programs; 65% of the older children did. Seven percent of older children and 28% of younger children disliked scary films; 68% of younger children said they avoided scary TV shows, whereas 11% of the older group did. Cantor and Reilly (1982) found that 11–12-year olds reported avoiding frightening TV and films more than did 15–16-year olds, and Cantor et al. (2010) found that the most common content causing fear in 219 8.5-year olds was the supernatural (imaginary/fictional monsters) with someone being hurt the next most common. Having a television in the bedroom was the best predictor of fright severity, and the average age of exposure to stimuli was 6.6 years; 67% were able to provide the name of the show. Seventy-one percent could not stop thinking about the experience; 52% worried about it; 36% reported shaking; 59% did not want to sleep alone; and 56% had nightmares. When another sample ( N = 164) was asked why they watched, 40% said it was because they wanted to and 40% because someone else was watching. A study of 314 7–12-year-old Dutch children’s response to TV-induced fright found that interpersonal violence was the most fear-inducing content and fantasy the least; the films, which caused the greatest fear, had been intended for adult audiences – Gremlins, IT, Commissaris Rex, and The X Files ( Valkenburg et al., 2000 ). Girls experienced more fear than did boys but fear in both sexes declined with age. Girls physically intervened and used social support and escape more than did boys. Cognitive reassurance was the most common coping strategy, and social support was the least common.

How children cope with horror has been the subject of some research on child development and horror because of the potentially harmful psychological consequences of exposure to frightening stimuli. Cantor and Wilson’s (1988) review of the effect of horror stimuli on children’s behavior concluded that two methods of coping were generally employed. Non-cognitive strategies were those which did not involve the processing of verbal information and which might involve desensitization (the gradual exposure to the fear stimulus); cognitive strategies were those whereby children were encouraged to think about the source of their fear as a means of coping with the stimulus. There is evidence that desensitization is successful ( Wilson and Cantor, 1987 ). For example, children (5–7 and 8–9 year olds) who had been gradually introduced to a videotape of snakes showed less fear when watching the snake pit scene from Raiders Of The Lost Ark . A similar effect was found in a study of 5–7- and 8–11-year olds in which participants played with a rubber tarantula and later saw a scene from Kingdom Of The Spiders ( Wilson, 1987 ), and in a group of kindergarteners and 5–6-, 7–8-, and 6–9-year-old children who were exposed to photographs of worms and then saw a frightening film featuring worms. The children who had been previously exposed to the creatures enjoyed the film more than did those not exposed; exposure to live worms reduced the fear evoked by the film in boys ( Weiss et al., 1993 ). Cantor et al. (1988) found that 3–5-, 6–7-, and 9–10-year-old children’s fear of the Hulk in The Incredible Hulk could be reduced if children saw a TV program, which showed the making of the TV series, and how the make-up of Lou Ferrigno (the actor who played the Hulk) was applied. Children of different ages become afraid at different stages of the TV program and the Hulk’s transformation ( Sparks and Cantor, 1986 ): 3–5-year olds became more frightened after the transformation, whereas 9–11-year olds became more frightened before the transformation. Cantor et al.’s finding is also anecdotally illustrated in the preface to Englund (2009) . Here, Wes Craven (the director of A Nightmare On Elm Street ) describes filming Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger in Elm Street) explaining that he was the actor who played a character so that the video could be sent to a distressed child who found Krueger very frightening.

Younger children (4- and 5-year olds) appear to benefit from adopting more physical strategies such as holding on to a blanket/toy or eating/drinking ( Wilson et al., 1987 ). The reasons for the success of this strategy might be the provision of relief from anxiety and the provision of tactile contact in linguistically developing children or by the occupation of working memory, which reduces the cognitive resources available to think about and process fear stimuli. Proximity to a parent is perceived as being the most successful fear-reduction coping strategy in young children ( Wilson et al., 1987 ). Very young children (under 2 years) experience less fear through covering their eyes; in 3–5-year olds, this behavior increases fear ( Wilson, 1989 ).

Cognitive strategies, such as talking about films and programs with parents or other adults, have been found to be effective ( Cantor and Wilson, 1988 ). By far, the most common type of cognitive strategy employed by parents is reassuring children that the stimulus children are afraid of does not exist ( Cantor and Hoffner, 1990 ), although this is likely to be successful in older children but not in younger children (4–5 years; Cantor and Wilson, 1984 ). Explaining that the source of fear is not likely to be harmful is also successful in older (8–9 year old) children ( Wilson and Cantor, 1987 ). Wilson and Cantor’s study, which involved informing children that most snakes were not poisonous and telling them about the behavior of snakes, found that these instructions increased fear in 5–7-year olds. Verbal explanations may be ineffective in younger children who are less likely to discuss horror materials with their parents. Cantor et al. (1986) found that none of their 3–7-year-old children discussed a film with parents, but 43% of 8–12-year olds and 50% of 13–18-year olds did. However, verbal priming prior to seeing the film can sometimes increase the child’s emotional response to what they see ( Cantor et al., 1984 ). If children are informed that a film has a happy ending, they report less fear ( Hoffner and Cantor, 1990 ; Hoffner, 1997 ). Introducing probability information about events prior to watching a film such as telling children the likelihood of an event occurring appears to have no effect on 5–9-year olds’ emotional response ( Cantor and Hoffner, 1990 ). If children rehearse verbal information (e.g., “this tarantula cannot hurt people; they are not poisonous”), older and younger children respond less emotionally to a film about tarantulas ( Wilson, 1987 ). Children also regard the spiders as less dangerous after being given these instructions.

Two physical means of coping with frightening stimuli studied in children are blunting (avoiding threat or transforming a threat by distraction; looking away, for example) and monitoring (being action oriented and attending to the threat). Sparks and Spirek (1988) found that high blunters and low monitors were less physiologically aroused by horror films than were high monitors and low blunters suggesting that underlying physiology might predict or predispose individuals to react in a given emotional way to frightening stimuli; Sparks (1989a , b) also found that low monitors were less negative about horror when given information about the film but this information had no effect on blunters. A study of 228 14–15- and 15–16-year olds examined the role of blunting and monitoring on coping with scary films ( Hoffner, 1995 ). Hoffner investigated empathetic concern (EC, other-oriented) and personal distress (PD, feelings of anxiety/discomfort in response to suffering) by examining four coping methods – interpersonal comfort (IC), distraction (D), momentary avoidance (MA), and unreality. Davis and Kraus (1997) had previously reported that high empathetic concern was associated with less loneliness and unsociability; high personal distress was associated with shyness, poor interpersonal functioning, and social anxiety. Empathetic concern was found to encourage altruism, whereas personal distress prompted people to reduce their own emotion expression ( Batson, 1987 ).

Hoffner found a series of interesting results. A belief that something was unreal was the most common coping strategy, followed by interpersonal comfort and momentary avoidance; these were used more than was distraction. About 50% of the sample considered unreality and momentary avoidance to be effective; 26% considered distraction to be effective. The study found that boys preferred scary films more than did girls, a finding consistent with the literature, that girls reported more empathetic concern and personal distress, that personal distress correlated with empathy and with monitoring and blunting, that these correlated negatively with liking for scary films, that blunting predicted use of distraction and unreality, that monitoring was more widely used and was more effective, that monitoring and blunting were associated with increased interpersonal comfort, that girls were more likely to use momentary avoidance and interpersonal comfort and consider them more effective, that people who reported using one strategy were more likely to use all four, that empathy, but not personal distress, was associated with greater use of reality, IC and personal distress were associated with increased use of distraction, and that higher empathy scores were associated with greater use of Unreality. People who liked horror were less likely to use distraction, unreality, and momentary avoidance as coping strategies, which suggest that coping is related to the dislike of horror – it is something that must be done to mitigate the effects of something that is disliked. If people thought the coping strategies worked, they enjoyed the films more.

Hoffner also noted that participants who reported finding scary films and television to be violent were likely to use all four coping mechanisms; those who found the material to be realistic were more likely to report using distraction, unreality, and interpersonal comfort as coping mechanisms. Material featuring blood and gore was more likely to lead to the use of momentary avoidance. Girls reported using momentary avoidance and interpersonal comfort more than did boys and considered these to be more effective strategies than did boys.

Adolescence

As children enter adolescence, their reasons for seeking out horror develop and change – they will watch to be thrilled, to rebel (because parents have prohibited them), or to enjoy gore because they are interested in how people die ( Oliver, 1993a , b ). One study of 220 13–16-year-old boys and girls examined their motivation for watching slasher movies ( Johnston, 1995 ). Reasons for watching included gore watching, thrill watching, an increased feeling of independence bravery, and problem avoidance. Thrill watching and independence were positively related to positive affect; positive views of slashers were associated with high gore and thrill watching and gore watching predicted preference for graphic violence. Boys were more likely to watch graphic horror because they were motivated to seek out gore, and they were also more likely to identify with the killer than were girls; girls were more likely to identify with the victim. A larger survey of 6,522 10–14-year-old US adolescents in 2003 found similar sex differences: watching violent films was associated with being male, older, non-white, having less educated parents, and having poor school achievement ( Worth et al., 2008 ); teenage boys in another study who were regarded as aggressive and excitable found violent cartoons to be as funny or thrilling ( Aluja-Fabregat and Torrubia-Beltri, 1998 ). Both boys and girls who found violent cartoons funny and thrilling also scored higher on neuroticism, psychoticism, and sensation seeking.

Aging and Horror Enjoyment

The majority of the research on the development of horror preference and response to horror film has recruited children and adolescents as participants. There is very little research on how horror film and horror media in general are perceived as individual’s age and approach caducity, a paucity that is also reflected in humor research. There is some, but not much, research on how older people respond to horror, and this suggests that the preference for horror declines with age ( Tamborini and Stiff, 1987 ; Hoffner and Levine, 2005 ). Clasen et al. (2019) , for example, found a negative correlation between age and enjoyment of horror media and horror use suggesting that both decline as we age. As Clasen et al. concede, however, their sample was clustered around the 35-year age. The average age of those who agreed that they strongly liked horror media was slightly lower than those who disagreed (33.5 vs. 36.5 years). They also note that since sensation seeking also declines with age, this might explain the reduction in enjoyment and seeking out of horror with increasing age post adolescence.

The literature from developmental research mirrors the findings from that in the adult sex differences research in that boys prefer, and seek out, horrifying/scary material more than do girls. Children tend to express greater fear to different types of stimuli and content depending on the age of the child. There are also differences between boys and girls (and between age groups) in the types of coping strategies they adopt during and after watching frightening television and film material. Cognitive strategies, in particular, have been found to be effective with talking about film content and explaining that “monsters” do not exist or that the characters can actually cause no harm being the most effective.

What Causes Fear?

One of the principal purposes of horror film is to induce fear. The nature of fear and its etiology has a long history in psychology, and various models have been proposed, which have attempted to explain why we become afraid and to what types of stimulus. One model, for example, has proposed that we have evolved a “fear module,” a theoretical construct, which comprises a number of domain-specific programs and which is “preferentially activated … by stimuli that are fear relevant in an evolutionary perspective” ( Öhman and Mineka, 2001 ). Fear, it is argued, motivates us to escape and escape very quickly from potential threat and threats to survival ( Mineka and Öhman, 2002 ). The module has four features: it is selective, it is automatic (when encountering fear-relevant stimuli, it responds without mediation), it is encapsulated (i.e., it relies on proven strategies to deal with threat), and it is underpinned by specific neural behavior ( Öhman and Mineka, 2001 ). It is considered to be an adaptive mechanism for allowing us to avoid physical danger rapidly ( Schaller and Neuberg, 2012 ). In the context of horror film, this is, of course, counter-intuitive as horror film viewers who enjoy horror may not wish to escape the horror and deliberately and proactively approach and seek it, and those that do not enjoy horror and who may serendipitously watch horror engage in other withdrawal behaviors such as shutting the eyes or holding on to a companion (they may also leave a cinema or turn off a screen). What occurs during horror film viewing is the willing acceptance that the film will induce fear and that a contract is reached between the medium’s manufacturer and the viewer that this is what is to be expected. The questions that then arise are whether there are specific stimuli or situations, which horror films deploy or recruit which are more likely to induce a fear response and, if so, what are these stimuli and why do they have this effect.

Mineka and Ohman’s conceptualization draws on the (controversial) notion that there are some stimuli to which we are evolutionarily predisposed to fear – that evolution has rendered us more afraid of some objects and situations – and there are stimuli to which we have become socially or cognitively conditioned to fear (e.g., examinations, being in objectively non-threatening social groups). The latter stimuli pose no immediate and real physical threat to survival (i.e., they are not fatal), but the former may potentially present this threat by endangering or causing death, may generate threat, and, therefore, make us more alert to our environment, and these stimuli and situations were experienced by “pre-technological” humans ( Seligman, 1971 ). These stimuli and situations were those which once posed threats to our ancestors and that we, therefore, developed an evolutionary disposition to avoid or to respond with fear, a form of selective association. Guns, for example, are not fatal unless used, and our exposure to them is limited; guns are not phobic stimuli and seeing photographs of guns – or seeing guns – does not elicit significant fear, and not the degree of fear that stimuli to which we are evolutionarily predisposed to fear evoke. A person pointing a gun at us, however, with the intention to fire or with the threat of the intention to fire is clearly a direct threat but not one that is evolutionarily created.

One of most common phobias is arachnophobia, and spiders have been a staple of horror films since the 1950s, although only 0.1–0.3% of spider species are venomous ( Gerdes et al., 2009 ) and conditioned fear to spiders is very difficult to extinguish ( Davey, 1994 ). Individuals are faster at detecting images of spiders and snakes among innocuous stimuli than they are innocuous stimuli placed in an array of threatening stimuli ( Öhman et al., 2001 ). This predisposition facilitates vigilance (occasionally, over-vigilance and we see threat in ambiguous situations) to sources of threat or danger with greater attention paid to some stimuli ( Clasen, 2014 ; March et al., 2017 ). It is a self-protection and survival-enabling mechanism motivating us to confront (and, therefore, remove the potential source of threat) or flee (thereby, removing us from the context in which a threat could result in endangerment).

Fear is related to expressions of disgust, and the literature on phobia suggests that the strength of fear for phobic objects is closely related to disgust sensitivity but not trait anxiety ( Davey, 1994 ) such that people who express abnormal fear of an object also show high degrees of sensitivity to disgusting stimuli but are not dispositionally, highly anxious. A specific phobia, which appears to be qualitatively and quantitatively different from others and is relevant in the context of horror film, is the fear of blood or blood-injection-injury phobia ( Wani et al., 2014 ; Brinkmann et al., 2017 ). This accounts for 3–4% of phobias and is characterized by fear of blood withdrawal, medical intervention, and seeing others’ blood ( Brinkmann et al., 2017 ). Vasovagal syncope (fainting due to low blood pressure and heart rate caused by exposure to a stimulus) is seen in 75% of phobic individuals – there is a short increase followed by a decrease in heart rate. Individuals experience fear, anxiety, and disgust and avoid or decline medical treatment because of the strength of their phobic reaction ( Wani et al., 2014 ). This extreme experience may explain why some people feel squeamish at the sight of blood in horror: blood is unique as a stimulus, which evokes a strong fear or disgust reaction.

Neuropsychology and Horror Film

Fear is the most widely studied emotion in science because it can be easily conditioned, studied, and observed in non-human organisms. There is a substantial literature, which has attempted to explain fear conditioning and learning through reference to its underlying neuropsychology, and much of this work has been conducted on non-human species ( LeDoux and Hofmann, 2018 ). In humans, much of our understanding of the neurology of fear has derived from neuroimaging research and studies of brain injury. One of the brain regions involved in fear recognition and experience is the amygdala ( Martin, 2008 ; March et al., 2017 ), and a considerable literature exists examining the role of this structure in the conditioning and maintenance of fear.

No study has specifically examined the effect of exposure to horror film on brain activation, although hundreds of studies have examined the effect of exposure of fear-related stimuli, including films designed to induce fear, on brain activation measured via MEG, PET, fMRI, and EEG. Many studies have examined the consequence of brain injury on the fear response, and one study is especially relevant to horror film as it examined the effect of bilateral amygdala injury on responses to fear-related stimuli in a film-related context ( Feinstein et al., 2011 ).

In this study, a 44-year-old woman with normal IQ and language showed impaired fear conditioning, impaired recognition of fear in faces, and impaired social-related fear. Feinstein et al. attempted to induce fear by taking her to the pet shop where there were snakes and spiders, walking her through a haunted house, and having her watch horror films. Although she verbally indicated avoidance of the spiders she physically approached them and asked 15 times if she could touch one; at the haunted house (a visitor attraction), she volunteered to lead a group of visitors, did not hesitate in walking around, and was not scared by the monsters (she scared the actors). None of the 10 horror film clips elicited fear (other film clips designed to elicit other emotions successfully elicited those emotions) and she asked for the name of one so that she could rent it. She recognized that most people would be scared by them. This is only comprehensive study of the effect of region-relevant brain injury on the perception of horror films and horror-related stimuli in a single-case study, and while single case studies need to be interpreted cautiously, the study does provide the opening for other studies to confirm the role of these structures in horror appreciation. One possible extension of this study would be to examine whether amygdala reactivity is associated with enjoyment of horror film (those with highly reactive amygdalae may fear or enjoy horror more than those with less reactive amygdalae) or whether the amygdala becomes increasingly active with greater stimulation, and the intensity of the experience correlates with the increase in activity while watching.

Conclusions

The current review sought to determine why people watch horror film and how exposure to horror film affects behavior. Based on the literature from various disciplines, the following conclusions can be reached: (1) low empathy and fearfulness are associated with more enjoyment and desire to watch horror; (2) specific dimensions of empathy are better predictors of people’s responses than are others, but these dimensions are inconsistently predictive; (3) empathetic concern and personal distress are negatively correlated with enjoyment of horror involving torture; (4) there is a positive relationship between sensation seeking and horror enjoyment/preference, but this relationship is not consistent and may depend on the component of sensation seeking; (5) men and boys prefer to watch – and enjoy and seek out – horror more than do women and girls; (6) women and girls report experiencing more fear and anxiety generally than do men and express greater anxiety and fear when watching horror than do boys and men; (7) this sex difference may be attributable to women’s typical higher disgust sensitivity and anxiety proneness (both of which are inter-related); (8) women report more empathetic concern than do men, and this may be another explanatory mechanism; (9) no study to date has systematically explored disgust sensitivity as a mediator in horror enjoyment and preference, but the evidence would suggest that the former will predict the latter; (10) older children are more afraid of concrete objects/stimuli when very young but of symbolic stimuli when younger; (11) individuals tend to prefer horror less as they age, but there is little literature on this topic; (12) children use various coping strategies to overcome horror film-related fear and the success of these depends on the age of the child; (13) physical coping strategies are more successful in younger children; (14) priming with information about the feared object helps reduce fear and increase enjoyment when children watch a film featuring the feared stimulus; (15) the startle reflex is amplified in the presence of threatening stimuli; and (16) little is understood about the role of neuropsychology in the response to horror film generally although the understanding of the structures and regions of the brain implicated in fear and fear conditioning is well documented; the amygdala is likely to be involved in the reaction to (and enjoyment of) horror.

Limitations and Future Directions

The conclusions in the previous paragraph are based on a very limited set of data. The studies from which such data have been drawn have varied in sample size, methodology, and materials, and these are three clearly identifiable and major limitations in this field. Hoffner and Levine (2005) have highlighted similar limitations in their meta-analysis. The type and selection of stimuli used in behavioral studies of horror film and researchers’ definition of what constitutes a “horror” or “graphic” horror film has led to a literature, which renders making generalizations about horror’s effects difficult, the summary above notwithstanding. Studies have used a variety – although a very restricted variety – of horror films over 30 years of research, and the films share little in common apart from being classed as horror film. The Silence of the Lambs, Cannibal Holocaust, The Babadook, Saw, The Blair Witch Project, Psycho, Dracula , and The Devil Rides Out are all horror films, but each has distinctive mechanisms of evoking fear and disgust based on story, film making, plot, characters, sound, performance, visual effects, credibility, and use of music. No one study can fully take into account our response to horror because not all horror films are the same ( Oliver, 1993a , b ), and this limitation needs to be more clearly recognized and addressed in future work.

Hoffner and Levine (2005) have concluded that the nature of the media content in these studies can explain the failure to find homogeneity in the correlations between enjoyment of horror media and empathic concern in their meta-analysis. As noted earlier, when correlations were found for empathy and horror enjoyment, the most consistent correlations found were in those studies in which victimization formed the dominant aspect of the horror stimuli. When these studies were removed, the correlations for the remaining studies fell to almost zero. These studies measured participants’ responses to the enjoyment of horror film as a genre (or response to a drama with a likeable victim), rather than their responses to specific horror films or their experience of watching specific horror films. Hoffner and Levine’s analysis identifies at least two limitations in the field noted here: the heterogeneity of the material used as stimuli in experiments, and the nature of the question asked in these studies (for example, whether the question is: do you enjoy this specific film/film clip? or Do you enjoy this genre of film?). The former limitation can be easily resolved via empirical research. Studies, for example, might examine the role of the nature of the character, the narrative drive of a film (point of view), the esthetics of the film, a film’s use of music, the number acts of violence, and the types of acts of graphic violence and the perpetrator of the violence, the characteristics of the perpetrator, and the victim (their attractiveness, age and sex, for example), a film’s use of color and the use of specific tropes and techniques (such as found-footage and types of horror film). This is not to say that some of these elements have not been studied – this review and others have described studies in which they have – but there has been little research which has examined these elements systematically and methodically, and some elements have not been explored at all.

The issue of self-report – and self-report based on very small samples – is another possible limitation in that authors rely on individuals’ subjective reports based on their impressions and perceptions, and these reports are based on responses to standard questionnaires or questionnaires developed by the authors. This is an issue for any research, which aims to determine how people think and feel and is currently the most effective way of measuring people’s responses. It is possible to study non-verbal measures (such as movement, EEG, brain activation, GSR, and so on), but these are indirect, correlational measures of what an individual might be thinking or feeling. Motor behavior, however, may be a very informative indicator of response to horror, as some of the studies reviewed here suggest.

Given the current accessibility of film and media generally via smartphones, as well as internet-ready TVs and, of course, computers, one topic of research that has been little studied is whether the medium affects the perception and enjoyment of horror films. Filmmakers may bemoan the viewing of material on a smartphone that was designed for a screen that is 1,000 times larger, but it would be instructive to examine whether screen size affects people’s esthetic, emotional, and cognitive response to horror. Screen size and its effect on the enjoyment of displayed material have been relatively well-studied (see, for example, Grabe et al., 1999 ; Lombard et al., 2000 ; Rigby et al., 2016 ). In the context of horror, however, it is hypothesizable that increased screen size leads to increased visibility and that this would result in a stronger fright reaction because more of the horror can be seen and seen more clearly. It is also possible that the augmentation of the screen would also augment the sound (an auditory-sound illusion) so that bigger screens might affect our perception of horror because of this visual illusion.

There is also scope for further research on coping with the effects of watching horror film and of mitigating the fright if the experience is considered too intense or too unmanageable. Of course, individuals could choose not to watch or could chose to watch selectively if they are in front of the screen. But there may be more imaginative strategies that might be adopted such as the introduction of non-visual, non-verbal, and non-auditory stimuli (e.g., scent). It is possible that the presence of a pleasant scent might alleviate some of the fright generated by horror film if such alleviation is required (either because it distracts or because it creates or elevates positive mood). There is some evidence that this might be possible ( Martin, 2013 ), and this is a question that merits pursuit. Wes Craven’s film, The Last House On The Left , utilized a similar, if non-olfactory distraction technique in the tagline for the film, which was “Keep repeating, it’s only a film…it’s only a film…”

The majority of the studies reviewed here has included mono-cultural samples, and the current review was unable to uncover any cross-cultural research on horror enjoyment or preference. An understanding of the cultural influences on film preference (especially horror) and the individual differences that may underpin them warrants investigation given that certain genres of horror appear to be more popular and appear more often, in specific cultures: Different cultures place different emphases on certain types of content and Japanese horror with its emphasis on ghosts, the supernatural is an obvious example ( Balmain, 2008 ; McRoy, 2008 ). Others have argued that the European horror film is distinct from other types of horror film and has a specific “esthetic” ( Allmer et al., 2012 ). There is a considerable literature on the difference between collectivistic and individualistic cultures with research suggesting that the psychological responses of individuals from each type of cultural background are different ( Matsumoto et al., 2008 ; Alotaibi et al., 2017 ; Gendron, 2017 ). In the field of horror film perception, experience, and enjoyment, it could be hypothesized that individuals from collectivistic cultures might respond differently to horror (and victims in horror) than do individuals from individualistic cultures – specifically individuals from collectivistic cultures may express greater fear compared to those from individualistic cultures – and this is an hypothesis that can be easily tested.

With interest and appreciation in horror increasing, the scope for undertaking research into horror film has never been more timely. There is still much to discover and still much to understand. Horror, said Adorno in another context, was beyond the scope of psychology. The research would suggest that the weight of evidence is on the side of one of horror’s innovators. Without psychology, Dario Argento once said, the horror film does not exist.

Author Contributions

The author confirms being the sole contributor of this work and has approved it for publication.

Conflict of Interest

The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Dr Charlie Allbright, Phil Hughes, and four reviewers, especially reviewer 2, for their detailed and thoughtful comments on earlier drafts of this paper, and to Edward Lionheart for planting the seed for this review.

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Best Essays and Books About Horror Movies

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Cult Classic 90s Horror Movie Set for Jack Black & Paul Rudd Reimagining

This popular western divided clint eastwood and john wayne behind the scenes, kevin costner’s 1985 road trip comedy is one of quentin tarantino’s favorite movies.

You’ve probably wondered about the inspiration behind your favorite scary movies and the background of some of those horrifying stories. Sometimes the origins of a horror movie are as simple as an author telling a scary story, and at other times films are based on more sinister, true events . You might also be interested in the making of certain horror movies or the impact they have on the audience or the cast. Maybe you're into film theory and want to study the gender dynamics, cultural and political significance, and philosophy of horror, like in Carol Clover's seminal book Men, Women, and Chainsaws . Luckily, there are plenty of resources that explore these exact topics and the development of horror movies in general.

You might be interested in why people are attracted to horror movies and the act of feeling fear. In which case, you might want to read Stephen King’s essay Why We Crave Horror Movies . Digging even deeper, you might notice horror films can help us examine fears around eating, sexuality, religion, and more. You might even wonder about the characters that often die first and why, which is explained by Lindsay King-Miller in her essay A Love Letter to the Girls Who Die First in Horror Movies . Whatever it may be, in addition to the aforementioned texts, here are the best essays and books about horror movies.

Monsters in the Movies: 100 Years of Cinematic Nightmares

Director John Landis ( American Werewolf in London, Twilight Zone: The Movie ) wrote a book on movie monsters covers some of cinema’s most terrifying creatures and their development. Landis explores the design of movie monsters and special effects, both in high and low-budget films. Monsters in the Movies includes interviews with the minds behind the monsters, their historical origins, and tricks behind bringing these ghouls to life.

Nothing Has Prepared Me for Womanhood Better than Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

Sarah Kurchak’s essay examines a subject people might not consider in horror movies. The truth is that many scary films express beliefs about women and their experiences via horror and gore. Kurchak dissects how Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 features female stereotypes in hot pants but also explores women facing the threats of men and emerging from adolescence completely altered. Kurchak argues that this horror comedy can teach female viewers about what to expect from the world and adolescence.

Stephen King At the Movies: A Complete History of Film and Television Adaptations from the Master of Horror

The chilling stories of author Stephen King have made both startling reads and frightening films. King’s works have established more than 60 horror movies and 30 television series. This book covers the making of all of them, including behind-the-scenes material and King’s opinion on some adaptations. If you’re looking to dive deeper into some iconic films based on King’s stories , consider picking up Stephen King at the Movies .

There’s Nothing Scarier than a Hungry Woman

Remember how we said that horror movies can contain messages that don’t appear obvious on the surface? Laura Maw notices how in many horror movies there is always a scene of a ravenous woman eating, and her fascinating essay considers the meaning behind that.

Related: Best Performances in Horror Films of All Time, Ranked

Maw writes that “horror invites us to sit with this disgust, this anxiety, and to acknowledge our appetite and refuse to suppress it.” Maw presents a feminist analysis of hungry women in well-known horror movies in a way which both explores and challenges preconceptions about women.

Behind the Horror: True Stories that Inspired Horror Movies

Dr. Lee Miller’s research into the origin stories of movies like The Exorcist and A Nightmare on Elm Street are compiled in this handy book. Miller details the true accounts of disappearances, murders, and hauntings that inspired these hit movies.

Behind the Horror explains the history of the serial killers featured in Silence of the Lambs and takes a good look at the possessions that motivated the making of The Exorcist and The Conjuring 2 .

My Favorite Horror Movie: 48 Essays by Horror Creators on the Film that Shaped Them

Arguably one of the best books to read if you are curious about the makers behind famous horror movies. My Favorite Horror Movie features over 20 essays from filmmakers, actors, set designers, musicians, and more about the dark works that solidified their careers.

The films discussed include It , Halloween , The Shining , and others. It’s a good book for looking at horror movies from different angles and recognizing the many minds that contributed to these iconic works.

The Art of Horror: An Illustrated History

Yet another great book for establishing a rounded perspective of horror movies, this time in a much more visual way. The Art of Horror sorts through famous illustrations, movie posters, cover art, comics, paintings, photos, and filmmakers since the beginning of horror with Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s infamous Frankenstein . Learn about these talented artists, their chilling work, and their impact on the direction of horror.

Wes Craven: Interviews

If you’re trying to hear from the best horror directors themselves, the Wes Craven interviews are a great place to start. Craven is responsible for films like Scream , The Hills Have Eyes , A Nightmare on Elm Street , and The Last House on the Left , and is often considered one of the greatest horror filmmakers of all time.

Related: The Best Scream Queens of All Time, Ranked

Craven established a particular style in his films that changed the way horror movies are made, and this book pulls information from the master himself. Wes Craven: Interviews includes almost 30 interviews with the director ranging from the 1980s until Craven passed away in 2015.

101 Horror Movies You Should See Before You Die

Ever wonder if you’re missing a great horror film from your spooky collection? This is the book for you. 101 Horror Movies You Should See Before You Die covers the absolute essentials of every kind of horror film, from gothic to slasher and international horror classics as well. Horror can take on so many different forms and this book is one of the best for finding horror films you might have missed.

The Science of Women in Horror: The Special Effects Stunts, and Stories Behind Your Every Fright

Authors Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence examine women in horror movies in this book that explores feminist horror films , and more misogynistic ones from the standpoint of feminist film theory. The Science of Women in Horror recalls the history of women in horror movies and goes on to analyze more recent, women-centered horror flicks and series such as The Haunting of Hill House and Buffy the Vampire Slayer . If you want to know more about the women on and off-screen in horror movies, check out this book!

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Film Writing: Sample Analysis

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Introductory Note

The analysis below discusses the opening moments of the science fiction movie  Ex Machina  in order to make an argument about the film's underlying purpose. The text of the analysis is formatted normally. Editor's commentary, which will occasionally interrupt the piece to discuss the author's rhetorical strategies, is written in brackets in an italic font with a bold "Ed.:" identifier. See the examples below:

The text of the analysis looks like this.

[ Ed.:  The editor's commentary looks like this. ]

Frustrated Communication in Ex Machina ’s Opening Sequence

Alex Garland’s 2015 science fiction film Ex Machina follows a young programmer’s attempts to determine whether or not an android possesses a consciousness complicated enough to pass as human. The film is celebrated for its thought-provoking depiction of the anxiety over whether a nonhuman entity could mimic or exceed human abilities, but analyzing the early sections of the film, before artificial intelligence is even introduced, reveals a compelling examination of humans’ inability to articulate their thoughts and feelings. In its opening sequence, Ex Machina establishes that it’s not only about the difficulty of creating a machine that can effectively talk to humans, but about human beings who struggle to find ways to communicate with each other in an increasingly digital world.

[ Ed.:  The piece's opening introduces the film with a plot summary that doesn't give away too much and a brief summary of the critical conversation that has centered around the film. Then, however, it deviates from this conversation by suggesting that Ex Machina has things to say about humanity before non-human characters even appear. Off to a great start. ]

The film’s first establishing shots set the action in a busy modern office. A woman sits at a computer, absorbed in her screen. The camera looks at her through a glass wall, one of many in the shot. The reflections of passersby reflected in the glass and the workspace’s dim blue light make it difficult to determine how many rooms are depicted. The camera cuts to a few different young men typing on their phones, their bodies partially concealed both by people walking between them and the camera and by the stylized modern furniture that surrounds them. The fourth shot peeks over a computer monitor at a blonde man working with headphones in. A slight zoom toward his face suggests that this is an important character, and the cut to a point-of-view shot looking at his computer screen confirms this. We later learn that this is Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), a young programmer whose perspective the film follows.

The rest of the sequence cuts between shots from Caleb’s P.O.V. and reaction shots of his face, as he receives and processes the news that he has won first prize in a staff competition. Shocked, Caleb dives for his cellphone and texts several people the news. Several people immediately respond with congratulatory messages, and after a moment the woman from the opening shot runs in to give him a hug. At this point, the other people in the room look up, smile, and start clapping, while Caleb smiles disbelievingly—perhaps even anxiously—and the camera subtly zooms in a bit closer. Throughout the entire sequence, there is no sound other than ambient electronic music that gets slightly louder and more textured as the sequence progresses. A jump cut to an aerial view of a glacial landscape ends the sequence and indicates that Caleb is very quickly transported into a very unfamiliar setting, implying that he will have difficulty adjusting to this sudden change in circumstances.

[ Ed.:  These paragraphs are mostly descriptive. They give readers the information they will need to understand the argument the piece is about to offer. While passages like this can risk becoming boring if they dwell on unimportant details, the author wisely limits herself to two paragraphs and maintains a driving pace through her prose style choices (like an almost exclusive reliance on active verbs). ]

Without any audible dialogue or traditional expository setup of the main characters, this opening sequence sets viewers up to make sense of Ex Machina ’s visual style and its exploration of the ways that technology can both enhance and limit human communication. The choice to make the dialogue inaudible suggests that in-person conversations have no significance. Human-to-human conversations are most productive in this sequence when they are mediated by technology. Caleb’s first response when he hears his good news is to text his friends rather than tell the people sitting around him, and he makes no move to take his headphones out when the in-person celebration finally breaks out. Everyone in the building is on their phones, looking at screens, or has headphones in, and the camera is looking at screens through Caleb’s viewpoint for at least half of the sequence.  

Rather than simply muting the specific conversations that Caleb has with his coworkers, the ambient soundtrack replaces all the noise that a crowded building in the middle of a workday would ordinarily have. This silence sets the uneasy tone that characterizes the rest of the film, which is as much a horror-thriller as a piece of science fiction. Viewers get the sense that all the sounds that humans make as they walk around and talk to each other are being intentionally filtered out by some presence, replaced with a quiet electronic beat that marks the pacing of the sequence, slowly building to a faster tempo. Perhaps the sound of people is irrelevant: only the visual data matters here. Silence is frequently used in the rest of the film as a source of tension, with viewers acutely aware that it could be broken at any moment. Part of the horror of the research bunker, which will soon become the film’s primary setting, is its silence, particularly during sequences of Caleb sneaking into restricted areas and being startled by a sudden noise.

The visual style of this opening sequence reinforces the eeriness of the muted humans and electronic soundtrack. Prominent use of shallow focus to depict a workspace that is constructed out of glass doors and walls makes it difficult to discern how large the space really is. The viewer is thus spatially disoriented in each new setting. This layering of glass and mirrors, doubling some images and obscuring others, is used later in the film when Caleb meets the artificial being Ava (Alicia Vikander), who is not allowed to leave her glass-walled living quarters in the research bunker. The similarity of these spaces visually reinforces the film’s late revelation that Caleb has been manipulated by Nathan Bates (Oscar Isaac), the troubled genius who creates Ava.

[ Ed.:  In these paragraphs, the author cites the information about the scene she's provided to make her argument. Because she's already teased the argument in the introduction and provided an account of her evidence, it doesn't strike us as unreasonable or far-fetched here. Instead, it appears that we've naturally arrived at the same incisive, fascinating points that she has. ]

A few other shots in the opening sequence more explicitly hint that Caleb is already under Nathan’s control before he ever arrives at the bunker. Shortly after the P.O.V shot of Caleb reading the email notification that he won the prize, we cut to a few other P.O.V. shots, this time from the perspective of cameras in Caleb’s phone and desktop computer. These cameras are not just looking at Caleb, but appear to be scanning him, as the screen flashes in different color lenses and small points appear around Caleb’s mouth, eyes, and nostrils, tracking the smallest expressions that cross his face. These small details indicate that Caleb is more a part of this digital space than he realizes, and also foreshadow the later revelation that Nathan is actively using data collected by computers and webcams to manipulate Caleb and others. The shots from the cameras’ perspectives also make use of a subtle fisheye lens, suggesting both the wide scope of Nathan’s surveillance capacities and the slightly distorted worldview that motivates this unethical activity.

[ Ed.: This paragraph uses additional details to reinforce the piece's main argument. While this move may not be as essential as the one in the preceding paragraphs, it does help create the impression that the author is noticing deliberate patterns in the film's cinematography, rather than picking out isolated coincidences to make her points. ]

Taken together, the details of Ex Machina ’s stylized opening sequence lay the groundwork for the film’s long exploration of the relationship between human communication and technology. The sequence, and the film, ultimately suggests that we need to develop and use new technologies thoughtfully, or else the thing that makes us most human—our ability to connect through language—might be destroyed by our innovations. All of the aural and visual cues in the opening sequence establish a world in which humans are utterly reliant on technology and yet totally unaware of the nefarious uses to which a brilliant but unethical person could put it.

Author's Note:  Thanks to my literature students whose in-class contributions sharpened my thinking on this scene .

[ Ed.: The piece concludes by tying the main themes of the opening sequence to those of the entire film. In doing this, the conclusion makes an argument for the essay's own relevance: we need to pay attention to the essay's points so that we can achieve a rich understanding of the movie. The piece's final sentence makes a chilling final impression by alluding to the danger that might loom if we do not understand the movie. This is the only the place in the piece where the author explicitly references how badly we might be hurt by ignorance, and it's all the more powerful for this solitary quality. A pithy, charming note follows, acknowledging that the author's work was informed by others' input (as most good writing is). Beautifully done. ]

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Horror movies & social commentary.

A CAS writing courses looks at what modern horror films say about our current political landscape

When you go to the movies to see a horror film, you expect a few things: some jump scares, a tub of popcorn, and maybe a lingering nightmare or two. But thoughtful political commentary? That’s not always a guarantee.

Maybe it should be. A CAS Writing Program course, titled “Twenty-First Century Terrors,” looks at how recent horror movies, such as A Quiet Place and Hereditary , are full of political messages and allegories and explores the history of the genre as more thought-provoking than people may expect. Led by Lecturer George Vahamikos , who specializes in late medieval and early modern literature, the course aims to show students “the power for social and political critique” lingering in the shadows of these films.

You can read more about the course and hear from students in BU Today .

Photo Credit: Erik Witsoe on Unsplash

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Stephen King — Analysis of ‘Why We Crave Horror Movies’ by Stephen King

Analysis of 'Why We Crave Horror Movies' by Stephen King

• Categories: Stephen King

About this sample

Words: 1020 |

Published: Apr 8, 2022

Words: 1020 | Pages: 2 | 6 min read

Stephen King's essay, "Why We Crave Horror Movies," delves into the intriguing phenomenon of why people are drawn to horror films. King explores the idea that individuals enjoy challenging fear and demonstrate their bravery by willingly subjecting themselves to scary movies. He suggests that humans have an inherent desire to experience fear and that society has built norms around the acceptable ways to do so, with horror movies being one of those sanctioned outlets.

King ultimately argues that horror movies serve as a release valve for the darker aspects of our psyche, allowing us to maintain a sense of normalcy and societal conformity. He suggests that by indulging in controlled madness within the confines of a movie theater, we can better appreciate the positive emotions and values of our everyday lives.

Throughout the essay, King's thoughts evolve from an exploration of psychological impulses to a nuanced consideration of the ethical and moral dimensions of our fascination with horror. He challenges readers to contemplate the complexities of human nature and the role of horror movies in our society.

Works Cited:

• American Psychological Association. (2021). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).
• National Geographic. (n.d.). Why we believe in superstitions. http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/taboo/articles/why-we-believe-in-superstitions/
• New World Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Superstition. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Superstition
• Radford, B. (2016). Superstition: Belief in the age of science. Oxford University Press.
• Rogers, K. (2019). The power of superstition. Scientific American Mind, 30(6), 50-55.
• Sørensen, J. (2014). Superstition in the workplace: A study of a bank in Denmark. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 30(1), 34-42.
• Truzzi, M. (1999). CSIOP Investigates: Superstition and the paranormal. The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice, 1(1), 174-181.
• Vyse, S. A. (2013). Believing in magic: The psychology of superstition. Oxford University Press.
• Woolfolk, R. L. (2018). Educational psychology: Active learning edition (14th ed.). Pearson.
• Yamashita, K., & Ando, J. (2019). Superstition and work motivation: A field study in Japan. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 49(1), 28-36.

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Scream King: 5 Killer Dan Stevens Horror Performances Ahead of ‘Cuckoo’

The time has come to acknowledge Dan Stevens for the scream king that he is. This year alone, his genre credits include Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire , Abigail , and director Tilman Singer’s new film Cuckoo , where he plays a mysterious and undeniably villainous resort owner named Herr König. In the same way that scream queens have helped shape and define the fabric of horror and its feminine roles, recurring scream kings like Stevens have similarly influenced the spectrum of masculinity represented in the genre.

After shocking Downton Abbey fans when he turned in his resignation nearly 12 years ago, it was unclear what Stevens’ career future would look like. Thankfully for us horror fans, his desire for diverse creative experiences quickly drew him towards genre fare. With his disarming good looks and willingness to get weird, wild, and downright drenched in blood, Stevens brings a palpable enthusiasm to every project he touches. Forever relishing the opportunity to play against type, execute a fight sequence, donne a distinct accent, or flex his comedy chops, no two Stevens’ performances are exactly alike.

This fact certainly holds for Stevens’ performance in Cuckoo . Bloody Disgusting ’s own Meagan Navarro notes in her Cuckoo review that Stevens “gets to let loose in thrilling ways” when Herr König finds his nefarious plans at risk of being destroyed by the intelligent and moody teen Gretchen, played to perfection by Hunter Schafer. In celebration of the film’s release this weekend   and Stevens’ newly official scream king status, here are some of his best horror performances so far.

David – The Guest (2014)

In Adam Wingard’s The Guest , Dan Stevens portrays a mysterious young soldier named David who literally runs into town to deliver a final message to the Peterson family from their son who died in action. Despite the family’s initial concerns, they ultimately welcome David and the chance for closure he brings. However, the more the family interacts with David, the more suspicious the Peterson’s daughter Anna (Maika Monroe) becomes of his motives and the series of alarming deaths that seem to occur when he’s around.

For many horror fans, The Guest was the first proper introduction to Stevens and what he could do on screen. As David, Stevens exudes an enchanting ambiguity that balances charm and danger on a razor’s edge. With little more than a look, a slightly raised voice or a well-placed towel, Stevens transforms David from an undeniable dreamboat to an unstable T-800 capable of terrible things. In a sneakily complex role, Stevens demonstrates his immense range and command of his physical presence while delivering a performance that still hits even ten years later.

Charlie – The Rental (2020)

Before Jeremy Allen White became the poster boy for “Rat Boy Summer” and hot chefs everywhere, he starred alongside Stevens as his brother in Dave Franco’s vacation horror film, The Rental . Charlie (Stevens), his wife Michelle (Alison Brie), Josh (Allen White), and Josh’s girlfriend Mina (Sheila Vand) all decide to rent a vacation home together to enjoy some much-needed time bonding and relaxing near the beach. But of course, relationships get tested, and nobody is as they seem, including the creepy vacation homeowner.

One of the more understated roles in his filmography, Stevens uses his natural charm and on-screen magnetism to carefully craft Charlie’s persona. Artfully manipulative and slyly sinister, Stevens sells a performance so conceivable that it unsettles due to sheer believability. Villainous conduct can present itself in many ways, and The Rental proves Stevens is a veritable expert in the field.

Thomas Richardson – Apostle (2018)

In Gareth Evans’ folk horror period piece Apostle , Stevens plays a young man named Thomas who is determined to save his sister from a mysterious religious cult that has kidnapped and held her hostage on a remote, isolated island. Set in 1905, the film’s period resembles much of Stevens’ previous work on various BBC productions. However, the comparisons end there.

As fans of Evans’ other film endeavors like “Safe Haven” from V/H/S 2 or The Raid: Redemption might suspect, Apostle starts simple enough but wastes no time rapidly descending into a deeply disturbing madness. Keeping pace with this narrative trajectory every step of the way is Stevens and his performance as Thomas. As an outsider breaching the walls of the island’s community, Thomas acts as the audience’s conduit into the unsettling religious atmosphere. Both physically and emotionally demanding, Stevens captivates with a genuinely commanding performance that proves he isn’t afraid to go dark and get his hands dirty.

Frank – Abigail (2024)

Born and raised in the South London area of England, Stevens is one of those English actors that many non- Downton Abbey fans often forget is actually English due to his ability to deliver a convincing range of accents. In the latest offering from Radio Silence directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, Stevens takes full advantage of this fact for his performance as the ex-New York cop, Frank, in Abigail . Sent to lead the 24-hour kidnapping mission of a rich and powerful man’s daughter, Frank soon finds his authority and plans derailed by the revelation that the young girl is, in fact, a vampire.

While Frank’s propensity for criminal behavior is on par with the rest of his team’s and disclosed in the film’s opening minutes, the reveal that he is a former cop adds an extra level of sleaze that Stevens embraces with open arms. Maximizing the opportunity, Stevens delivers a thick New York accent as perfectly cheesy as the gold chain Frank wears around his neck. As the night spirals into a frenzy of tulle and vampiric tropes, Stevens incrementally dials up his performance to make his final scenery-chewing moments a bloody delight.

Alo Glo Man – Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities: “The Outside” (2022)

Part of what endears Stevens to so many is his willingness to welcome the absurd and lean into comedy when the tone is right. This fact is on full display in director Ana Lily Amirpour’s episode of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities titled “The Outside.” In the episode, an awkward and quirky bank teller named Stacey (Kate Micucci) becomes obsessed with using a popular lotion called Alo Glo, even though it causes her to have a horrible allergic reaction. As the Alo Glo spokesman, Stevens speaks to Stacey through the television, encouraging her to continue using Alo Glo so that she can fit in and finally feel beautiful.

A scathing and hilarious indictment of beauty standards and the warped perspective many experience due to them, Stevens adopts a smarmy salesman persona, complete with an icy white wig, slick suit, and indiscriminate European accent. Physically embodying and portraying a manifested idea of the male gaze, Stevens’ performance clearly shows a self-awareness that perfectly matches the vibe Amirpour is going for. Even as a side character beaming in over an infomercial, Stevens shines with his effortlessly amusing flair for satire.

Killer Performance Honorable Mentions:

• Blithe Spirit (2020)
• Her Smell (2018)
• Legion (2019)
• Beauty and the Beas t (2017)
• Vamps (2012)

Cuckoo , starring Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens, is now playing in theaters. Get tickets now!

In  Cuckoo : “Reluctantly, 17-year-old Gretchen leaves her American home to live with her father, who has just moved into a resort in the German Alps with his new family. Arriving at their future residence, they are greeted by Mr. König, her father’s boss, who takes an inexplicable interest in Gretchen’s mute half-sister Alma. Something doesn’t seem right in this tranquil vacation paradise. Gretchen is plagued by strange noises and bloody visions until she discovers a shocking secret that also concerns her own family.”

Our own Meagan Navarro wrote in her review out of SXSW , “ There’s inventive worldbuilding on display that sets this high-concept horror movie apart and a few intense horror cat-and-mouse scenes that deliver palpable tension. But Singer approaches it with a playful sense of humor that only further nudges  Cuckoo  into the realm of weird cinema. It’s so refreshingly unconventional and unpredictable in every way, right down to its raucous, entertainingly silly finale, that it’s hard to care about all of the plot that gets discarded along the way.”

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When Cool Girl Meets Final Girl: Hunter Schafer Is the New Face of Modern Horror

“Cool” is one of those nebulous descriptors that defies classification. A cool girl could be anyone from an irreverent teen ditching class under the bleachers to a popular trend-setter rocking the latest style, a tik tok master with millions of followers or – like Gillian Flynn’s Amy Dunne – a woman consumed with attracting a man. This ever-evolving status can be difficult to pin down, but we all know a cool girl when we see her. Hunter Schafer is that girl; a celebrated actress currently reinventing the idea of “cool” for a new generation. With her latest role in Tilman Singer ’s Cuckoo , Schafer brings this edgy energy to another classic female archetype. In her first starring role, Schafer takes on the final girl trope and embodies the female empowerment of legendary heroines while maintaining her own effortless allure. With an electric performance in this uniquely terrifying film, Schafer breaks the final girl mold to create a new vision of modern horror survival.

Despite her rapid success and innate talent, Schafer never planned on becoming an actress. The North Carolina native began studying visual art at a young age and contributed sketches and essays to the virtual teen magazine Rookie . Schafer stepped into the national spotlight as the youngest plaintiff in the ACLU’s lawsuit filed against North Carolina’s H.B. 2. Arguing that transgender students should be allowed to use bathrooms aligned with their gender identity, Schafer honed her public speaking skills and provided a relatable face to the experiences of teens and children suffering under this harmful legislation. Making activism look cool, Schafer also made a film protesting the bill which caught the attention of Teen Vogue editors. As one of the magazine’s “21 Under 21,” the idealistic young woman contributed an essay to the international mag and sat down for an interview with Hillary Clinton.

With an innate and generally flawless sense of boundary-pushing style, Schafer planned to study non-binary fashion at London’s prestigious Central Saint Martins when she was offered a contract with Elite Model Management in New York, NY. Believing that a career in modeling would help redefine beauty standards for the LGBTQ+ community, Schafer put off college indefinitely. She quickly began walking for high-end fashion houses like Dior, Gucci, and Helmet Lang while signing brand ambassador deals with Prada and Shiseido Makeup. Not content to simply perform, Schafer tried her hand behind the camera and directed music videos for girl in red’s “Hornylovesickmess” and ANOHNI and the Johnsons’ “Why Am I Alive Now?”

While repping high-end brands, Schafer responded to an Instagram casting call for trans femme actresses and landed the role that would catapult her to stardom. On Max’s ground-breaking series, Euphoria , Schafer stars opposite Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, and Jacob Elordi as Jules, a transgender student navigating a shockingly mature high school scene. With no formal acting experience, Schafer’s fresh-faced appeal and undeniable talent allowed disparate audiences to connect with a sensitive young trans girl and helped to expand our collective understanding of gender expression.

As if this authenticity and empowerment weren’t cool enough, Schafer has insisted on having a seat at the table. Though Euphoria is told from the perspective of Rue (Zendaya), Schafer worked with creator Sam Levinson to pen the Jules-centric episode “Fuck Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob” which bridges the gap between seasons one and two. With the only co-writing credit on the award-winning show, Schafer pulled from her own lived experience to inform Jules’s story, adding authenticity to a character that has revolutionized TV.

Schafer would continue to work in the horror-adjacent world by voicing Suzu in the English-language version of Mamoru Hosoda’s Belle , an anime adaptation of Beauty and the Beast . This shy and dejected Japanese teen finds new meaning in life and rediscovers her voice through a virtual platform called U. While exploring her newfound pop star fame, Suzu befriends a mysterious user known only as the Dragon (Paul Castro Jr.) and the two find connection in exploring the reality behind virtual ideals. Schafer would follow this celebrated role by appearing in the blockbuster prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. As Tigris Snow, a progressive stylist for early Hunger Games events, Tigris uses her unique artistry to support the rebellion, a natural fit for the civic-minded fashionista.

Schafer steps into the world of overt horror with a leading role in Singer’s Euro-horror shocker Cuckoo . Her enigmatic Gretchen is still reeling from her mother’s death when she moves with her father’s family to a mountain resort in the Bavarian Alps. While adjusting to this dramatic new environment, she takes a job at the resort’s front desk under the management of eccentric German developer Herr König (Dan Stevens). But all is not peaceful at this quiet retreat. Herr König forbids her from working after dark and has a habit of playing mysterious bird calls on the edges of the woods. Stalked by a mysterious woman with a hideous scream, Gretchen must uncover the secret of this sinister compound to avoid becoming a pawn in Herr König’s deadly experiment.

‘Cuckoo’

Though Singer’s film is more closely aligned with creature features and psychological horror, its central character feels pulled from the slasher tradition. Like Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell, Scream ), Gretchen struggles to grieve for her mother in a world that expects her to just move on. When she notices a threat lurking in the shadows outside, she’s mocked and dismissed like Laurie Strode (Jaime Lee Curtis, Halloween ). After surviving a brutal attack, she emerges from the hospital covered in bandages, evoking Laurie’s terrifying trials in Halloween II . Like Rachel Carruthers (Ellie Cornell, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers ), she serves as a protector to her half-sister Alma (Mila Lieu), a young girl who may be able to unlock the resort’s horrific secret. Like Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ), she encounters a murderous force of nature in the unfamiliar woods, and like Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp, A Nightmare on Elm Street ), she devises a plan to ensure her survival.

In addition to this spiritual inspiration, Gretchen’s story feels indebted to Alice (Adrienne King) of Friday the 13th fame. Forty-four years after the Camp Crystal Lake massacre, Gretchen also finds herself alone in the woods, watched by a woman with sinister intentions. Heading back to her cabin after work, she bikes through the dark as a figure in white approaches on foot. Singer uses the natural environment and summer camp feel to heighten the tension as a shadowy hand inches ever closer to Gretchen’s shoulder. Singer nods to these iconic characters, but it’s Schafer’s fantastic performance that cements the connection. In a multi-layered performance, she embodies the strength and fortitude of previous final girls while creating a character all her own. Despite these similarities, Gretchen is far from the virginal ingénue described in Carol J. Clover’s Men, Women, and Chain Saws . This foul-mouthed trouble-maker falls asleep on the job, ignores her father, jams out on her bass, and ditches work to make out with girls. She’s a unique, but relatable heroine providing a new template for what it means to survive.

Now that she’s conquered this legendary element of horror lore, Schafer has no plans of slowing down. Future projects include Amazon’s upcoming Blade Runner 2099 and a starring role in Jordan Peele’s new horror video game OD while a small, but memorable role in Yorgos Lanthimos’s Kinds of Kindness adds prestige collaboration to her expanding resume. She’ll also reprise her role as Jules in the highly anticipated third season of Euphoria reportedly premiering in 2025. Though her calendar is full, the multi-talented phenom takes it all in stride. She continues to push the envelope and defy classification by steadfastly refusing to be anything but herself. As she merges the concepts of cool girl and final girl, Hunter Schafer has become the fresh, new face of gen z horror.

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