PSYCHOLOGY OF HORROR MOVIES.
FACINATION WITH FRIGHT
- People have a fascination with fright as the fear triggers a survival instinct
- Research by Christof Koch has shown that the right amygdala, the portion of the brain associated with fear learning, responds more vigorously to images of animals than to images of people, landmarks or objects even though those are much more dangerous in our civilized world.
- This is why in most horror movies the monsters or bad creatures have sharp teeth and a snake like appearance.
Primary Factors of Horror
There are three primary factors of a horror film these include:
- Tension: this is created though providing mystery, suspense or shock which gives the audience a tense atmosphere. The most straight forward element of horror and technique of filming.
- Relevance: for a horror film to be seen, it has to be relevant to potential viewers. This can be done by capturing the universal fear of things like death and the unknown. Audiences can also find subgroup relevance. For example groups of teenagers as many horror films are based on. There is also a personal relevance to watch horror movies which can be in a way that identifies with the protagonist or in a way what condemns the victim to their ultimate fate.
- Unrealism: even though the graphic nature of some recent horror films, everyone knows at some level that what we are watching is not real. In 1994 Haidt, McCauley and Rozin conducted research on disgust by showing students a sequence of gruesome documentary films in which only a few could make it to the end. Although they found out that the same students would pay to see even worse acts conducted on a movie screen. This is because they know that when they walk into a movie theatre they are going to be watching fabricated reality. They also know that movies are edited from multiple camera angles with soundtracks and sometimes horror is tempered and made out to look worse than what it really is. This explains why we can remember a horror movie when we were children but when we watch it now it really doesn’t look that bad.
Four categories of watching horror.
In 1995 Dierdre D. Johnston carries out research on 220 high school students watching horror films and found out that they fell into 4 general categories.
- Gore watching: characterized by low empathy, high sensation seeking, and in makes a strong identification with the killer.
- Thrill watching: high empathy and high sensation seeking – motivated by the suspense of the film and more identification with the victims.
3. Independent watching: high empathy for the victim with a positive effect of overcoming fear.
4. Problem watching: high empathy for the victim but characterized by negative effect – sense of helplessness
TOP TEN THINGS THAT MAKRE A HORROR FILM SCARY
1. Fear of Death.
2. The Dark.
3. Creepy, Crawly Things.
4. Scary Places.
5. Disfigurement.
6. Dismemberment.
7. Suspense
8. Spooky Music.
9. Lightning and Thunder.
10. Fear of the Unknown.
Most Anticipated Movies Of 2015
1. Crimson Peak
2. It Follows
3. Krampus
4. Apocalypse
5. Victor Frankenstein
6. Insidious Chapter 3
7. Cooties
8. 31.
9. Amityville: The Awakening
10. Paranormal Activity 5: The Ghost Dimension
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By Caoimhe Quinn
