Celluloid Scares and Psychological Terror
Why do horror movies scare us?
I didn’t particularly appreciate the horror genre for most of my movie-viewing career. I remember watching Scary Movie and Scream while flipping through channels. But I don’t think I sat through a whole horror movie until I was around 20. While studying neuroscience at university, I was interested in taking some of the stranger courses. I decided on Horror Film since the classroom was a theatre, screening a film every lecture.
I was thrown into the deep end, submerged in the genre. The tropes of the final girl, the classic Hammer horror monsters and good old fashioned film censorship. I remember my first time watching The Shining, Hellraiser, Splice, The Bad Seed, Phantom of the Paradise, Night of the Living Dead and Bride of Frankenstein. I immersed myself in texts about philosophy, feminist theory and sociology framed through these films.
I loved these movies, even with their flaws. Now it’s one of my favourite genres to explore, going through years of fantastic movies that I missed out on. I understood the tropes and references in movies like Cabin in the Woods and Tucker and Dale vs Evil. I still remember the majority of the syllabus six years later!
It’s fascinating that we suspend our disbelief while we watch horror movies but still receive genuine scares. What’s going on in these noggins of ours?
What is Fear Anyways?
Fear is an important biological response, not just in humans but conserved across many other mammals! Fear is a response to a perceived danger or a threat. Some of these fears are innate!
Researchers found that certain fears such as heights and loud noises are present from birth. Baby scientists, not to be confused with babies in lab coats, could place infants on a surface where one end looks like the edge of a high cliff. Infants would instinctively avoid crawling in this area. Other scientists found that encouraging facial expressions from parents can allow these children to overcome this fear!
Other fears occur from terrible experiences, where we associate a bad experience, for example being chased by peacocks, into a persistent fear or phobia. Both our innate and learned fears are processed by a small, almond-shaped region of the brain called the amygdala. It processes our fear response to ready us for different threats. If the amygdala isn’t very active, then there is a much more blunted experience of fear.
Alex Honold regularly climbs mountains without any harnesses. Regularly climbing up cliffs, elevated more than 1000 feet off the ground, he is close to being truly fearless. When researchers used neuroimaging techniques, they found that his amygdala wasn’t nearly as active as they would expect. This in part, may contribute to his overcoming of such an innate human fear.
What Happens When We Watch Scary Movies?
Scientists placed participants into brain imaging machines to understand what parts of their brain were activated when watching horror films. Parts of the brain involved in processing sound and visual stimuli lit up in anticipation of threats on the screen. We get thrills from unexpected shocks, as the brain emotionally processes what happens. The body prepares for a response — our heart starts racing, our breathing quickens. The Fight or Flight response is activated within our brain and body, releasing a rush of adrenaline. Scary movies provide a safe environment for us to simulate the excitement of being stalked by Michael Meyers without any of the actual danger.
In John Carpenter’s Halloween, the protagonist Laurie Strode is stalked by a shadowy figure throughout the beginning of the film. Carpenter builds suspense with music. Long tracking shots follow different characters, as our eyes scan the background, trying to anticipate where Michael Meyers will be lurking.
In the 1970s, the Japanese scientist Masahiro Mori observed this phenomenon where robotic faces would become more appealing to us as they approached closer to human resemblance. However, when presented with something appearing almost human, but not quite human, we feel unsettled. This is called the Uncanny Valley Phenomenon, a staple in any discussion involving horror.
Some movies capitalize on societal fears and systemic racism to build tension and emotion, like in Jordan Peele’s Get Out. Others, like Bad Seed or The Omen play on our fears of being inadequate parents while adding in other visceral elements of tension.
Whether they’re noises in the night, or psychological and sociological fears, these cues evoke adrenaline and thrills. Great horror plays on our assumptions and knowledge of horror tropes to subvert them. They make us feel dread and make us scream. Most importantly, we can experience the adrenaline and the thrills from the safety of our couch.
