Post by Cassandra S.
Featured image by ghwtog

“What’s your favorite scary movie?”, a seemingly innocent question, until someone attacks you from behind. This quote is from one of the most popular scary movie series in history, Scream. This movie, like many others, set the stage for trust issues and paranoia throughout our own daily life. So why would we like them? With the amount of scary movies we watch today we should be able to answer that question, it is the thrill of being afraid. However sometimes a little too much thrill can cause some serious underlying problems. Such as irrational fear or anxiety about situations that would be impossible, or would not even hurt you. Movies in general are designed to entertain us in anyway possible. But when push comes to shove the only thing that horror movies are really giving us are trust issues and major paranoia.

The number one fear among people that stems from horror movies is one that has been around for many years. And it involves our most vulnerable states, sleep.  When a leg or foot is dangling off the bed someone, or worse, something is going to grab it and drag me to my certain death. This is one of the most common according to 35 Freaky, Irrational Fears That Will Make You a Paranoid Heap of Anxiety. This fear can stem from a multitude of movies but some include The Conjuring, Rose Red, and Don’t be Afraid of the Dark.                   

This image from The Conjuring was found at Trespass Magazine

This is not the only fear out there. Anxiety often stems from looking in mirrors. However if you are a fan of scary movies there might be a different reason for it. When it comes to looking into mirrors you can always anticipate that dreadful moment when your reflection doesn’t  match up with your body movements. This and when closing a medicine cabinet there is a 100% chance of terrifying murder or ghost  appearing in the background according to 35 Freaky, irrational fear. These scenes are found in almost every scary movie made today but for example purposes here is a scene from Oculus, a horror movie entirely based on a mirror and the emotionally scarring effects of it.

This photo from Oculus was found on the Culture fly website.

The amount of unrealistic worries are endless, walking down long hallways or a staircase and seeing a silhouette at the other end.  Or even looking out of windows at night when the curtains or blinds are open, leaving just the right amount of window exposed to have some type of crazed killer starring in. And the second most common according to 35 freaky, irrational fears, opening shower curtains and seeing a knife-wielding Vince Vaughn looking dude on the other side.(35 Freaky, irrational fears). Much like in Psycho or The Prowler.

This image from Psycho was found on flowtv.

These fears are always supported by the bad decisions and also the classic horrible physical athleticism that every main character seems to be equipped with.  These characters bring out the worst in every version of the human race. Showing attractive girls as clumsy bimbos who always fall when trying to get away from the killer, or the macho guy who always attempts to show how “strong and brave” he is by giving his life for the helpless girl. Which is always pointless because the girl he is trying to impress always ends up dead every time anyway. These sort  of decisions always seem to have us asking, would that be me, would I be that stupid?

However according to the Psychology of Scary Movies for some odd reason there is something about horror that speaks directly to the to the human instinct. Millions of years of evolutionary psychology have ingrained in our minds certain fear triggers as a sort of  survival instinct. Fear of the Dark where predatory animals might be waiting, fear of animals with large sharp teeth who could make a meal of us. Even fear of Poisonous Spiders who can kill with one bite.

Yet for some reason these films continue attracting us to this rush of adrenaline. As if it is some sort of drug for our instincts. Which is how these movies make money. This is also why you can always seem to guess what is about to happen in movies, it is our primal instincts. These instincts set up many of the classic monsters such as Dracula with sharp fangs who can only come at night, or Hannibal Lecter who chows down on human meat. According to Effects of Watching Horror Movies these films don’t only lead to fear but also anxiety.

The effect from horror movies for both children and adults is especially visible when it comes to this movie genre. This Anxiety can lead to paranoia and over excessive worrying about things that would never actually happen to anyone. This excessive worrying leads to lack of sleep because of anxiety. Studies show that the people who had watched these movies were unable to sleep through the night for the next 2 days according to Effects of Watching Horror Movies. Because these effects can last much longer than one night people develop real fears and anxiety through these films.