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Interest in horror can be caused by quite harmless reasons and can talk about hidden mental problems.
Over the past few years, there has been quite a few horrors that have become commercially successful. Directors willingly take up cult stories and make remakes, prequels, prequels and spin-offs of legendary horror films. Some of them are praised by the audience, others are scolded, but they still watch.
I decided to figure out why people are so attracted to scary movies, and asked psychologists about it.
Lack of emotion in real life
There is no only one reason why people watch scary movies, everything is individual: some sit on adrenaline, for others it is a way to get thrills, others want to distract from problems. By the way, sensitive people who are prone to empathy, as a rule, avoid such films.
When there are not enough emotions in life, a person begins to look for them. Someone jumps with a parachute, is engaged in extreme sports, and someone finds them in horror movies. A person receives a portion of adrenaline, comes to a state of excitement, which remains with him for some time after viewing. And he likes it.
In general, the love of horror films is not a mental disorder.
As the expert explains, frightening situations attract people in real life. Many tend to have an interest in unexplained phenomena, mysticism, catastrophes, natural disasters. A horror film is a storehouse of such situations.
Fighting your fears
Very often, horrors are watched by people who are afraid of so much, as well as people with increased anxiety. So they escape from real fears to fictional ones - those that will end with the screening of the film.
A person feels control over fear and knows that in an hour and a half it will all be over, and he will feel relief that cannot be achieved in real life. However, watching documentary films about terrible events, unlike fiction, us Why do we like to watch scary movies? greater discomfort. The reality of the events taking place on the screen does not give the viewer a sense of control and cannot establish the psychological distance between themselves and terrible situations.
When you watch a scary movie at home, in a relaxed atmosphere, then how would you conquer your fears. At the same time, you understand what is in complete safety, and all screen situations do not work with you.
But defeating some fears, you can get new ones. Therefore, the passion for horror should be approached with caution.
If because of horror films, nightmares, nervous breakdowns, and new phobias appear, you need to stop watching them. After a movie about plane crashes, you risk becoming an aerophobe. Or you will be afraid of the sea because of the horrors about cannibal sharks - there are many options. And this is not all the pitfalls.
Fragments of horror films remain in the memory and come to life if a person finds himself in a situation similar to the one he saw on the screen. This can provoke negative emotions and anxiety, although the person will not find the obvious connection between his feelings and the film.
People who regularly watch horrors may have difficulty falling asleep. This is partly due to over-stimulation and increasing anxiety.
And endowed with a rich imagination, it is very likely that they will embellish life situations and look for negative where it is not and cannot be.
Trying images of the aggressor, the victim or savior
In each person, there are such subpersonalities as the aggressor, the victim, and the savior. In scary movies, as a rule, there are always roles of the first two.
The expert explains that while watching a horror movie, a person unconsciously lives each of the roles, and then, again unconsciously, stops at one.
People who perceive life as a constant struggle, most often choose the role of the aggressor. Others, following moral principles, stop at the victim. However, this position can also cause problems.
Hidden aggression
For some horror movies, a way to let off steam and aggression: a person associates himself with a villain, he is attracted by these very images. This is not a pathology as long as it does not interfere with his life and the lives of those around him.
Interest in horror films in itself is not a deviation. But if people with obvious mental problems are addicted to the genre, it can cause even more damage to their mental health. A normal person looks at violence with disgust and experiences physical stress. But if the suffering of the hero gives the viewer pleasure - this is a disturbing sign.
There is a so-called projection mechanism. For example, a weak person likes to watch boxing, because he does not dare to hit a person.
Another reason that lies in the unconscious. An unconscious psychological defense works: the viewer finds in the horror film what appeals to his hidden desires.
Crimes, aggression, and cruelty from horror films affect the dark region of the unconscious, and a person involuntarily lives emotions that he does not dare to get in reality. This can be beneficial: a person will get what he wanted without doing anything wrong.
Gender Socialization
There are more men than women among fans of the genre. Scientists explain the desire to show courage: Some people love horror Movies While Others Hate Them: Men are satisfied when a horror movie doesn’t cause them to feel fear. And for these reasons, they sometimes invite their soul mate to the cinema for the horror: when a woman is frightened, she is more likely to seek physical contact, and the man can show courage and “protect” her.
Interestingly, the men of horror even like more when they watch them along with a scared woman movie. And women, in turn, get more pleasure from a scary movie, if they watch it with a man who is not afraid.
Interest in the topic of death
The theme of death, which is often in horror films, has always attracted people. It can be said that the sight of someone else’s death sharpens a sense of one’s own life.
Horror movies help some to experience the taste of life to the fullest. Man realizes that death is inevitable, and life is finite, and this rule works for all. In horror, death often comes quickly and unexpectedly, which encourages us to appreciate every minute of our allotted time.