What do you like about horror movies?

hey everyone,
sorry if i'm misusing this forum, but i'm really curious as to why you all like horror movies. i'm not judging you guys or anything, and i'm not trying to argue some sort of anti-horror movie point. i've just been thinking about it and i'm curious what people like about them. i find myself drawn to them for the rush of adrenaline coming from being held in suspense or scared, but also for the intrigue of facing my own fear of death (especially gruesome death). however, i get this sick feeling after the movie and the images of the deaths really stick in my head. i don't like this depressed sick feeling, and i feel like it makes me very conscious of the real life suffering and deaths of people all over the world. do you all feel this too? thanks for any of your responses!

[Posher778]

You just need to look at horror movies as all fun and no real. That makes any sick feelings go away. That's all it is. It's only a movie.

[crabapple]

I'm not sure how to answer this question. But I definitely notice that my tastes in horror have changed over the years--as I get older, I like the really disturbing, realistic, gruesome horror films much less, and I tend to gravitate towards enjoyably cheesy monster movies and things with a pronounced "fantasy" element. This is pretty easy to figure out...the older one gets and the more things one sees, the more one acquires an understanding that mortality is a real thing. When I was 16, I watched all the blood and guts movies in the world and it didn't bother me. Now, I tend not to watch that sort of thing very much.

I do think that horror with a heavy fantasy element can be very appealing because it allows the viewer to dramatize the trouble and trauma of real life within a somewhat softer, friendlier perspective. A part of your mind watches a Dracula film and thinks, "Ah...this is horror, so I'm confronting life and death issues. I imagine I'm honest with myself and this makes me feel brave and invigorated." And another part of your mind thinks, "Jeez, thank goodness vampires can be killed with a stake to the heart, because the thought of that comforts me."

In short, this sort of movie allows you to confront these issues philosophically, and it only gets as unpleasant as you would like it to get.

[crabapple]

Oh, and there is one more thing I thought I could add to this.

If you watch people suffering in a movie and it makes you think about real life pain and suffering in the world and you feel sick and disturbed, that's GOOD. That's a normal reaction to this type of material. Go out and do something to make the day better for someone out there, and be glad you care about the feelings of other people. It's a good quality to have.

[Disease]

Originally Posted by ahimsa36

hey everyone,
sorry if i'm misusing this forum, but i'm really curious as to why you all like horror movies. i'm not judging you guys or anything, and i'm not trying to argue some sort of anti-horror movie point. i've just been thinking about it and i'm curious what people like about them. i find myself drawn to them for the rush of adrenaline coming from being held in suspense or scared, but also for the intrigue of facing my own fear of death (especially gruesome death). however, i get this sick feeling after the movie and the images of the deaths really stick in my head. i don't like this depressed sick feeling, and i feel like it makes me very conscious of the real life suffering and deaths of people all over the world. do you all feel this too? thanks for any of your responses!

Is this the only post your going to make?

I hope you got what you wanted!

[Mictlantechutli]

Originally Posted by crabapple

Oh, and there is one more thing I thought I could add to this.

If you watch people suffering in a movie and it makes you think about real life pain and suffering in the world and you feel sick and disturbed, that's GOOD. That's a normal reaction to this type of material. Go out and do something to make the day better for someone out there, and be glad you care about the feelings of other people. It's a good quality to have.

Agreed.

part of the thrill is the potential of being sickened - if it did, it means the film was impactful, it had an impact on you, which is philosophically interesting. I find them a wonderful way to truly understand where my tastes and fears lay.

They are also sort of a boot camp for the psyche. It conditions a youth to understand death and violence (which are part and parcel to this world) in a safe environment, where the experience is still valid, but a safe step removed from reality.

The fact that you are being slapped out of your comfort zone is a good thing. Knowing that that death is out there is quite invigorating. Being reminded of it is refreshing. We only have so much time on this earth, we are born with a death sentence. So live it up now! And live a good life now! Because there really is no tomorrow.

[crabapple]

It's really a very good thread, one of the best we've seen recently, I think.

To Mictlantechutli:

This question has come up in discussing this with my girlfriend....."As far as horror movies as a bootcamp for the psyche, what do you think about desensitization? Can horror movies ever become too much for the psyche to bear and then begin to have a harmful effect?"

Also, to everyone:

"What do you think about movies like Hostel or the Saw series?"

[stubbornforgey]

Originally Posted by crabapple

Oh, and there is one more thing I thought I could add to this.

If you watch people suffering in a movie and it makes you think about real life pain and suffering in the world and you feel sick and disturbed, that's GOOD. That's a normal reaction to this type of material. Go out and do something to make the day better for someone out there, and be glad you care about the feelings of other people. It's a good quality to have.

nicely put.. 'clap clap clap clap'..
I like the thrill of the uncertain as well..
yes ..an adrenalin rush'
I loved being scared out of my mind.

[crabapple]

This may be a surprise to everyone, but here goes: I haven't seen Hostel or any of the Saw movies! You know how you see an ad for a movie and get intrigued and think, "Hmm, I want to see that!" Well, that didn't happen when I saw the ads for these films.

I do want to see Dead Silence, however. I like creepy dolls and puppets, a lot.

At home, I will watch horror like The Howling, oh, maybe some Paul Naschy movies, maybe some Mad Doctor of Blood Island... These are all real horror films, but they all have a certain amount of fantasy cushioning that softens them a little. Interview with the Vampire, same thing. It's horror, but very fantasy-oriented and that allows me to be a little bit detached.

The question of whether entertainment can harm us and help us: Well, I look at it this way. It is not absolutely, endlessly harmful. But neither is it totally inert. You might say that we watch what we watch because it affects us. So while neatly sidestepping the issue of whether we need more, or less, censorship, I can say that we might as well be aware of what we watch and what it is saying to us. These are modern myths and they present us with views of reality; interpretations of reality. They are one of society's teachers and before we make a movie, I believe we should think about the ideas and views we are presenting.