Why Do We Go to Horror Films?

Have you ever been scared? It sucks. You can’t breath for a second. Your heart beats really fast. Sometimes you feel like you’re going to crawl out of your skin. It is not a pleasant experience. So why do most of us plunk down twelve bucks to sit in a room with complete strangers and get scared on purpose? And more importantly, why do we repeat the experience?

The first reason is simple and obvious. We go for the adrenaline rush. Our bodies are conditioned to perform a certain way when frightened. We pump natural chemicals through our body to help in escaping from perceived threat. All those things I mentioned in the first paragraph actually make us feel good. This is goes back to our earliest ancestors who would not have survived were it not for these surges of adrenaline during times of trouble.

But it’s more than just an adrenaline high that motivates us to go to horror films. If we were solely motivated by an addiction to adrenaline we’d just spend all our time on rollercoasters. Or even just go to action films. One cannot deny that those films are also more than capable of getting our adrenaline pumping. There is something more that draws us specifically to horror films.

What is it that makes horror films different from other films? The simplest answer is the gore. Even the bloodiest of action films feels the need to draw the line somewhere (Quentin Tarantino being the exception that proves the rule), but most horror films will bathe the scenes in blood if that is what the filmmakers desire. When Sam Raimi was making his first film, The Evil Dead, an investor told him to “have the blood dripping off the screen.” And low and behold in the film there is literally a scene of blood dripping down a film screen. What better metaphor for horror films is there than that?

So if the violence is what separates horror films from others then the question becomes why do we seek out violence? This question may go beyond the simple realm of horror films. It could also include why we seek out violent sport. Why so many people enjoy boxing or mixed martial arts. The sheer aggression draws humanity towards these displays.

Long long before the advent of the motion pictures, the assembled crowds of people had to look towards gladiatorial matches for their entertainment most of the time. From the ancient coliseums to the jousting tournaments of the middle ages, violence is what was used to keep people entertained. Even executions were considered public spectacles. We still have large amounts of violence in our sporting events even though we have reached a point where such barbaric displays should not be necessary. We have plenty of things in our modern society to entertain us instead of violent sport and spectacle. But we still crave the violence.

When it comes down to it, are humans simply sadistic at our core? It seems like it, judging by our history. But it’s more than just the violence. It’s the context in which it is portrayed. We need someone to root for. In gladiator fights, sporting events, even horror films, we are rooting for someone to come out on top. In a horror film we either are rooting for the victims to survive or we are rooting for the killer to finish them off, but we invest our attention in a particular outcome and watch to see it unfold. So in the end, it is the sport, not necessarily the kill that draws us to horror.