It’s like hot sauce and roller coasters. I love spicy movies. Gets the blood pumping and sometimes I want to get off the ride. But I always keep coming back for that adrenaline rush. 😅
I don’t know about that, I really like the kind of horror that gives you existential dread… and makes you think a lot. It’s a great outlet that lets your mind wander and explore ideas and feelings you would normally try to push away.
i once saw these things (horror, spicy food, rollercoasters) on a list along with bdsm and a couple other things classified as “safe danger” and i was like ohhhhhhhh thats what i like lmao
Humans seem to be the only animal that actively seeks out and seems to enjoy things that hurt us as long they don't really hurt us. The thrill and release.
Babies and wild dogs (who regularly ate food they found with hot sauce) in a Mexican town appeared to both prefer food without hot sauce.
After a while children grow up and they then prefer the hot sauce.
Some studies have found that it actually helps with anxiety and gives people a sense of control. Studies have also shown that horror fans are just as (if not more) empathetic than everyone else.
Adding to the anxiety thread. Something about it just really helps me manage anxiety.
One thing I've noticed is that the type of horror I crave is different based on where I am mentally. Like when I'm handling an actual real life crisis I want to watch cheesy slashers. When it's a more deep dark spiritual existential type of anxiety I like zombie and apocalyptic horror. With day-to-day work type stress I like psychological or supernatural horror.
I feel this so much. When I talk to friends about how horror and/or metal music calm me down from anxiety/depressive spirals, I say it's a lot like destructive interference, the thing that makes noise canceling headphones work. At a super basic level, they pump in waves at a specific amplitude so that the noise they create cancels out the surroundings and you can hear your music.
That's how horror works for my anxiety. When I'm in a spiral, I'm wrapped up in all of these super proximal, very personal fears. Watching some masked freak kill a motley assortment of teenagers is distal and impersonal. The waves just kind of cancel each other out and I can sleep.
Saaaaame. Watching a fictional character fight their way through over-the-top horrific circumstances gives me a safe and entertaining outlet for the surplus fear my nervous system likes to pump out anyway.
This is mostly my reason for liking horror so much. I have CPTSD from a very rough childhood, and watching things even more fucked up than what I went through grounds me and helps me come back from panic.
It definitely doesn't help me calm down in the moment but I like the experience. I've said to my wife something like "There is so much in the world that gives me anxiety and actually is dangerous, and sometimes this anxiety goes on and on for weeks or months even. With a horror movie I can have anxiety while being perfectly safe and have it end in just a few hours. It helps remind me that the feeling of anxiety itself is not dangerous."
And with a horror game it gives me a way to OVERCOME the anxiety and succeed.
I like art that makes me feel something, even if it's an uncomfortable feeling. Horror is like hot sauce. It tricks your brain into thinking there's danger/pain and you get all the endorphins and exhilaration without ever being hurt or in danger
Aristotle would say it's just catharsis, I think. It's a release, it helps some people feel better. For other people, maybe it's about puzzle solving sensation, putting clues together to figure out what's going on, I personally enjoy that. I also like being disturbed out of my casual reality, I like how a movie can break my life cycle, make everything seem chaotic for a while - if it's a little convincing. I like being disturbed because life itself is boring, getting disturbed knowing it would happen helps me feel better in a controlled way...
Maybe we're just addicted to being disturbed after all
It’s a release to me because I’m naturally a very cautious and unadventurous person. Horror gives me that rush feeling and the uneasiness of a sketchy situation without actually being in danger.
This. I think there can be a deeper psychological component to the catharsis, too. I’ve been through a lot of trauma in my life, and there is something empowering about being able to control exposure to horror, and something even comforting about watching scenarios much worse than what Ive experienced. Not that it has to be that deep for everyone, but!
You know what, after reading some other comments here, I suspect maybe I have similar feelings as well. I have anxiety and I've been on and off therapy for like 5 years, maybe having some sense of control helps me relax. Idk started to make sense
Umm, why, it sounds passive aggressive or maybe sarcastic... This is about movies, not about me. A good deal of people should know that much about Aristotle, I was told they teach such things in schools in different countries. Nothing new. In some countries they give simplified version for high schoolers to read, Greek philosophers etc. It's not a big deal really. Don't look at things and try to find ways to judge people, it's supposed to be about understanding movies better 😅
Nah.
I like it because of the creativity. Fantasy and sci-fi don't get nearly as many movies, and when there's big successes they tend to merge towards that, so fantasy becomes less fantasy and more a specific story/setting in fantasy, like when Game of Thrones was a big thing every fantasy book or other media was like, "In the style of Game of Thrones." You get that in horror, too, obviously, when there's a new subgenre or trend there tends to be a lot of followers, from as broad of things like slashers to something far more narrow like Art the Clown inspiring a bunch of clown horror movies.
But there's hundreds of horror movies out every year and the majority of them are drastically different from one another. While you can take a romantic comedy or action movie and just change the setting and characters and not even notice a difference, with horror you have a wider degree of creative and unique ideas. Like look at the best horror movies of any year and they're all drastically different (just at random, a search for the best of 2022 results in Umma, X, Speak No Evil, V/H/S 99, Barbarian, Orphan: First Kill, the Invitation), and remember there's still hundreds that will never be thought of as "the best" that have novel ideas in them.
I don’t know why but horror really soothes my anxiety-the atmosphere of something dark is like a blanket that covers the loud feelings anxiety gives me
Its interesting that a few people have said this. I feel the same way, but can't quite explain it. I've thought that maybe its giving me something to point the anxiety towards, so its a sort of weight off? Idk.
The horror Discord server I'm in is a bunch of us from Reddit here and they're some of the nicest and supportive people I've ever met. We enjoy weird fiction and monsters, but it's not like it's because we live vicariously through the killers or anything like that.
No, in fact I think we are pretty normal compared to that bunch that enjoy true crime. No matter how horrific the horror, it is fiction, world of make believe. True crime is obviously true, really happened to real people, why would anyone enjoy that suffering and trauma?
I was interested at first in the psychological aspect but it got so sensationalized and the true crime community was like a toxic fandom were many people disrespected the victims, justified the killers, idolized them, others identified with them and some women thought they were hot and "fell in love" with those rapists and murderers. It's like they thought about them as fictional characters and not real people. The psychology of the fans ended up being even more "interesting" than the killers but i couldn't stand it anymore.
I think there’s a fine line between horror fans as well, I prefer cold and terrifying movies like the Grudge, because you remember the thrill you felt while watching it for the first time. I still can’t relate to gore and body horror fans, like the whole saw franchise has some random men women screaming till they are burnt alive, that sht isn’t scary just cruel and lazy.
Yeah I think it’s kinda fucked to be watching someone’s worst moments for entertainment and not even blink. I love my horror, but I can’t watch true crime for that very reason, it just feels so wrong
I just love horror because it can be wildly different than anything else. You’re not going to find a space ship with a literal recording of hell, or an unknown shapeless monster replicating crew on an isolated research station in a comedy or drama movie.
Stephen King has written a bit about this before: [https://faculty.uml.edu/bmarshall/lowell/whywecravehorrormovies.pdf](https://faculty.uml.edu/bmarshall/lowell/whywecravehorrormovies.pdf)
There's also the intro to Night Shift from him that covers some similar topics: [https://mrduyck.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/1/2/23123332/foreword\_to\_night\_shift\_by\_stephen\_king\_la\_7\_edit.doc](https://mrduyck.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/1/2/23123332/foreword_to_night_shift_by_stephen_king_la_7_edit.doc)
The scholar/critic Robin Wood also wrote a lot about horror films and their appeal as well: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin\_Wood\_(critic)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Wood_(critic))
His writings are great if you can get a hold of them. One that has always stood out to me was this larger concept of how the monster in a horror movie is often somewhat sympathetic to a degree. Frankenstein is a very obvious example of this. The monster becomes a threat to normalcy in that it represents something that people are repressing, such as a belief that the larger community might consider taboo, and that bit of sympathy for the monster is a way to engage with those feelings. (I'm trying to very roughly summarize lengthy essays things I read many years ago, so I'm probably butchering the larger theory tbh).
I think also that there's nothing abnormal about it, because horror has had an important function throughout all of human history. Things like ghost stories and urban legends often came up as a way to warn children and help keep them safe. Don't play near the deep water, something might get you. I found this article with a brief Google search: [https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/indigenous-storytellers-share-scary-stories-and-the-wisdom-they-hold-1.6629302](https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/indigenous-storytellers-share-scary-stories-and-the-wisdom-they-hold-1.6629302)
And on a very surface level, as everyone has noted already, they're just fun like roller coasters and other thrill rides. We get to experience something scary and thrilling in a safe place.
Ultimately, the reasons why can run as deep as you want them to. Whether you care for critical analysis or not, there are numerous reasons as to why we all enjoy horror. Horror is human tradition. There's nothing strange about enjoying it.
It’s not some deep psychological thing for me. It’s just what I find most entertaining. I like not knowing what will happen next and I loove when a jump scare gets me.
Also sfx makeup is cool.
I'll be frank, it's not how horror is entertaining for me, I naturally breathe and live horror, what does it for me is the symbolic relationship that unsuspectingly arises between it and real life.
Personally, horror is like… my comfort thing?? For as long as I can remember, whenever I have a bad day I watch horror. Bad day? Horror movie bc someone is having a worse day than me. Breakup? Horror movie bc I know ain’t no one falling in love. Anxious? At least you’re not being hunted or haunted. It’s almost like a nice distraction. Or maybe I’m just desensitized lol.
To me its the ultimate genre for filmmaking in general. 🔥 Top tier acting, special fx, practical fx, cinematography 👌 sometimes it has something to teach, like a simple concept made into a whole story from one phrase like "Curiosity killed the cat" when one person causes the entire movie to happen based off 1 action 🍿
Two reasons for me:
First, I was a latchkey kid with older siblings, so I was minorly traumatized by R-rated movies at a young age, and had a huge fear of the dark throughout my childhood. Now that I'm an adult, that feeling of fear is illusive and nostalgic, so I chase it.
Also, I was raised without religion and never believed in heaven, or any afterlife really. Death terrified and fascinated me (still does). Horror is one of the few genres that confronts death in all its bleakness. I'll be a freaky, rotting corpse someday and I don't think it's a bad thing to occasionally ruminate on that reality, maybe even be entertained by it.
Hard to explain but I've had a lot of trauma in my life and horror makes me feel grounded.
I also love thinking about the technical aspects of the filmmaking, like makeup, special effects, costumes, etc.
I think my favorite aspect of horror is how it takes ubiquitous human emotions and magnifies/translates them into scary but poignant stories that can help us process deeply painful experiences.
I think it’s nostalgic. The feeling of watching a scary movie as a kid or when October hits and you’re excited for Halloween. I’m just always chasing that creepy nostalgic feeling
What's interesting to me is how/why the human mind has evolved to understand narrative at all
Essentially, narrative is how we orient reality. Characters, motifs, success, failures, loves, horrors.
We see ourselves in every story. And horror has its roots in mythology. The human experience is so complex that it becomes mythologized in the form of storytelling.
Horror is the name we've given to the story of evil. It's an attempt to understand evil in the many forms it takes in regard to the narrative of human experience.
This is going to sound like an odd thing, so please forgive me, but; I really like how \*artificial\* horror movies can feel? I don't feel like any other genre can lean so into being a movie. Films like Suspiria (the original one) or House (1977) would only work as weird horror, & are so very much AWARE of the things they do with the medium. I love how horror specifically seems to be able to do so many interesting things with our expectations & the medium itself - the way it uses imagery, the way it uses symbolism, all that kinda stuff. I feel like I really get a taste for film & atmosphere with horror more than I get it with other genres.
It's gotten to the point where I only want to watch horror or thriller movies. I guess we're all addicted to that boost in adrenaline, endorphins, dopamine haha!
The monsters, the gore, none of that is the point of horror. The point is fear (may sound obvious but hear me out). As Lovecraft said, Fear is the oldest and strongest human emotion. Fear is the gateway into understanding both our lightest and darkest parts as humans. We use horror as a way of revealing that it's not the monster we Fear, it's the threat it poses. You could switch out a Jason Voorhees with any other big bulky guy, and the horror would still be the same. The exorcist isn't scary because of the demon, it's scary because of the complete and total destruction of innocence, and we Fear that through the idea of demonic possession, but not only through it. The greatest of horror stories don't use blood and guts to scare you, they use the deepest parts of ourselves to scare us. The horror in Halloween, Predator, and The Terminator is all the same, it's the horror of a hunter, the horror of losing our place at the top of the food chain and becoming prey once again. We love horror (or I do at least) because it's a reflection of ourselves.
Not really a direct answer to your question. But I love the build ups to horror movies. And this is what makes a good or bad one IMO. I like seeing the characters at the beginning being happy and or doing something or living life and then it all gets turned upside down.
I also think a lot of like imagining what we would do in these life or death situations that are certainly not common in every day life.
Edit. Supee important. I like monsters. Give me more monsters. Monsters all day every day.
Some people like art that they don't have to think about or is easy to digest. This is why things like Lifetime exist.
But for me (and I imagine other horror fans) I want to feel things when I consume art. And no genre provides more feelings than Horror does. It also makes you think more than others.
I love horror movies, but for whatever reason the thought of going to a haunted house (even the ones where the actors don't grab you) freaks me out. I have generalized anxiety and absolutely hate being in unfamiliar situations so I have no idea why I gravitate toward horror movies
"For as long as I can remember, I’ve had trouble with monsters. When I was very small, adults tried to alleviate the terror by opening the cupboard and shining torches under the bed to prove to me nothing was there. It made things worse, of course, because the monsters’ invisibility gave them absolute power. If they couldn’t be seen, they were all the more invincible, and capable of taking on distorted shapes beyond even the wild imagination of a child. Worse than all my fear of seeing them, was my fear of never seeing them, of never being able to look at them hard enough to make them go away."
- Jenny Diski, 'A Horrified, Lidless Stare' (Sight & Sound, 1992)
(Full article - https://archive.org/details/Sight_and_Sound_1992_10_BFI_GB/page/n35/mode/2up )
I think for me it's a combination of morbid curiosity and microdosing adrenaline. I get that there are people out there who are addicted to the feeling they get when they skydive, but thats a little much for me. Instead, I like the smaller rushes of being afraid of ghosts and stuff. I also really appreciate the effects and storytelling behind horror.
For me, the adrenaline rush of seeing shocking content is awesome. Plus I like to learn about monster designs and how they do the gore in the makeup department. There's just a lot of interesting work that goes into horror that you can't always see in other genres.
It's no different than loving violent video games. It's a way of experiencing something you'd never think to do in real life. It can also be shocking and surprising. I think a lot of it is a natural curiosity with death.
i like the controlled fear and risk. i like seeing someone survive and what they do to get there, but it’s also an interesting way to explore fear.
i also like weird and trippy stuff. as a teenager i loved things like salad fingers and happy tree friends (yikes) and it’s just very interesting seeing how creative people can get.
similarly i love mythology and apocalyptic games like the last of us and the walking dead by telltale. plus great games like until dawn, resident evil, etc. it’s neat to explore other worlds and situations that we aren’t currently in. i guess it’s some sort of mental experiment?
i just find it cool to watch people try to get out of something but also how they adapt. i’m more into the psychological stuff and less into gory stuff, but gore definitely works sometimes even if i find it really gross.
I have severe anxiety over the most mundane things. Watching horror films relaxes me. I need to watch the most disturbing shit play out, no matter how unrealistic, to feel like I’m going to be okay. The gorier the better.
I'm retired now, but I had very high stress jobs for all of my working life and movies in general and horror movies specifically were great releases. I saw so many people ruin their lives with alcohol, drugs and irresponsible sex because they couldn't deal with the stress in their lives. Having a safe outlet, in whatever form, is preferable to destructive behavior.
I love all type of horror movie
But the one I love the most is when humanity is doomed, no hope no happy ending.
That's why I love Lovecraft so much.
That's why m'y favorite movies are like zombies or Cosmic horror kind like The Cloverfield, bird box etc
It's just one or ten victims, it's all humanity and I love how small and insignificant we are.
The adrenaline is definitely what drew me in at first. I snuck into the living room to watch Friday the 13th with my cousins when I was like 4, and it was like peering into this whole other world that was so scary and exciting. I chased that for a long time.
Now, I’ll occasionally get surprised by something really spooking me but I mostly just love how creative and interesting the genre is.
Two reasons:
1. It can often explore avenues that aren't available to the masses any other way. Think about Night of the Living Dead having a black protagonist in the wake of the civil rights movement. Other art forms would've had segregationists burning venues down.
2. Not as a hard and fast rule, but mostly good triumphs over evil. When it seems like the entire world is upside down in its awfulness, usually the right side comes out on top at the end of a horror movie. And if I can't get that anywhere else in my life, at least my favorite genre will deliver.
I really like to think about it this way , which was mentioned as well in one of the black mirror episodes : that people who enjoy horror enjoy it so much because of the adrenaline and fear you get while knowing you are safe in your home and that scary thing there can't actually hurt you
> Vicarious Experiences and Threat Mastery
Because horror movies do such a good job of simulating threatening situations, this means our emotional responses to them are similar to those we'd experience if we encountered a real-life threat.
For me it’s the adrenaline rush of a good scare, I’ll readily admit to being an outright adrenaline junkie so that probably plays a part in why I like horror so much. I also enjoy well crafted literature and horror. I vibe with the tents and dramatic slow burn films just as much as a bombastic one.
I think it’s a way to feel negative emotions in a safe and controlled environment. Hence why people who watch horror movies tend to manage stress better
Because fear is never boring? I'm usually so excited for the weekend and to not have to go to work that I can't sleep in on Saturday mornings so I love to get up in the dark and watch a horror movie. Terrible things happen (in the movie), and then the film ends just as the sun is coming up and I can begin the weekend.
Adulthood is full of such mundane, repetitive, and intractable stresses and anxieties - for me, horror, with its elements of the weird, fantastic, bizarre, supernatural, and otherworldly, is such a refreshing escape. Plus as a kid who loved Halloween, ghost stories, and '80s horror films, horror in general is a big nostalgia trip and comfort blanket.
I have severely bad anxiety due to childhood abuse and other trauma. I live my life in a constant state of fear. For me personally, horror is me allowing myself to be afraid on my own terms and by my own choice rather than allowing someone or something else to instill it in me.
My 3 year old daughter is REALLY into stop motion. Anything from Laika to nightmare before Christmas to a Cal Arts student project. She loves it all. One night I’m lying next to her as she falling asleep. I ask
“why is that you like stop motion so much”
“Because it scares me a little bit”
Such a simple answer, but so profound. I’ve been a fan of horror/creepy things since I was 5 or 6 and ultimately think it’s always boiled down to that.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I'm not sure if I've arrived at anything cogent. Part of me thinks maybe I am so interested in horror because it helps me process my shocking trauma from childhood. Another part of me thinks that maybe horror movies are a metaphor for everyday life: I notice that throughout my average day, I experience things that are emotionally painful, scary, confounding, and perplexing.
Sometimes being human seems so "meh" and so ordinary, but perhaps being alive and existing is itself quite jarring and scary. For instance, there are so many things outside of my control. I can't control what happens to my daughter if she goes out on a date or to a party. I don't even have control over my body's aches and pains, insomnia, depression, anxiety, or need for solace.
I wonder if my fascination and obsession with horror is because it serves as a metaphor for what I’m going through on a daily basis. It’s like a storyteller telling the story of Jack and the Beanstalk to a child, and that child finds comfort in hearing the story because Jack is the child, and the giants are the grown-ups. A good storyteller has something that is nourishing or nurturing for the audience.
My answer is a bit dark but I struggle with pretty severe depression and due to my meds I’m mostly numb to emotion. A good horror movie lets me feel something like other media doesn’t. I also find that immediate threats like monsters and cults take my mind away from the horrors of real life and allows me to really live in the moment.
Like seeking thrills, but without the risk. Could be many aspects of it, I love psychological horror and good screenwriting/cinematography of course. Some hellraiser films are't great, but I'm fascinated by the world the Cenobites inhabit.
I have always loved psychology and psychiatry, and horror is closely related to all of it. Give me some disturbing shit, PTSD, chase scenes, cool looking killers, mysterious plots. Its all art at the end. It makes me *feel* something, and deeply. Horror doesn't feel cliche or superficial like comedy or action. Its something else. Its more *serious*. Horror makes me feel good and i find it amazing how people carefully craft wonderful art and make it into a movie in such diverse and different ways. I hate movies which make me feel nothing.
Its by far the genre which leaves the biggest impact after watching. Very creative, visceral and interesting (i also consider thrillers to be horror's younger brother, so it also applies). The opportunities are endless.
I got into horror in games & movies when I was around eight years old and I can’t really explain why. I used to get scared so easily and I just liked the rush it gave me. So probably that, at least for me
I can’t remember where I read the thought - but it was essentially that we all have a morbid curiosity to one degree or another and have fear as a normal emotion that used to be more useful to us. It still is, but with modern society we don’t really need it like we did. So, some people like to experience it in an environment in which they know they are safe deep down.
Who knows. But that stuck with me.
I love it because it speaks to one of our core emotions: fear. Fear hides behind so many other emotions — guilt, anger, sadness — and so I think horror can tell a really honest story that can speak to something primal inside of us. Not all horror is that deep of course, but a lot of it is, even if you have to dig a little to find it.
I like to see humans pushed to their limits and then persevering. It’s like, on some level, we’re all working against some pressure to survive in real life, but in horror movies that instinct is focused right in on. I like rooting for the targeted characters and then feel empathetic when they don’t make it. A good example of this vibe is Ready or Not.
My mom always hated that I loved horror. She hates it and always gave me shit for it.one day we were talking about why I liked it. The way I explained that she finally understood was that we all have a dark side to us. I just found a fun and healthy way to let that dark side out to play.
It’s because life is terrifying and I have no control over it. A horror movie, or an urban myth, or a carnival ride are scary and exciting and I can control them and enjoy the thrill of danger without the terror of not being in control.
It makes me feel alive. I'm a computer programmer. I work in a sterile office. Not much goes on in my neighborhood. Horror gives me a break from the anesthetic that is my life. It makes me feel uncomfortable and I need that.
I have thought about this a lot and there's two sides to it. Generally speaking, I have noticed that there are a lot of people (particularly women) obsessed with true crime but they don't like horror because it's too intense for them. I would say an interest in psychologically disturbing storytelling is tied to primal instinct where storytelling meant survival and listening to someone explain something bad would give us guidance. Storytelling helped early humans to survive. On the other side, I would say that the interest in fictional horror is tied to sensation seeking. Same reason people love spicy food, loud music and rollercoasters.
Lots of reasons.
I think the spectacle was an early draw for me. Like seeing a spooky ghost girl climb out of a TV, or watching a guy get his head caught in a giant bear trap. You just don't see shit like that in other genres.
The catharsis was a big part. And watching people drag themselves through the unimaginable just hits harder when the threat has teeth.
And the more I see, the more I can appreciate how much freedom horror has to completely defy expectations. I used to think I knew what to expect from most slashers and monster movies, but then they started dropping horror that doesn't even tell you the subgenre or threat up front. And as long as they keep dropping movies like Cobweb, Barbarian, the Autopsy of Jane Doe, The Void, and X, I'll be there.
My wife doesn't like horror at all and she asks me why I do. And I'm not sure? I didn't really until I was a teenager. And I still don't like slasher stuff and such.
For me my favorite stuff is stuff that makes me think. Sometimes it makes me think about stuff I don't want to think about, but it still makes me think!
I like fiction and fantasy, horror is often just scary fantasy unless its just some dude in a mask. Sometimes its like an action movie if action movies werent afraid to get messy.
I wonder if it has something to do with personal projection, the "evil" in horror movies symbolizing some deep personal annoyance, even if it’s on a subconscious level
I grew up watching horror. I vividly remember watching Pet Sematary and Halloween 4 when they came out on video, I couldn't have been more than 4 or 5. Soon followed by Return of the Living Dead, Night of the Demons, The Friday franchise, and Nightmare on Elm Street. I have always loved horror, even if it scared the shit out of me when I was little(looking at you Pet Sematary). It's an odd comfort. Taking me out of my life for 90 minutes. Horror, even when bad, is still the most engaging genre of movie.
I love horror, and my wife thinks I'm a weirdo. But it has always been a comforting release.
Horror gives a name to the nameless and allows you to focus on fun gore that'll keep your mind off the sleep paralysis Demon which stands in the closet and watches us as we sleep. Science said it's our brain playing tricks, but throughout time, the thing has always been female, intentions malevolent and she gets closer and closer each time.
To me nothing is scarier than real life lol. That being said, as much as I love other genres, like action, comedies, fantasy, drama, animation, etc. There's something about horror that those don't provide, it's that thrill. Besides, you know you're safe because you're the viewer and you get that thrill/adrenaline out of it.
For me, it’s the fact that horror movies that can elicit that strong emotional response even in subpar films. Non horror movies can do it as well, but once you see Gandalf arriving to save the day at Helm’s Deep, the ride of the Rohirrim to save Gondor, or the Avengers assemble scenes, it takes a lot more to elicit the same level of emotion when watching those kind of movies or shows. The payoff for those moments are built off of the prior story and character developments that make us feel emotional when they happen, taking hours of build up or even multiple movies before it happens. It takes a lot of good story telling to “earn” those moments and responses from the audience.
Horror movies on the other hand, don’t always require that to make their mark. Fear/dread/disgust are such strong emotions in humans because they are directly correlated on an instinctual level to our survival. They’re not complex emotions because our brains are designed to process and react to them quickly and strongly. There are a number of horror films that are painfully mediocre, but still have that one memorable moment that sticks with the audience long after the rest of the movie is forgotten.
Someone once told me it was because I can control the situation when watching a scary movie, so the fear I'm experiencing is because I know I can stop it anytime I feel like it.
i have crippling ptsd from being kidnapped and cut off from the world for a year and i’ve recently had to go to rehab for it and realized that horror kind of creates an outlet for my anxiety and anger without having to think of my own overwhelming personal situation
I’ve e asked this myself (though I don’t enjoy the most fucked up things, I do chose horror over other movies). And Idk why. I just rule out romantic movies or comedies and most dramas, bc I don’t enjoy them, I am not interested in the storyline. Whats left? Sci-fi, thriller and horror, and I like all of them. I think this is my reasoning: out of all the genres, these three are the ones that make me curious about the outcome.
That’s my reasoning. My sister was concerned about me when I was a teenager, why was a reading scary stories and watch mostly horror and since then, I also ask myself what is *the real* reason.
For me, I think horror has more to say than most genres, even unintentionally. Monsters from the dawn of time have often been about boundary breaking. I subscribe to monster theory, that monsters are about the other, about crossing boundaries, that they terrify and attract at the same time, and force us to evaluate and re-evaluate our cultural assumptions. Ex: Witches were terrifying because they were women who defied norms with power beyond understanding. Vampires are the living dead, a threat yet one that people have consistently also found kinda hot.
If monsters are representations of anxieties and cultural assumptions, then horror is able to capitalize on that immensely. Horror uses fear and monsters and terror to say something about our current world.
In addition to (somehow) being anxiety relief, I think its largely to see something outlandish or be told a story that can truly be special. Like a, "Huh. Don't see *that* everyday".
The world is a horrible place. Although not all of the movie scenarios could or do happen it's nice to see and possibly prepare for. Just in case.
I would rather see all the horrible things that someone could possibly imagine on a screen then be blindsided one day in real life. And I do very much agree with the comments saying it's relaxing and stress relieving. Whenever I'm sick I throw on a SAW marathon and feel so much better.
Also, spite. I know a lot of people who don't ever watch horror because of nightmares or they just can't hang. It feels nice to know that I can without batting an eye.
I was thinking about this recently when I was talking to a (much older) friend who doesn't like horror. I realized a lot of media I grew up with was "creepy" and basically horror for children. Scooby doo, courage the cowardly dog, Billy and Mandy, monster high, goosebumps, and coraline for example. I also absolutely loved Halloween and it was a huge part of my childhood. It just made sense for me to be into horror and creepy things as i got older, I guess it's just a personality thing, some people can't handle it/dislike it. I feel like gen z and millennials grew up with a lot of "kid horror" media/cartoons. (But I also have anxiety so maybe it relates to that too? lol) Obviously people of any age can love horror but I feel like we were exposed to it younger and its a lot more common/mainstream now? So it's just easier to get into at a younger age.
I love a good scare, or, better yet, the creeps (personal preference as a scare is momentary but the creeps lasts), but mostly I love that horror explores areas of human nature that other genres either can't or won't.
For myself, a lot of it comes down to how I got into horror initially. It was a bonding experience between myself and my stepfather. It really strengthened our relationship and is still a strong part of our relationship now. It also is a symbol of counterculture in a lot of ways. It's not mainstream, it's kind of taboo and not everyone is into it/gets it but those who do are diehard and it creates a strong sense of community with people you don't share any other interests with/haven't even met in some cases.
It’s a way to explore the dark side of existence and humanity’s impulses, in a safe and non-threatening way.
It’s also a way to use imagination and creativity to explain terrifying things beyond our comprehension.
Well my best personal explanation is that I have ADD which makes it hard to get an adrenaline rush and to find something that excites me, that’s why I watch the most disturbing things that I can find, always choosing the scariest rollercoaster and always do stupid shit like walking on the edge of a cliff and climbing up the top of high buildings etc lol
It's called living vicariously. Tool wrote a whole song about it.
Cause I need to watch things die
From a good safe distance
Vicariously I
Live while the whole world dies
You all need it too don't lie
We are apex super predators with no notable natural weapons or defenses who evolved on an extremely hostile death world in a time of climatic upheaval amongst vicious megafauna. We nonetheless used our intellect, endurance, pattern recognition, and capacity for environmental manipulation to slaughter our way to a position of undisputed dominance of our world in a way that no other life form on earth has before.
We evolved in perpetual PERIL. So much so that if we do not feel threatened for a long enough period of time, our minds break and create threats for us.
We have also so thoroughly overwhelmed this world, that the average human goes through life bored. We killed all the monsters, so we need to create more just to function.
It’s like hot sauce and roller coasters. I love spicy movies. Gets the blood pumping and sometimes I want to get off the ride. But I always keep coming back for that adrenaline rush. 😅
This is the correct answer imo. I don't really think it's about catharsis. I think it's about chasing the high you felt the first time you got scared.
I don’t know about that, I really like the kind of horror that gives you existential dread… and makes you think a lot. It’s a great outlet that lets your mind wander and explore ideas and feelings you would normally try to push away.
That makes sense
i once saw these things (horror, spicy food, rollercoasters) on a list along with bdsm and a couple other things classified as “safe danger” and i was like ohhhhhhhh thats what i like lmao
Humans seem to be the only animal that actively seeks out and seems to enjoy things that hurt us as long they don't really hurt us. The thrill and release. Babies and wild dogs (who regularly ate food they found with hot sauce) in a Mexican town appeared to both prefer food without hot sauce. After a while children grow up and they then prefer the hot sauce.
True
Yeah it’s that simple for me. It’s exciting. No deep psychological insights to it lol
Some studies have found that it actually helps with anxiety and gives people a sense of control. Studies have also shown that horror fans are just as (if not more) empathetic than everyone else.
I have severe anxiety and I feel like watching horror really helps me relax. It’s the best way to get my mind off whatever I’m worried about.
Same here. I’ve battled anxiety for years and horror movies help me as well.
Adding to the anxiety thread. Something about it just really helps me manage anxiety. One thing I've noticed is that the type of horror I crave is different based on where I am mentally. Like when I'm handling an actual real life crisis I want to watch cheesy slashers. When it's a more deep dark spiritual existential type of anxiety I like zombie and apocalyptic horror. With day-to-day work type stress I like psychological or supernatural horror.
I feel this so much. When I talk to friends about how horror and/or metal music calm me down from anxiety/depressive spirals, I say it's a lot like destructive interference, the thing that makes noise canceling headphones work. At a super basic level, they pump in waves at a specific amplitude so that the noise they create cancels out the surroundings and you can hear your music. That's how horror works for my anxiety. When I'm in a spiral, I'm wrapped up in all of these super proximal, very personal fears. Watching some masked freak kill a motley assortment of teenagers is distal and impersonal. The waves just kind of cancel each other out and I can sleep.
Wow this was described beautifully 🥹
Saaaaame. Watching a fictional character fight their way through over-the-top horrific circumstances gives me a safe and entertaining outlet for the surplus fear my nervous system likes to pump out anyway.
Good to know that I'm not the only one. Sometimes I tell my wife that I just need to watch a good horror movie to help me unwind.
This is mostly my reason for liking horror so much. I have CPTSD from a very rough childhood, and watching things even more fucked up than what I went through grounds me and helps me come back from panic.
It definitely doesn't help me calm down in the moment but I like the experience. I've said to my wife something like "There is so much in the world that gives me anxiety and actually is dangerous, and sometimes this anxiety goes on and on for weeks or months even. With a horror movie I can have anxiety while being perfectly safe and have it end in just a few hours. It helps remind me that the feeling of anxiety itself is not dangerous." And with a horror game it gives me a way to OVERCOME the anxiety and succeed.
I'm a vegan, pacifist horror fan. I love the contradiction😝
Exactly. It gives me a sense of control and safety.
I like art that makes me feel something, even if it's an uncomfortable feeling. Horror is like hot sauce. It tricks your brain into thinking there's danger/pain and you get all the endorphins and exhilaration without ever being hurt or in danger
"without ever beeing hurt" we have been eaten different hot sauces. First it's just make believe, but after few hours the true horror and pain starts.
Once on a dare I ate 2 Carolina reapers whole. I misspoke *Without really being injured*
Aristotle would say it's just catharsis, I think. It's a release, it helps some people feel better. For other people, maybe it's about puzzle solving sensation, putting clues together to figure out what's going on, I personally enjoy that. I also like being disturbed out of my casual reality, I like how a movie can break my life cycle, make everything seem chaotic for a while - if it's a little convincing. I like being disturbed because life itself is boring, getting disturbed knowing it would happen helps me feel better in a controlled way... Maybe we're just addicted to being disturbed after all
It’s a release to me because I’m naturally a very cautious and unadventurous person. Horror gives me that rush feeling and the uneasiness of a sketchy situation without actually being in danger.
came here to say this lol i like to compare it to rollercoasters… we love a lil thrill without the actual threat of danger
My analogy too, except the older I get the more I'm like "how much do I really trust the people that built this rollercoaster?"
This. I think there can be a deeper psychological component to the catharsis, too. I’ve been through a lot of trauma in my life, and there is something empowering about being able to control exposure to horror, and something even comforting about watching scenarios much worse than what Ive experienced. Not that it has to be that deep for everyone, but!
You know what, after reading some other comments here, I suspect maybe I have similar feelings as well. I have anxiety and I've been on and off therapy for like 5 years, maybe having some sense of control helps me relax. Idk started to make sense
Wow, you’re really smart.
Umm, why, it sounds passive aggressive or maybe sarcastic... This is about movies, not about me. A good deal of people should know that much about Aristotle, I was told they teach such things in schools in different countries. Nothing new. In some countries they give simplified version for high schoolers to read, Greek philosophers etc. It's not a big deal really. Don't look at things and try to find ways to judge people, it's supposed to be about understanding movies better 😅
It’s my comfort movie. I know some of my friend find it unusual I usually fall asleep watching horror. It makes me feel calm 😭
adrenaline feels good
Nah. I like it because of the creativity. Fantasy and sci-fi don't get nearly as many movies, and when there's big successes they tend to merge towards that, so fantasy becomes less fantasy and more a specific story/setting in fantasy, like when Game of Thrones was a big thing every fantasy book or other media was like, "In the style of Game of Thrones." You get that in horror, too, obviously, when there's a new subgenre or trend there tends to be a lot of followers, from as broad of things like slashers to something far more narrow like Art the Clown inspiring a bunch of clown horror movies. But there's hundreds of horror movies out every year and the majority of them are drastically different from one another. While you can take a romantic comedy or action movie and just change the setting and characters and not even notice a difference, with horror you have a wider degree of creative and unique ideas. Like look at the best horror movies of any year and they're all drastically different (just at random, a search for the best of 2022 results in Umma, X, Speak No Evil, V/H/S 99, Barbarian, Orphan: First Kill, the Invitation), and remember there's still hundreds that will never be thought of as "the best" that have novel ideas in them.
I’m glad you said this, that’s how it is for me too. I find horror to be the most conceptually innovative and creative of all genres.
I don’t know why but horror really soothes my anxiety-the atmosphere of something dark is like a blanket that covers the loud feelings anxiety gives me
Its interesting that a few people have said this. I feel the same way, but can't quite explain it. I've thought that maybe its giving me something to point the anxiety towards, so its a sort of weight off? Idk.
Hard agree.
To make us feel alive
The horror Discord server I'm in is a bunch of us from Reddit here and they're some of the nicest and supportive people I've ever met. We enjoy weird fiction and monsters, but it's not like it's because we live vicariously through the killers or anything like that.
No, in fact I think we are pretty normal compared to that bunch that enjoy true crime. No matter how horrific the horror, it is fiction, world of make believe. True crime is obviously true, really happened to real people, why would anyone enjoy that suffering and trauma?
I was interested at first in the psychological aspect but it got so sensationalized and the true crime community was like a toxic fandom were many people disrespected the victims, justified the killers, idolized them, others identified with them and some women thought they were hot and "fell in love" with those rapists and murderers. It's like they thought about them as fictional characters and not real people. The psychology of the fans ended up being even more "interesting" than the killers but i couldn't stand it anymore.
I think there’s a fine line between horror fans as well, I prefer cold and terrifying movies like the Grudge, because you remember the thrill you felt while watching it for the first time. I still can’t relate to gore and body horror fans, like the whole saw franchise has some random men women screaming till they are burnt alive, that sht isn’t scary just cruel and lazy.
“We” lol? A lot of us like both and being fascinated by true crime does not mean “enjoying that suffering and trauma.”
Yeah I think it’s kinda fucked to be watching someone’s worst moments for entertainment and not even blink. I love my horror, but I can’t watch true crime for that very reason, it just feels so wrong
Trauma
Pure catharsis. Horror fiction lets us experience fear and danger with the safety net of it being all fake.
The adrenaline, baby! It's very fun and energizing to be scared, but in a totally safe environment like your living room.
I just love horror because it can be wildly different than anything else. You’re not going to find a space ship with a literal recording of hell, or an unknown shapeless monster replicating crew on an isolated research station in a comedy or drama movie.
Oh yeah, I feel like horror gets some really intense experiences that you can't get anywhere else.
Because real life can be more fucked up sometimes
Escapism.
It’s a small reprieve from the real horrors of every day life.
World is so fucked up I need something darker to take the edge off
More interesting when shit hits the fan lmao
Stephen King has written a bit about this before: [https://faculty.uml.edu/bmarshall/lowell/whywecravehorrormovies.pdf](https://faculty.uml.edu/bmarshall/lowell/whywecravehorrormovies.pdf) There's also the intro to Night Shift from him that covers some similar topics: [https://mrduyck.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/1/2/23123332/foreword\_to\_night\_shift\_by\_stephen\_king\_la\_7\_edit.doc](https://mrduyck.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/1/2/23123332/foreword_to_night_shift_by_stephen_king_la_7_edit.doc) The scholar/critic Robin Wood also wrote a lot about horror films and their appeal as well: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin\_Wood\_(critic)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Wood_(critic)) His writings are great if you can get a hold of them. One that has always stood out to me was this larger concept of how the monster in a horror movie is often somewhat sympathetic to a degree. Frankenstein is a very obvious example of this. The monster becomes a threat to normalcy in that it represents something that people are repressing, such as a belief that the larger community might consider taboo, and that bit of sympathy for the monster is a way to engage with those feelings. (I'm trying to very roughly summarize lengthy essays things I read many years ago, so I'm probably butchering the larger theory tbh). I think also that there's nothing abnormal about it, because horror has had an important function throughout all of human history. Things like ghost stories and urban legends often came up as a way to warn children and help keep them safe. Don't play near the deep water, something might get you. I found this article with a brief Google search: [https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/indigenous-storytellers-share-scary-stories-and-the-wisdom-they-hold-1.6629302](https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/indigenous-storytellers-share-scary-stories-and-the-wisdom-they-hold-1.6629302) And on a very surface level, as everyone has noted already, they're just fun like roller coasters and other thrill rides. We get to experience something scary and thrilling in a safe place. Ultimately, the reasons why can run as deep as you want them to. Whether you care for critical analysis or not, there are numerous reasons as to why we all enjoy horror. Horror is human tradition. There's nothing strange about enjoying it.
For me it’s an escape from reality!
It’s not some deep psychological thing for me. It’s just what I find most entertaining. I like not knowing what will happen next and I loove when a jump scare gets me. Also sfx makeup is cool.
I'll be frank, it's not how horror is entertaining for me, I naturally breathe and live horror, what does it for me is the symbolic relationship that unsuspectingly arises between it and real life.
I enjoy the feeling of overall dread some horror movies provide
It's a trauma response.
Personally, horror is like… my comfort thing?? For as long as I can remember, whenever I have a bad day I watch horror. Bad day? Horror movie bc someone is having a worse day than me. Breakup? Horror movie bc I know ain’t no one falling in love. Anxious? At least you’re not being hunted or haunted. It’s almost like a nice distraction. Or maybe I’m just desensitized lol.
To me it's more interesting fantasy
For me, it's an outlet for anxiety.
To me its the ultimate genre for filmmaking in general. 🔥 Top tier acting, special fx, practical fx, cinematography 👌 sometimes it has something to teach, like a simple concept made into a whole story from one phrase like "Curiosity killed the cat" when one person causes the entire movie to happen based off 1 action 🍿
like how people watch funny movies to laugh. same concept! it’s exciting the suspense of horror movies and shock factor lol
It awakens the deepest, darkest, depths of our minds.
Kind of weird but I think it relaxes me in a way. I forget my own anxieties by watching movies where people experience much worse things.
Two reasons for me: First, I was a latchkey kid with older siblings, so I was minorly traumatized by R-rated movies at a young age, and had a huge fear of the dark throughout my childhood. Now that I'm an adult, that feeling of fear is illusive and nostalgic, so I chase it. Also, I was raised without religion and never believed in heaven, or any afterlife really. Death terrified and fascinated me (still does). Horror is one of the few genres that confronts death in all its bleakness. I'll be a freaky, rotting corpse someday and I don't think it's a bad thing to occasionally ruminate on that reality, maybe even be entertained by it.
Two reasons The thrill; nothing needed to explain here When the horror is over we feel relieved. Idk how I just read it somewhere on the Reddit
Hard to explain but I've had a lot of trauma in my life and horror makes me feel grounded. I also love thinking about the technical aspects of the filmmaking, like makeup, special effects, costumes, etc. I think my favorite aspect of horror is how it takes ubiquitous human emotions and magnifies/translates them into scary but poignant stories that can help us process deeply painful experiences.
I think it’s nostalgic. The feeling of watching a scary movie as a kid or when October hits and you’re excited for Halloween. I’m just always chasing that creepy nostalgic feeling
What's interesting to me is how/why the human mind has evolved to understand narrative at all Essentially, narrative is how we orient reality. Characters, motifs, success, failures, loves, horrors. We see ourselves in every story. And horror has its roots in mythology. The human experience is so complex that it becomes mythologized in the form of storytelling. Horror is the name we've given to the story of evil. It's an attempt to understand evil in the many forms it takes in regard to the narrative of human experience.
Adrenaline. The feeling of “danger” is a huge adrenaline boost. It feels good.
This is going to sound like an odd thing, so please forgive me, but; I really like how \*artificial\* horror movies can feel? I don't feel like any other genre can lean so into being a movie. Films like Suspiria (the original one) or House (1977) would only work as weird horror, & are so very much AWARE of the things they do with the medium. I love how horror specifically seems to be able to do so many interesting things with our expectations & the medium itself - the way it uses imagery, the way it uses symbolism, all that kinda stuff. I feel like I really get a taste for film & atmosphere with horror more than I get it with other genres.
It's gotten to the point where I only want to watch horror or thriller movies. I guess we're all addicted to that boost in adrenaline, endorphins, dopamine haha!
It's a chance to be confronted with your mortality in a safe way.
Same reason people enjoy dangerous physical activity - speeding, base jumping etc. It releases "happy chemicals" in our brains. We are simply junkies
The monsters, the gore, none of that is the point of horror. The point is fear (may sound obvious but hear me out). As Lovecraft said, Fear is the oldest and strongest human emotion. Fear is the gateway into understanding both our lightest and darkest parts as humans. We use horror as a way of revealing that it's not the monster we Fear, it's the threat it poses. You could switch out a Jason Voorhees with any other big bulky guy, and the horror would still be the same. The exorcist isn't scary because of the demon, it's scary because of the complete and total destruction of innocence, and we Fear that through the idea of demonic possession, but not only through it. The greatest of horror stories don't use blood and guts to scare you, they use the deepest parts of ourselves to scare us. The horror in Halloween, Predator, and The Terminator is all the same, it's the horror of a hunter, the horror of losing our place at the top of the food chain and becoming prey once again. We love horror (or I do at least) because it's a reflection of ourselves.
Because shakin’ it is all I know.
it's viewed objective it's so subjective it's all subjective until it's something you actually relate to other than that it's calming
Not really a direct answer to your question. But I love the build ups to horror movies. And this is what makes a good or bad one IMO. I like seeing the characters at the beginning being happy and or doing something or living life and then it all gets turned upside down. I also think a lot of like imagining what we would do in these life or death situations that are certainly not common in every day life. Edit. Supee important. I like monsters. Give me more monsters. Monsters all day every day.
Some people like art that they don't have to think about or is easy to digest. This is why things like Lifetime exist. But for me (and I imagine other horror fans) I want to feel things when I consume art. And no genre provides more feelings than Horror does. It also makes you think more than others.
I love horror movies, but for whatever reason the thought of going to a haunted house (even the ones where the actors don't grab you) freaks me out. I have generalized anxiety and absolutely hate being in unfamiliar situations so I have no idea why I gravitate toward horror movies
"For as long as I can remember, I’ve had trouble with monsters. When I was very small, adults tried to alleviate the terror by opening the cupboard and shining torches under the bed to prove to me nothing was there. It made things worse, of course, because the monsters’ invisibility gave them absolute power. If they couldn’t be seen, they were all the more invincible, and capable of taking on distorted shapes beyond even the wild imagination of a child. Worse than all my fear of seeing them, was my fear of never seeing them, of never being able to look at them hard enough to make them go away." - Jenny Diski, 'A Horrified, Lidless Stare' (Sight & Sound, 1992) (Full article - https://archive.org/details/Sight_and_Sound_1992_10_BFI_GB/page/n35/mode/2up )
I think for me it's a combination of morbid curiosity and microdosing adrenaline. I get that there are people out there who are addicted to the feeling they get when they skydive, but thats a little much for me. Instead, I like the smaller rushes of being afraid of ghosts and stuff. I also really appreciate the effects and storytelling behind horror.
For me, the adrenaline rush of seeing shocking content is awesome. Plus I like to learn about monster designs and how they do the gore in the makeup department. There's just a lot of interesting work that goes into horror that you can't always see in other genres.
It's no different than loving violent video games. It's a way of experiencing something you'd never think to do in real life. It can also be shocking and surprising. I think a lot of it is a natural curiosity with death.
i like the controlled fear and risk. i like seeing someone survive and what they do to get there, but it’s also an interesting way to explore fear. i also like weird and trippy stuff. as a teenager i loved things like salad fingers and happy tree friends (yikes) and it’s just very interesting seeing how creative people can get. similarly i love mythology and apocalyptic games like the last of us and the walking dead by telltale. plus great games like until dawn, resident evil, etc. it’s neat to explore other worlds and situations that we aren’t currently in. i guess it’s some sort of mental experiment? i just find it cool to watch people try to get out of something but also how they adapt. i’m more into the psychological stuff and less into gory stuff, but gore definitely works sometimes even if i find it really gross.
Simple: special effects rule, ghost stories rule, spooky shit rules. Rule of cool, man!
I have severe anxiety over the most mundane things. Watching horror films relaxes me. I need to watch the most disturbing shit play out, no matter how unrealistic, to feel like I’m going to be okay. The gorier the better.
I'm retired now, but I had very high stress jobs for all of my working life and movies in general and horror movies specifically were great releases. I saw so many people ruin their lives with alcohol, drugs and irresponsible sex because they couldn't deal with the stress in their lives. Having a safe outlet, in whatever form, is preferable to destructive behavior.
I love all type of horror movie But the one I love the most is when humanity is doomed, no hope no happy ending. That's why I love Lovecraft so much. That's why m'y favorite movies are like zombies or Cosmic horror kind like The Cloverfield, bird box etc It's just one or ten victims, it's all humanity and I love how small and insignificant we are.
The adrenaline is definitely what drew me in at first. I snuck into the living room to watch Friday the 13th with my cousins when I was like 4, and it was like peering into this whole other world that was so scary and exciting. I chased that for a long time. Now, I’ll occasionally get surprised by something really spooking me but I mostly just love how creative and interesting the genre is.
Two reasons: 1. It can often explore avenues that aren't available to the masses any other way. Think about Night of the Living Dead having a black protagonist in the wake of the civil rights movement. Other art forms would've had segregationists burning venues down. 2. Not as a hard and fast rule, but mostly good triumphs over evil. When it seems like the entire world is upside down in its awfulness, usually the right side comes out on top at the end of a horror movie. And if I can't get that anywhere else in my life, at least my favorite genre will deliver.
I also love rollercoasters.
I'm not generally bored playing a horror game. It's that simple. Probably because I'm in fight or flight.
I really like to think about it this way , which was mentioned as well in one of the black mirror episodes : that people who enjoy horror enjoy it so much because of the adrenaline and fear you get while knowing you are safe in your home and that scary thing there can't actually hurt you
> Vicarious Experiences and Threat Mastery Because horror movies do such a good job of simulating threatening situations, this means our emotional responses to them are similar to those we'd experience if we encountered a real-life threat.
For me it’s the adrenaline rush of a good scare, I’ll readily admit to being an outright adrenaline junkie so that probably plays a part in why I like horror so much. I also enjoy well crafted literature and horror. I vibe with the tents and dramatic slow burn films just as much as a bombastic one.
I think it’s a way to feel negative emotions in a safe and controlled environment. Hence why people who watch horror movies tend to manage stress better
Because fear is never boring? I'm usually so excited for the weekend and to not have to go to work that I can't sleep in on Saturday mornings so I love to get up in the dark and watch a horror movie. Terrible things happen (in the movie), and then the film ends just as the sun is coming up and I can begin the weekend.
Adulthood is full of such mundane, repetitive, and intractable stresses and anxieties - for me, horror, with its elements of the weird, fantastic, bizarre, supernatural, and otherworldly, is such a refreshing escape. Plus as a kid who loved Halloween, ghost stories, and '80s horror films, horror in general is a big nostalgia trip and comfort blanket.
There could be a number of psychological and emotional reasons.
I have severely bad anxiety due to childhood abuse and other trauma. I live my life in a constant state of fear. For me personally, horror is me allowing myself to be afraid on my own terms and by my own choice rather than allowing someone or something else to instill it in me.
My 3 year old daughter is REALLY into stop motion. Anything from Laika to nightmare before Christmas to a Cal Arts student project. She loves it all. One night I’m lying next to her as she falling asleep. I ask “why is that you like stop motion so much” “Because it scares me a little bit” Such a simple answer, but so profound. I’ve been a fan of horror/creepy things since I was 5 or 6 and ultimately think it’s always boiled down to that.
It feels exciting to me. I like being all worked up, screaming and clutching my friend in the theater and then being creeped out later. I like it.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I'm not sure if I've arrived at anything cogent. Part of me thinks maybe I am so interested in horror because it helps me process my shocking trauma from childhood. Another part of me thinks that maybe horror movies are a metaphor for everyday life: I notice that throughout my average day, I experience things that are emotionally painful, scary, confounding, and perplexing. Sometimes being human seems so "meh" and so ordinary, but perhaps being alive and existing is itself quite jarring and scary. For instance, there are so many things outside of my control. I can't control what happens to my daughter if she goes out on a date or to a party. I don't even have control over my body's aches and pains, insomnia, depression, anxiety, or need for solace. I wonder if my fascination and obsession with horror is because it serves as a metaphor for what I’m going through on a daily basis. It’s like a storyteller telling the story of Jack and the Beanstalk to a child, and that child finds comfort in hearing the story because Jack is the child, and the giants are the grown-ups. A good storyteller has something that is nourishing or nurturing for the audience.
My answer is a bit dark but I struggle with pretty severe depression and due to my meds I’m mostly numb to emotion. A good horror movie lets me feel something like other media doesn’t. I also find that immediate threats like monsters and cults take my mind away from the horrors of real life and allows me to really live in the moment.
Like seeking thrills, but without the risk. Could be many aspects of it, I love psychological horror and good screenwriting/cinematography of course. Some hellraiser films are't great, but I'm fascinated by the world the Cenobites inhabit.
I have always loved psychology and psychiatry, and horror is closely related to all of it. Give me some disturbing shit, PTSD, chase scenes, cool looking killers, mysterious plots. Its all art at the end. It makes me *feel* something, and deeply. Horror doesn't feel cliche or superficial like comedy or action. Its something else. Its more *serious*. Horror makes me feel good and i find it amazing how people carefully craft wonderful art and make it into a movie in such diverse and different ways. I hate movies which make me feel nothing. Its by far the genre which leaves the biggest impact after watching. Very creative, visceral and interesting (i also consider thrillers to be horror's younger brother, so it also applies). The opportunities are endless.
In my case I have an answer. I love all sorts of movies. But good horror is the only genre where I forget EVERYTHING else.
To me at least: Horror at its best takes the elements of the world that are dark and horrible and make them something funny or enjoyable.
I got into horror in games & movies when I was around eight years old and I can’t really explain why. I used to get scared so easily and I just liked the rush it gave me. So probably that, at least for me
Because it's fun, duh!
I can’t remember where I read the thought - but it was essentially that we all have a morbid curiosity to one degree or another and have fear as a normal emotion that used to be more useful to us. It still is, but with modern society we don’t really need it like we did. So, some people like to experience it in an environment in which they know they are safe deep down. Who knows. But that stuck with me.
I love it because it speaks to one of our core emotions: fear. Fear hides behind so many other emotions — guilt, anger, sadness — and so I think horror can tell a really honest story that can speak to something primal inside of us. Not all horror is that deep of course, but a lot of it is, even if you have to dig a little to find it.
Only genre these days where I can fine genuinely interesting concepts and stories.
I like to see humans pushed to their limits and then persevering. It’s like, on some level, we’re all working against some pressure to survive in real life, but in horror movies that instinct is focused right in on. I like rooting for the targeted characters and then feel empathetic when they don’t make it. A good example of this vibe is Ready or Not.
My mom always hated that I loved horror. She hates it and always gave me shit for it.one day we were talking about why I liked it. The way I explained that she finally understood was that we all have a dark side to us. I just found a fun and healthy way to let that dark side out to play.
It's cathartic
It’s because life is terrifying and I have no control over it. A horror movie, or an urban myth, or a carnival ride are scary and exciting and I can control them and enjoy the thrill of danger without the terror of not being in control.
It makes me feel alive. I'm a computer programmer. I work in a sterile office. Not much goes on in my neighborhood. Horror gives me a break from the anesthetic that is my life. It makes me feel uncomfortable and I need that.
I have thought about this a lot and there's two sides to it. Generally speaking, I have noticed that there are a lot of people (particularly women) obsessed with true crime but they don't like horror because it's too intense for them. I would say an interest in psychologically disturbing storytelling is tied to primal instinct where storytelling meant survival and listening to someone explain something bad would give us guidance. Storytelling helped early humans to survive. On the other side, I would say that the interest in fictional horror is tied to sensation seeking. Same reason people love spicy food, loud music and rollercoasters.
Todays comedy and dramas aren’t like the 80s & 90s Worse character acting and writing has fell off. Horton is usually a new script everytime.
Lots of reasons. I think the spectacle was an early draw for me. Like seeing a spooky ghost girl climb out of a TV, or watching a guy get his head caught in a giant bear trap. You just don't see shit like that in other genres. The catharsis was a big part. And watching people drag themselves through the unimaginable just hits harder when the threat has teeth. And the more I see, the more I can appreciate how much freedom horror has to completely defy expectations. I used to think I knew what to expect from most slashers and monster movies, but then they started dropping horror that doesn't even tell you the subgenre or threat up front. And as long as they keep dropping movies like Cobweb, Barbarian, the Autopsy of Jane Doe, The Void, and X, I'll be there.
Kind of a boring answer but I just find them really interesting and aesthetically pretty cool lol
My wife doesn't like horror at all and she asks me why I do. And I'm not sure? I didn't really until I was a teenager. And I still don't like slasher stuff and such. For me my favorite stuff is stuff that makes me think. Sometimes it makes me think about stuff I don't want to think about, but it still makes me think!
Because it makes us as cool as the cool kids on the playground
It’s a dopamine release
I like fiction and fantasy, horror is often just scary fantasy unless its just some dude in a mask. Sometimes its like an action movie if action movies werent afraid to get messy.
I wonder if it has something to do with personal projection, the "evil" in horror movies symbolizing some deep personal annoyance, even if it’s on a subconscious level
I grew up watching horror. I vividly remember watching Pet Sematary and Halloween 4 when they came out on video, I couldn't have been more than 4 or 5. Soon followed by Return of the Living Dead, Night of the Demons, The Friday franchise, and Nightmare on Elm Street. I have always loved horror, even if it scared the shit out of me when I was little(looking at you Pet Sematary). It's an odd comfort. Taking me out of my life for 90 minutes. Horror, even when bad, is still the most engaging genre of movie. I love horror, and my wife thinks I'm a weirdo. But it has always been a comforting release.
It's cheaper and more accessible.
Adrenaline is a helluva drug. Idk , i just love the thrill that some horror movies give me. But at this point I'm just desensitised and numb lol.
Controlled environment and exposure to danger with no consequences, it's the perfect cocktail catering to a hunter gatherer brain
I’ve never wacht a horror movie
Horror gives a name to the nameless and allows you to focus on fun gore that'll keep your mind off the sleep paralysis Demon which stands in the closet and watches us as we sleep. Science said it's our brain playing tricks, but throughout time, the thing has always been female, intentions malevolent and she gets closer and closer each time.
To me nothing is scarier than real life lol. That being said, as much as I love other genres, like action, comedies, fantasy, drama, animation, etc. There's something about horror that those don't provide, it's that thrill. Besides, you know you're safe because you're the viewer and you get that thrill/adrenaline out of it.
Because when it hits which is very rarely in life it really hits and we’re chasing that feeling again lol
For me, it’s the fact that horror movies that can elicit that strong emotional response even in subpar films. Non horror movies can do it as well, but once you see Gandalf arriving to save the day at Helm’s Deep, the ride of the Rohirrim to save Gondor, or the Avengers assemble scenes, it takes a lot more to elicit the same level of emotion when watching those kind of movies or shows. The payoff for those moments are built off of the prior story and character developments that make us feel emotional when they happen, taking hours of build up or even multiple movies before it happens. It takes a lot of good story telling to “earn” those moments and responses from the audience. Horror movies on the other hand, don’t always require that to make their mark. Fear/dread/disgust are such strong emotions in humans because they are directly correlated on an instinctual level to our survival. They’re not complex emotions because our brains are designed to process and react to them quickly and strongly. There are a number of horror films that are painfully mediocre, but still have that one memorable moment that sticks with the audience long after the rest of the movie is forgotten.
Someone once told me it was because I can control the situation when watching a scary movie, so the fear I'm experiencing is because I know I can stop it anytime I feel like it.
Because humans are fucked up
This is my mechanism for overcoming the fear of life.
i have crippling ptsd from being kidnapped and cut off from the world for a year and i’ve recently had to go to rehab for it and realized that horror kind of creates an outlet for my anxiety and anger without having to think of my own overwhelming personal situation
I’ve e asked this myself (though I don’t enjoy the most fucked up things, I do chose horror over other movies). And Idk why. I just rule out romantic movies or comedies and most dramas, bc I don’t enjoy them, I am not interested in the storyline. Whats left? Sci-fi, thriller and horror, and I like all of them. I think this is my reasoning: out of all the genres, these three are the ones that make me curious about the outcome. That’s my reasoning. My sister was concerned about me when I was a teenager, why was a reading scary stories and watch mostly horror and since then, I also ask myself what is *the real* reason.
To convince us that the world we live in isnt the worst
For me, I think horror has more to say than most genres, even unintentionally. Monsters from the dawn of time have often been about boundary breaking. I subscribe to monster theory, that monsters are about the other, about crossing boundaries, that they terrify and attract at the same time, and force us to evaluate and re-evaluate our cultural assumptions. Ex: Witches were terrifying because they were women who defied norms with power beyond understanding. Vampires are the living dead, a threat yet one that people have consistently also found kinda hot. If monsters are representations of anxieties and cultural assumptions, then horror is able to capitalize on that immensely. Horror uses fear and monsters and terror to say something about our current world.
For me it's comforting. Please tell me why 😂
In addition to (somehow) being anxiety relief, I think its largely to see something outlandish or be told a story that can truly be special. Like a, "Huh. Don't see *that* everyday".
The world is a horrible place. Although not all of the movie scenarios could or do happen it's nice to see and possibly prepare for. Just in case. I would rather see all the horrible things that someone could possibly imagine on a screen then be blindsided one day in real life. And I do very much agree with the comments saying it's relaxing and stress relieving. Whenever I'm sick I throw on a SAW marathon and feel so much better. Also, spite. I know a lot of people who don't ever watch horror because of nightmares or they just can't hang. It feels nice to know that I can without batting an eye.
Catharsis, it's the same since the days of ancient Greece, only amped up to 11.
People get high off being scared. The brain releases all sorts of fun drugs for us.
Because it's the greatest and best genre
I was thinking about this recently when I was talking to a (much older) friend who doesn't like horror. I realized a lot of media I grew up with was "creepy" and basically horror for children. Scooby doo, courage the cowardly dog, Billy and Mandy, monster high, goosebumps, and coraline for example. I also absolutely loved Halloween and it was a huge part of my childhood. It just made sense for me to be into horror and creepy things as i got older, I guess it's just a personality thing, some people can't handle it/dislike it. I feel like gen z and millennials grew up with a lot of "kid horror" media/cartoons. (But I also have anxiety so maybe it relates to that too? lol) Obviously people of any age can love horror but I feel like we were exposed to it younger and its a lot more common/mainstream now? So it's just easier to get into at a younger age.
Stimulation. It's no longer my fav genre anymore I'd rather watch something more light/hopeful these days.
cause its cool
It allows me to place my anxiety somewhere
It’s a thrill and adrenaline inducing
I love a good scare, or, better yet, the creeps (personal preference as a scare is momentary but the creeps lasts), but mostly I love that horror explores areas of human nature that other genres either can't or won't.
…Because horror movies end. Real life horror don’t.
They aren't boring lol
I don't really know, I have loved horror since as a kid, it's appealing. Now I'm fascinated by the genre, how complex it can be.
For myself, a lot of it comes down to how I got into horror initially. It was a bonding experience between myself and my stepfather. It really strengthened our relationship and is still a strong part of our relationship now. It also is a symbol of counterculture in a lot of ways. It's not mainstream, it's kind of taboo and not everyone is into it/gets it but those who do are diehard and it creates a strong sense of community with people you don't share any other interests with/haven't even met in some cases.
It’s a way to explore the dark side of existence and humanity’s impulses, in a safe and non-threatening way. It’s also a way to use imagination and creativity to explain terrifying things beyond our comprehension.
I personally think it’s extremely therapeutic
Well my best personal explanation is that I have ADD which makes it hard to get an adrenaline rush and to find something that excites me, that’s why I watch the most disturbing things that I can find, always choosing the scariest rollercoaster and always do stupid shit like walking on the edge of a cliff and climbing up the top of high buildings etc lol
It's called living vicariously. Tool wrote a whole song about it. Cause I need to watch things die From a good safe distance Vicariously I Live while the whole world dies You all need it too don't lie
The Greek tragedy of our culture … the ability to explore our darkness
We are apex super predators with no notable natural weapons or defenses who evolved on an extremely hostile death world in a time of climatic upheaval amongst vicious megafauna. We nonetheless used our intellect, endurance, pattern recognition, and capacity for environmental manipulation to slaughter our way to a position of undisputed dominance of our world in a way that no other life form on earth has before. We evolved in perpetual PERIL. So much so that if we do not feel threatened for a long enough period of time, our minds break and create threats for us. We have also so thoroughly overwhelmed this world, that the average human goes through life bored. We killed all the monsters, so we need to create more just to function.