The document is an analysis of the horror film genre, exploring personal enjoyment and psychological theories related to its appeal. It highlights instinctive fears, factors that enhance horror's allure, and categorizes viewer motivations, including gore and thrill watching. The author concludes that horror offers escapism, social interaction, and a lasting psychological impact.

1. HOR R OR
A NA LY Z I NG M Y FAVOR I T E G E N R E …

2. I N T R O D U C T I O N
The horror genre of film is my
personal favorite because I feel that
no other genre can compete with its
lasting effect on an audience. Its
unpredictability and dark and tense
themes never fail to keep me as a
viewer on edge and highly
entertained. In this analysis, I will be
discussing the pleasures that I derive
from watching horror, and the
theories behind the growing
attraction towards this polarizing
category of film.

3. There is something about horror that directly addresses and reaches out to the instinctive human animal. Since
the dawn of man the instinct of survival has been ingrained into our evolutionary psychology, resulting in
hundreds of fear triggers - some general, some more personal. Research done by Nobuo Masataka show that
children as young as 3 have an easier time spotting snakes on a computer screen than they do spotting flowers.
This study indicates the natural enthrallment of fear and awareness of danger. Common instinctive fears are the
building blocks of the horror movie spectrum and they include;
• Fear of the unknown - incorporated by darkness and silence. An example
in the media being the scene in Insidious 2 when the main protagonist
ravels into ‘The Further’, a mysterious parallel world that holds the wan-
derers deepest and darkest fears lurking in the shadows.
• Fear of competitors - incorporated by larger, stronger animals or a higher
power. An example of this being the possession of Regan MacNeil in the
1973 hit - The Exorcist. The demon inside of Regan transforms her into a
savage and evil beast and a threat to those around her.
• Fear of physical and emotional pain - incorporated by slasher and
psychologically disturbing horror scenes. An example of this in a horror film
being the backbone of the Saw franchise, which revolves around the main
antagonist’s (Jigsaw’s) prisoners having to perform unspeakable acts of
violence upon themselves to get out of his grasp alive.
OUR FASCINATION WITH FRIGHT

4. Before horror fans like myself can begin to understand why we find this genre so
attractive, we must establish what the allure of horror fundamentally is. Psychologist
Dr. Glenn D. Walters identifies three prime factors of the horror allure as:
• Tension - created through mystery, suspense, shock and terror. This is the basic
elements of horror films usually conveyed from the textual feature of misé-en-scene.
• Relevance - created through capturing universal subjects like death, cultural and social
issues. This allows the audience to receive the gratification of Personal Identification,
meaning they can relate to the plot and see themselves reflected in the characters.
• Unrealism - often referred to as Escapism within the Audience Uses and Gratifications
model. This is created through fantasy worlds and inhuman monsters and offers an
immersive feature to the audience allowing them to escape the existing reality of
everyday issues.
WHAT MAKES A HORROR FILM?

5. T Y P E S O F H O R R O R - WAT C H I N G
In todays society we have learnt not to generalize everyone’s motives and
preferences. This 1995 study by Deirdre D. Johnston intrigued me as it studied
students from the ages of 15-19, and I fall into this age category. The
conclusion of this study was that horror-watching fell into 4 categories:
• Gore Watching - characterized by ruthless, low-empathy violence and serial
murders, often with male viewers identifying with the antagonist.
• Thrill Watching - viewers are sensation seeking, often follow the suspense
of the plot more than the characters.
• Independant Watching - high empathy for the victim and a gratification of
overcoming fear without help.
• Problem Watching - also high empathy for the victim but characterized by
a negative effect of helplessness and isolation.

6. After researching many theories into why people enjoy
watching disturbing movies, I have selected two that I
found equally relevant to myself personally…

7. 1 ) T H E G E N D E R
S O C I A L I Z AT I O N T H E O RY.
The Gender Socialization theory written in 1986 by Zillman, Weaver,
Mundorf and Aust considers horror films as sort of a gateway to
traditional gender roles. Experiments with adolescent boys found that
they enjoyed a horror film more when their female companion was
visibly scared. The opposite was true with adolescent girls who found
horror films less enjoyable when the boys they were with were physically
scared. The girls enjoyed the film more when their boys were brave and
handled their fear.
This may be one shade of how horror films play in our culture and relates
to me at my age and the gratification I get from social interaction with
my friends when we watch horror, but it doesn’t explain why some
people go to horror films alone or wether this theory stands after the
teenage years.

8. 2 ) T H E ‘ C U R I O S I T Y A N D
FA S C I N AT I O N ’ T H E O RY
Film Scholar Noël Carroll put out the idea that horror films are the product of
curiosity and fascination. Horror exists outside of the bubble of everyday
existence of ‘normal’ behavior. Studies by theorists such as Tamborini, Stiff and
Zillmann have shown that there is a significant correlation between people who
are accepting of unusual behavior and interest in horror movies.
Furthermore, the “enjoyment” of the punishment and murder of those that
deserves it reflects the Dispositional Alignment Theory. I like when horror
movies show the people on screen getting killed because they deserve it. a
A movie example of this being one of my favorite horror franchises - Saw. All of
Jigaw’s prisoners are made to take part in Jigsaw’s games because they have
done something wrong previously in life. This can include fraud, rape, drug
abuse and distribution, domestic violence and more. This gives us insight into
why the audiences want to see some violence, but it’s not a clear picture of why
we stay hooked to horror when we see kind, innocent families as victims.

9. S A W: T H E F I N A L C H A P T E R
I chose to use this scene as an example to support my points about why I and
millions of others enjoy the horror genre because i believe it covers my
arguments.
• The scene starts with Evan and his friends waking up in a garage chained,
glued, hooked and bound to lethal objects. This scene’s opening cuts straight
into the action and displays the theory of Curiosity and Fascination, as the
audience does not know why the victims are there or what will happen next.
• This is followed by Jigsaw explaining the rules of his game to the victim, Evan.
The tape playing in the radio tells the audience why Evan and his friends are
trapped - they are racists. This immediately offers the audience the
Dispositional Alignment Theory and the feeling of no remorse for these
deserving victims.
HORSEPOWER TRAP SCENE

10. • The entire tape recording giving an insight to what is about to occur and why
allows Thrill Watching, as at this point, it is all about the plot. As the scene
builds the tension rises and when the countdown begins there is a definite shift
into pure Gore Watching.
• The textual features of misé-en-scene, camerawork, editing and sound are
all vital in adding to the brutal scene and enhance the pleasures and
gratifications that the audience receive. As an example for me, the barbaric
and un-clean nature of this kill shown by the props and special effects, the
extreme close up shots of tearing skin and panic-stricken emotive faces
alongside the fast paced rock music all reinforce the gratification of Personal
Identification in the form of finding reinforcement for personal values. By this, I
mean that this extremely vulgar atmosphere and scene created allows me as a
viewer to reinforce my personal values of not being racist or prejudice - though
these consequences may be a little intense.

11. CONCLUSION
To conclude, I believe that
I am drawn to the horror
genre because of its
platform for social
interaction and
socializing especially
amongst my teenage
friends, the escapism that
is offered in this genre
more than any other, the
lasting psychological
effect that it has on me
alongside the adrenaline
of shock scares.

12. - A R T H U R C O N A N D O Y L E
“Where there is no imagination – there is no
horror!”