Why people crave for horror movies? The statement of Stephen King concerning this query is summarized below. He advocated that we are all mentally ill, and to show that we can, that we are not afraid, that we can ride this roller coaster. Also, this is a very peculiar sort of fun, indeed. The fun comes from seeing others menaced-sometimes killed. The potential lyncher is in almost all of us (excluding saints, past and present; but then, most saints have been crazy in their, own ways), It is morbidity unchained, our most base instincts let free, our nastiest fantasies realized …
and it all happens, fittingly enough, in the dark “It deliberately appealing to all that is worst in us. ” I would totally disagree, because nothing bad, evil, or worst in us. God created everyone good. According to the Bible, “God created man and saw that it was good. ” The reasons why people crave for horror movies are plenty; it all depends on the individual needs and enjoyment. Take for example the experienced of W. David O. Taylor, “Migrating to the suburbs of Chicago as a teenager, I discovered a culture of teenagers who watched and loved horror movies. But, why? I could not understand. What was the fascination?
What need did they satisfy? A good laugh? A good scare? Did they not know that these scary things really did exist—on the other side of the veil—with Wormwood and Lucifer in tow? Twenty-some years later, I’m driving down to my local Blockbuster and there, I buy a one-month pass. With it, and despite all my childhood fears, I rent A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Blair Witch Project, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Carrie, Child’s Play, The Exorcist, The Shining, Friday the 13th, Species II, Nosferatu and add them to an already-existing list: Psycho, The Others, What Lies Beneath, Alien, Silence of the Lambs, Jaws, Gremlins, Sleepy Hollow.
I watch them because I must. The theologian in me who pretends to be a scientist needs an answer. Why in heaven’s name do horror movies exist? Where do they come from? What do I, Naturally, I prayed before watching each one. I crossed myself. I said the “Our Father. ” I sprinkled a dash of holy water on The Exorcist DVD case. Better safe than sorry, I figured. Sitting there with my eyes scrunched up, squinting at all this blood and terror, I found myself asking: Is the horror genre simply unredeemable? Is it fallen? Misunderstood? What?
So I decided to go on a quest. A quest! I began with a basic question: What is horror? Because understanding horror will help us understand and answer why people crave for horror movies. Horror, I soon discovered, is a way for us humans to deal with three of our most primal fears: the fear of the dark, whether in the natural or supernatural world; the fear of the future, including our immediate future as well as the far-flung apocalyptic; and the fear of the unknown. Looking at it cock-eyed, I realized that horror has everything to do with things we cannot control.
We cannot control demons like the kind we find in The Exorcist or Fallen. We cannot control beasts and forces of unforgivable size, such as Jaws and Aliens. We cannot control the horror we find inside ourselves: the unhinged mind (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), the warped spirit (Child’s Play), the disturbing wildness of our physical bodies (The Elephant Man). We cannot control the dark, the future, or the unknown. We think we can, but we can’t. We try, but to no avail. So we make up stories to harness our fears. We concoct ways to subjugate the terror.
Take for example in “The Exorcist” Twenty doctors and psychiatrists in The Exorcist cannot explain to Chris McNeil what is wrong with her daughter, Regan. After all of their horrific needle-puncturing and radiation baths, they still cannot name the ailment. She’s possessed. But no instrument seems capable of finding the demon. In the witches of Eastwick have not died. But behind of all this is the devil. The instinct for the horrific aspect of life is alive and at large, We need to uncover Satan device from the gothic in the Romantic era in the 18th & 19th centuries, the tales of Edgar Allen Poe, Mary Shelley, and Abraham “Bram” Stoker.
We get the old-fashioned horror movies, that protested a narrow-minded naturalism like Nosferatu (1922) and Freaks (1932). We get a reaction to the technological romance popular after WWII in the advent of gore cinema: Bloodfeast (1965), Night of the Living Dead (1965), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). We get the rebellion against materialism in the slasher films of the ’80s and ’90s, the Halloween and Friday the 13th franchises, the Scream trilogy, the Scary Movie parodies. We get the irrepressible sixth sense for the supernatural writ large on the silver canvas.
In knowing all of these we get a guidance from holy spirit for anything that insists all attempts to reduce our lives to mere matter, mere facts. Saint Patrick’s phrase, “the knowledge that defiles,” applies equally to the movies that we watch as to the rest of our lives. Some of it is dangerous. Evil is real, and the extent to which horror movies deal with evil, whether supernatural or natural, we want to be careful not to treat it lightly—or behave like others who dismiss it as “just a movie. “.
In conclusion, therefore the answer why people crave for horror movies is to understand their greatest inherent fears: the fear of dark, the fear of supernatural, and the fear of the future. Below are the evidences and testimonies from people who are fan of horror movies. Their messages will tell us that Stephen King is wrong in saying that we are all mentally ill, and to show that we can, that we are not afraid, that we can ride this roller coaster. Also, this is a very peculiar sort of fun, indeed. The fun comes from seeing others menaced-sometimes killed.
The potential lyncher is in almost all of us (excluding saints, past and present; but then, most saints have been crazy in their, own ways), It is morbidity unchained, our most base instincts let free, our nastiest fantasies realized … and it all happens, fittingly enough, in the dark “It deliberately appealing to all that is worst in us. ” “I’ve been a fan of horror movies ever since. I have to confess I prefer the paranormal type of horror – Amytyville Horror, Interview with the Vampire – but I’ve watched my share of slasher movies as well, from Psycho to the umpteen Friday he 13th flicks.
” ”What is the appeal of horror movies? They get your adrenaline flowing. They’re a safe way to get a thrill, a scare, without facing actual danger. And they make you think. Do such monsters really exist? Well, with the paranormal novels, probably not. But again, who knows for sure if these frightening powers and demons do or don’t exist? ” ”With the stalker/psycho/Hannibal monsters? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Such deranged characters do exist. ” ”Some people might argue that these movies promote violence. I don’t think so.
I’ve been watching them for years and never felt the urge to chase my neighbor down the street waving a knife, or slam a bill collector with a burst of psychic energy. ” ”Rather, I think, as well as being excellent entertainment, they may serve as a warning to be cautious, a reminder that evil does exist. And they get the blood rushing through your veins, the old heart pumping faster, the mind churning up questions and maybe a few answers. And they do all that from a seat in the movie theater or, in the case of DVDs, the safety of your own living room. ”