Horror films are popular. Why is that?

A woman is alone in the hotel room and is taking a shower. Water runs down her face and she smiles. Suddenly the silhouette of a man appears behind the shower curtain. He comes closer, tears the curtain aside and stabs the woman with a long knife. She screams. Blood runs down the drain. The woman falls silent.

The scene comes from the famous horror film “Psycho” by Alfred Hitchcock from 1960. “Psycho” has what makes horror films special: the film plays with people’s fears, it scares them and makes them uneasy. In horror films, clowns hide in the closet, people disappear, a stranger stands on the terrace and looks into the living room. Horror films also make people lock their doors, fear shadows in the dark, and be frightened by unusual noises in the house.

Horror films are scary, disgusting, frightening. And they are popular, especially around Halloween. Why do you do this to yourself? What does a horror film trigger in viewers?

It’s not just adrenaline junkies who watch horror films

The film “Psycho” caused outrage when it was released. “Psycho” was surprisingly real: evil used to be a science fiction character or a monster, but now it is also an average person, shy and inconspicuous. The bloody and brutal shower scene was censored in several countries, psychiatrists warned against the film, and producer Walt Disney described it as abnormal, repulsive and disgusting. The film was still successful. Or precisely because of that.

The American behavioral scientist Coltan Scrivner is one of the best-known experts on horror in film and literature. In his work, Scrivner describes three groups of people who watch horror films. The adrenaline junkies: They enjoy the thrill and the feeling of fear. According to Scrivner, they are a minority among horror fans. The second and largest group are the so-called “White Knucklers”: people who face situations even though they experience high levels of fear and stress. They watch horror films to test their limits, to challenge themselves, to grow personally.

The third group is the so-called “Dark Copers”: They watch horror films in order to deal with existential problems and negative feelings using fictional threats. Nervous people or those suffering from anxiety use horror films to distract themselves from the actual cause of their fear. They would rather be afraid of the scary clown doll than of rising health insurance premiums.

Or as the horror author Stephen King said in 1981: “We invent horror to deal with the real thing.”

The positive effect of negative feelings

According to behavioral scientist Coltan Scrivner, many horror fans have what he calls morbid curiosity. These people have an above-average interest in crime, catastrophes and human depths. They already think the world is dangerous, and the horror in the film hardly scares them.

According to Scrivner, horror films for adults are also like a game: they arouse curiosity, are unpredictable, and surprise. The appeal of it is comparable to the joy that children feel when you chase them or scare them.

But can that alone explain the success of horror films?

In the film “Hostel,” men pay money to dismember kidnapped tourists in a basement. In “The Human Centipede,” a researcher wants to sew three people together at the mouth and anus so that they have to crawl around like centipedes. In “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” a killer wears a horrific mask made of human skin and kills people with a chainsaw. Some of the plots are so disgusting that you wonder how the screenwriter came up with the idea.

And yet many people describe the horror experience as positive. Psychologists have found that people experience negative feelings particularly intensely and remember them more strongly. Images or films that trigger negative feelings are even perceived as more interesting, moving and beautiful. The Scottish philosopher David Hume called it the “paradox of tragedy.”

Viewers enjoy the horror film precisely because it triggers negative feelings such as fear or disgust.

Another reason for the positive feeling after a horror film is the happiness hormone dopamine. When you are anxious, the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol flood the body. The heart rate drops and shortly afterwards increases sharply. Muscles cramp, pupils dilate, breathing becomes more intense, sweat comes out of the pores, blood pressure rises. The body behaves as if it were in a real threat situation.

When it’s over, it feels like you’ve just overcome it yourself and survived. The body releases dopamine: a rush of pleasure, relief, euphoria.

Researchers also compare the physical experience of watching a horror film to that of a roller coaster ride or a bungee jump. The advantage of the film: You can stop it, look away, run away if it gets too much. The disadvantage: Particularly brutal and disgusting images remain in the memory and can cause sleepless nights.

Maybe take another look in the closet to make sure there really isn’t anyone there?

More resilience thanks to horror

The Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University in Denmark studies the importance of fear as a fun factor in leisure activities. For example in haunted houses or when watching horror films. Danish literature professor Mathias Clasen is co-director of the laboratory. He says horror films can even have a therapeutic character. Through the films, viewers gained experience with negative situations and emotions with an intensity that rarely occurs in real life.

Research has shown that horror films help people prepare better mentally for difficult situations. A University of Chicago survey during the coronavirus pandemic found that horror fans were more psychologically resilient. They were able to sleep better, felt less irritable, less anxious.

In other words, horror films allow people to explore scenarios of fear and terror. And they can learn to overcome anxiety. On your own sofa, with popcorn and beer.