Paul Well's

research into Horror audiences (2000)

Paul Well's research...

was conducted with a small focus group involving 12 members of the age groups  ; which consisted of 16-25,26-40,41-55 and 56-80.  

He asked them what the earliest horror film they had seen was and what the most recent.

56-80

  • Age group: 56-80 (1920-1944) years had seen 'Nosferatu' (earliest film) and with 'Death of the night'(being their latest film)

  • interested in horror whilst younger, not so much as they got older

  • scared by the configuration of night and dark as it reminded them of walking home in the dark as youths because of the real horror they experienced during WWII

  • rats reminded them of social conditions

  • fear of breakdown of law and order

41-50

  • In the case of 41-50 (1945-1959) years age group saw 'House of wax‘ as part of (their earliest film), and 'Halloween' being their (latest film)

  • films produced by the company hammer were an example of vivid use of blood, good SFX (a lot like Psycho 1960)  and also a advancement in technology

  • The exorcist (1973) too violent and firghtening

26-40

  • Furthermore he found that within the 26-40 (1960-1974) years age group, 'Night of the living dead' was (earliest film they had seen, whilst 'Silence of the lamb' fell into the (latest film category.

  • disintegration with the genre, disliked silly predictability of films in 80's relied on certain conventions; horror was starting to introduce less passive roles for women

  • believed US horror was far more superior to UK horror

16-25

  •   Lastly within the 16-25 (1975-1984) admitted 'The exorcist' was an earliest film they had seen, in contrast 'Jurassic park' was the latest film. 

  • enjoyed horror films

  • understood the film was fake

  • had a strong desire to know about the production of SFX and how they're created

conclusion of the study?

  • The relationship to begin frightened changes with age and relates to broader factors affecting emotional responses. In addition I gathered that audiences between 1970s and 1990s are more anaesthetised whereas 'monster' films of 1920s and 1930s reported very strong personal response to images and iconography of horror (when cinema was new and unknown). In contrast young audiences are aware of artificiality and are becoming harder to shock.
  •  What are the limitations? It's only a small study and does not have a full proof (not representative of all due to it's small sample size). Supernatural no longer scare people anymore, rather events that have occurred or occurring have more impact on contemporary audience e.g. 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.