According to sociologist Margee Kerr, horror movies stimulate the body’s fight-or-flight response, triggered when the body perceives a threat. Hormones also play a role in the enjoyment of fear. This intensity is transferred to the sense of relief the viewer feels after watching the jump scare, flooding the viewer with heightened feelings of ease and pleasure. As the shock of the fright wears off, the residual arousal from the previous intense feeling of fear remains. However, once the ax-wielding killer suddenly appears in-frame ready to strike their prey, this intense fear turns into shock. It explains that the intense fear and nervousness brought about by tension in a horror film can also intensify the feeling of relief once the suspense fades.įor example, when watching a jump scare scene, as the unsuspecting victim slowly traverses the dark, deserted hallway, the viewer’s fear intensifies during these moments leading to the jump scare. This transfer theory may explain why some people enjoy getting scared. Residual arousal from an initial stimulus can “transfer” to successive stimuli, amplifying the emotional response from these subsequent stimuli (Bunce et al., 1993). The Brain and Body Behind the ScenesĪmerican psychologist Dolf Zillman’s excitation transfer theory states that arousal provoked by a previous stimulus can intensify emotional responses triggered by entirely different stimuli. This includes the terror, gore, and thrill found in being scared. Taking a peek into human psychology and physiology, we discover explanations for why some people find pleasure in the seemingly unpleasant elements of horror movies.
However, this willingness to spook oneself out makes perfect sense when viewed through the lens of science.
SCARY MOVIE EFFECTS HOW TO
They can help give people a sense of control over their anxieties and teach people how to deal with and overcome their stress.Īfter the real-life horrors brought by the pandemic the past year, it may seem odd that more people are turning to horror movies as a form of escapism now more than ever. Horror movies can have anxiety-relieving effects.Sensation seekers tend to enjoy the thrill of scary movies, while more empathetic people are expected to enjoy these films less. Some people just naturally enjoy horror more than others.
They also trigger the body’s fight-or-flight response, which brings an enjoyable rush of oxygen to the brain. These movies also trigger the release of endorphins, the feel-good chemical released by the brain.
The excitation transfer theory explains that the intense fear brought about by tension in a horror film can also intensify the feeling of relief once the suspense fades.However, there is a scientific explanation behind this seemingly strange behavior. For non-horror cinema fanatics, it may seem odd that some people find pleasure in these spine-chilling movies.Reaching its peak in 2021, horror movies now make up an impressive 18.6% of the total market share across all genres (The Numbers, n.d.). Since 2019, the horror genre’s market share of the box office has more than doubled. Contemporary horror films such as Midsommar, Us, The Invisible Man, and A Quiet Place have become familiar titles among hardcore horror fanatics and scaredy-cats alike. In recent years, many of these teeth-chattering movies have gained mainstream and critically acclaimed statuses. Horror films have been growing increasingly popular.
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