Like any other genre of cinema, horror films have a huge following. Some people watch them as a variety, while others, literally, just "fan" from such heartbreaking stories. In this article we will talk about just the last group of people and try to figure out why they love horror movies.
Firstly, this film genre is very emotional. It causes fear, adrenaline rush, vivid impressions and even stress. If a person's life lacks these emotions, then he may try to get them by watching horror films.
Second, fear-inducing situations automatically grab people's attention. And horror movies are all about these situations. People, as you know, are very curious creatures, they are interested in any unexplained phenomena, mysticism, catastrophes, natural disasters and other unidentified phenomena.
Watching a horror movie, a person seems to be at the scene of a crime, accident or other action, gets carried away, becomes interested in events. And since interest, even connected with negative processes, is a positive emotion, the passion for horror films is understandable from this point of view.
Thirdly, every film of this genre contains a huge number of fears and phobias that people often experience in real life. It can be fear of heights, floods, hurricane, war, fire, manic personalities, fear of the dark, snakes, spiders and other phobias. In the film, all these situations are specially forced, presented in a pointed form.
But people who experience such fears, being in a familiar and comfortable environment, for example under a cozy blanket on the couch, watching a terrifying movie, seem to be experiencing their own fears. They experience a variety of emotions at the same time and consider watching horror films a wonderful pastime and at the same time an excellent cure for phobias.
And finally, such films for a small group of people can be some way of defusing and splashing out subconscious aggression. The man makes the hero of the film to experience horror, mental anguish and bodily suffering, conceived by the directors, in some cases specifically to obtain such an effect.
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At the same time, such aggression is not a consequence of mental illness, unless, of course, we are talking about an ordinary average viewer, and not about a maniac or a serial killer.
In 2007, psychologists at the University of Berkeley and the University of Florida proposed a new theory to explain why people love to watch horror movies.
In their opinion, people who like to watch horror movies are happy because they feel unhappy.
They just enjoy being scared, and the scariest moments of the film give them the most pleasure. According to researchers, people who love horror movies are psychologically different from those who do not.