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1. Critical Context Essay
Introduction
The discussion of horror films and series being bad for human mental health has been the
topic of a much larger discussion over many years, ever since the psychologicalimpact of
certain films such as Night Of The Living Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacrewereinfamous
for continuing to push the boundaries on whatpeople should come to expect of a genre
deemed “Horror” filmthese films caused the industry to push itself morethan it maybe
should have with slasher getting their own style and cult following over the years. A specific
film franchisebuilt on the extremities on which the human mind can be stretched
imagination-wise, is that of Saw with most of the horror aspects of that film being due to its
emphasis on the slasher aspect rather than the mentally disturbing aspect, franchises like
Saw are known to carry triggers for mental health conditions such as Schizophrenia &
Paranoia obvious involuntarily as the whole point of a horror film at the end of the day is to
entertain the masses that are paying attention to it. The research of Malcolm Turvey
supports theargument of horror films being a key piece of entertainment and mostof the
time the age rating are not deterring the younger audience from watching them as it is just
in supportof the “forbidden fruit” theory that is common to come across in life itself and
that is obvious in the exposureto horror films at a young age and not justhorror films but
horror aspects at a young age can also haveincredibly diverseconsequences for their
audiences, Malcolm Turvey researches and develops the thesis that horror films are bad for
a younger culture and shouldn’tjustbe protected by the age rating on them themselves as
fromone end of the spectrum to the other they can do anything from encourage you to
watch more or create a specific fear of a certain aspect of horror that at the time a young
person was exposed to they couldn’teven remotely comprehend.
Malcolm’s in depth view at his analysis of jump scares overusein horror genrecreates a
familiarity between viewer and film itself, jump scares are regularly associated with horror
and something particular surprising happening a lot of film critics are very quick to criticise
any film with the overuseof such methods as it is justa cheap way to get a cinema on edge
however this is not to say that audio itself does not create an atmospherefilms such as
Hush(2016) and Annabelleboth are known for utilising the audio aspect of their pieces in a
dynamic way more directly is Hush itself because the plot of the whole film is hedged on
the main character being deaf and the amountof firstperson shots of the character we get
also gives us their senses which in this casemeans that we are also viewing the events
around us as if we have the same level of hearing as her, this excessiveuse of getting rid of
one of the viewers senses even for a couple of minutes in the film makes it a massively
strangeexperience to be a partof. This is also not the only way in which the film industry
actually uses audio to create a moment or an action a lot of the fear in horror films isn’t
purely on visuals how many people might believe, the study of taking away one sensefrom
people creating a much more delicate and on edge situation out of the same thing is
definitely something taken into accountby the sound engineers and the sound crafters for
specific projects. Thescore composureis also something that hugely contributes to the fear

2. factor of a film itself and also its increased attention to the screen when the scoreitself
changes pieces such as Halloween By John Carpenter and Jaws by John Williams (who is
also one of the greatest film composers in history) butboth of these composers work they
did for these films were incredible and created infamous sounds which peoplewould
recognisethe instant they are played even people who have not seen the film will have
heard these pieces becausethey are such a cultural definer.
The Influence Of Horror On Younger Audiences
In all film, music and videogames horror and violence as an element itself is used very freely
by its creators and has an age rating slapped onto it in order to “protect” this is obviously
the easiestway to place a guard on younger people obtaining these pieces of content
however age ratings are losing their importance when purchasing items for example the
age of digital purchases has graced us now and buying a film or a videogame is as easy as
three clicks nowadays with no age verification needed for buying digital games this could
become a much larger concern for the videogame industry pretty soon, the fact that a 9/10
year old could buy a game such as Resident Evil 7 without needing any form of verification
that they areold enough to even play the game even payment methods such as gift cards
don’t havea limit on the age rating of the products they can be used on which in my
opinion would be the best way of doing making this a protected service.
Younger audiences have got no real way of knowing whether something has got horror
themes in a videogamespecifically as its likely 9.5/10 people don’tread the age rating or
the parental advice tabs at the bottom of a store page, the impact games such as Resident
Evil and Outlast could have on such a young mind could in extremities be mental health
altering it is completely necessary for thevideogame industry to step up and attempt to
help this is the samecase for the film industry whistfilms can’t be seen at the cinema in
person as age rating prevent this frombeing necessary as soon as the films themselves are
released on discs or on streaming services it is very easy for them to view them which
unfortunately could have catastrophic consequences, from first-hand experienceI can say
that the amount of horror thatcould be deemed a trigger for people suffering with mental
health can rangefromanywherefromliterally a theme in something else not related to a
horror film to watching one themselves it’s difficult to tell but at the end of the day it’s
obvious to wherethese problems werecreated and it was when their minds are too young
to comprehend the actual horror entertainment aspectof the film, when the mind is at and
age such as 9 or 10 it has not been developed enough to comprehend the aspectof which is
supposed to be fantasy thereforethe mind justinterprets it at a face value of being
somewhatfactual and worth fearing this can of coursespiralinto a fear of certain things for
the restof your life. This research has been carried out by varying parties over the years in
science and statistical analysis itself the researchers thatreleased this information have
done multiple researches connecting mental health and excessivehorror films being
involved together certain mental health conditions can be caused by an act that just breaks
the mind conditions such as paranoia and trauma are both big examples of this as they can
usually be referenced back to something such as a trigger very often trauma is caused by an
event and usually the other problems come from this happening conditions such as anxiety

3. have direct links to trauma as do mostconditions themselves this is why our future
generations need to looked after by more than justthe adults around them at the time and
what they are encouraging.