In the dim light of a movie theater, the audience clings to the edge of their seats as the protagonist silently creeps toward a dark closet. As the character opens the closet, the viewers wait with bated breath for the expected jumpscare — but there’s nothing inside. A few people in the audience sigh in relief. A few seconds later, a terrifying monster lunges out of the shadows of the closet, causing several people to scream out of instinctive fear. Once the scare is over, the audience releases the air in their lungs in relief — for now.
Fear is a natural emotion that has played a key role in human society since the beginning. The “fight-or-flight” response, for example, allowed cavemen in the Stone Age to quickly react and escape when they sensed danger.
As the human brain has evolved, people’s fight-or-flight response to danger has remained the same, with other reactions, such as “freezing” or “fawning,” becoming more instinctive in a dangerous situation. The body’s sympathetic nervous system drives the fight-or-flight response, releasing adrenaline when it detects a threat. Adrenaline activates multiple bodily functions, including relaxing airway muscles to deliver more oxygen to the lungs or activating energy stores in the liver, which can help individuals escape dangerous situations.
Many people who watch horror movies don’t enjoy the feeling of fear but rather, the feeling of the adrenaline hormone igniting their neural pathways. Therapist Shilong Hu said that adrenaline plays an important role in why people enjoy watching horror movies.
“The adrenaline prepares your body for a threat. Your heart will be pumping faster, and your chest might get tight,” Hu said. “It’s refreshing for some people.”
When individuals are engrossed in horror content, they allow themselves to experience fear in a secure environment. Knowing they are safe, the viewer’s emotional release is more potent.
A 2004 paper determined the three main factors that make horror movies captivating to audiences: tension, which is incorporated through elements of mystery, suspense, gore and shock; relevance, both personal and societal; and unrealism, which is when the director uses various elements like humor to occasionally remind audiences that what they’re seeing isn’t real.
Junior Lila Robinson said unrealistic horror movies aren’t as scary as movies with realistic elements.
“The aspect of it being less realistic gives you some sort of closure, like a safety blanket, instead of being scary,” Robinson said. “I can find comfort in knowing that it wouldn’t happen.”
Despite often having unrealistic elements, many horror movies reflect the real fears of their audiences and can serve as a time capsule for future audiences.
In the 1920s and ‘30s, global affairs were in disarray following World War I, and an ever-present xenophobic tone underscored American society. As a movement of patriotism and isolationism swept across the nation, horror movies produced in America reflected this sentiment. Many films produced during this time, such as “Dracula” (1931), “Frankenstein” (1932) and “The Invisible Man” (1933) contain the motif of a monster representing a fear of the unknown. The symbolism of monsters, man-made or otherwise, was the manifestation of the growing fear that migrants would uproot their lives, tear apart relationships and kill their loved ones.
While science fiction had been popular since the 1920s, the genre experienced an explosion of spectacular filmmaking in the post-Cold War era especially. At this time the second Red Scare— the fear-mongering movement against Communist infiltration— took America by storm, exacerbated by rampant McCarthyism at the time. Many horror movies produced at this time included aliens and creatures resembling humans, such as “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (1951) and “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1956). Both films involve humanoid aliens that threaten the lives of the humans living in the surrounding areas. Many Americans feared a Communist takeover on their nation’s soil, and these movies capture the terror that captivated the country at the time.
Ultramodern movies of the 1960s, like “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Night of the Living Dead” encapsulated the fear of the future, as Americans were made aware of technology that could cause mass destruction, like atomic bombs, following the Cold War. Bridge to Wellness Care Manager and avid horror fan Evelyn Kim says that futuristic horror movies can be scarier than present-day ones, especially when they portray real-life scenarios that could realistically occur.
“In movies, we can often predict how stories will unfold, but when it comes to our future, we can’t always anticipate what will happen,” Kim said. “At the end of the day, films come to an end, but our lives continue.”
The ‘70s, similar to prior decades, were riddled with political controversy and global chaos. The Vietnam War, which claimed the lives of thousands of American soldiers, was a topic at the forefront of the minds of many U.S. citizens. At the same time, domestic issues such as the sudden proliferation of serial killers plagued the nation. The combination of domestic and international threats resulted in the rise of “slasher” movies, or films where armed killers would stalk and murder a group of people. The remake of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1978) and “Halloween” (1978) sum up the themes of this era.
Slasher movies continued into the 80s with films like “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984), “Friday the 13th” (1980) and “Child’s Play” (1988). As Ronald Reagan campaigned and eventually won the presidency in 1980, American conservatism arose as a response to the hippie movement and progressive wave of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Subjects such as consumerism, underage sex, mental illness and crime — common themes of slasher movies — became increasingly taboo. Some movies condemned these traits — for example, a teenage couple is murdered while trying to have sex in “Friday the 13th.”
Horror movies of the ‘90s contained a variety of themes, unlike the consistent ideas of the past decades. Instant classics like “Silence of the Lambs” (1991) and “Scream” (1996) defined the genre in that era, proving that horror films could be simultaneously psychologically disturbing and funny. Another notable movie from this era is “The Blair Witch Project” (1999), a film that utilized the burgeoning internet as a promotional tool. Many audiences believed that the events in the movie were from found footage, and the actors, who used their real names in the movie, were instructed to stay silent for a period after the movie’s launch to make audiences think they were actually dead.
Many 2000s movies made after the 9/11 attacks reflect the emotional and political turmoil of the U.S. during that decade. Several horror films tackled threats of terrorism by featuring monsters, such as zombies and aliens, that threatened to invade or destroy entire populations with brute force and technology. Some examples include “Cloverfield” (2008) and “I Am Legend (2007).”
The evolution of psychological horror movies demonstrates how art reflects current events and how fear influences pop culture. Humans’ fear of the unknown is ever-persistent. Collective terror, however, can lead people to confront their fears and overcome them.
“Just like in horror films, where the main character survives with the help of their peers, we too can overcome fear and uncertainty when we are united,” Kim said. “When people stand together, there’s almost nothing we can’t face.”
