why being afraid in front of horror films does us good – Libération

Fans of the genre and researchers explain how bloody feature films allow you to ward off your fears in the face of everyday anxieties that are much less controllable.

Even if it is not unanimous, the horror genre has its faithful and attracts the curious. The proof with the success of Terrifier 3, the continuation of what Libé qualified as “gerboulatory fairy tale” by Damien Leone, which already has more than 430,000 admissions after three weeks of release, despite a ban on under-18s which could have killed the film. When some people wonder why put themselves through 125 minutes of bloodbath in which Art the ultraviolent clown with dirty teeth splashes, others see it as a moment of respite in an anxiety-provoking world.

“I associate horror with my greatest joys: being nine years old and reading “Goosebumps” at nightfall, while the storm roars outside the windows, remembers Emmanuelle, 35 years old. Horror is a way of channeling my anxiety, captivating enough to keep the brain from searching for all the worries that life brings.” Juliette, 34, also an amateur since her early youth, confides her “unfortunate tendency to work on my computer while listening to films in the background, the same ones on loop whenever I need to concentrate”. Of which the first two Hostel by Eli Roth, featuring rich American tourists going to sludge in Slovakia at their own risk