Why do we get scared when we see horror films???

Question

Please explain it clearly! Is it something to do with hormonal effect or something else!!????

Answer 1

Psychological research shows that fear can be acquired either through conditioning process or by experience . Conditioning means that fear is a learned response Fears that are acquired by experience are believed to be developed by observing fear in others. Still other researchers believe that fear is a built-in symbiotic response passed down through generations...in other words, an animal response.
Some philosophers have considered fear to be a useless emotion; other thinkers note the usefulness of fear as a warning of potentially unpleasant situations or consequences. Still others consider that fear is the fuel that feeds the ego.
Fear is purely emotion....most times it is described as an unreasoning emotion. You KNOW that its only a movie, you KNOW that there are no such things as "monsters", yet, you react.
Fear also comes with a host of physiological changes...goose bumps, rapid breathing or holding breath, pounding heart, change in body temperature, sweating, blood pumping into the large muscle groups to allow escape, ie the legs....

oops...I erred....I meant to say, genetic responses...not animal responses...sorry

Answer 2

Why do we cry at tragic dramas? Why do we laugh at comedies?

When you watch a movie, you become wrapped up in the emotional world on the screen. You live vicariously through the characters. If it's a good movie, if the director, cinematographer, sound people & actors have done their job then they can affect how you feel. Horror movies use darkness, eerie music, sound effects, special effects & acting to build your suspense & then scare you with sudden movements, loud noises, a climax in the music etc. If it's not done well then you probably won't be scared, you may even laugh.

Movies are magical because they draw us into another world where we suspend disbelief for those 2 hours. We forget our own lives & become absorbed in the world on the screen & therefore react as though we were one of the characters, experiencing vicariously through them...A lot of people (myself included!) like thrillers because they allow us to experience things that we never would in our own lives & from the safety of our own couches! It's a distraction from our real lives (which may have other real stresses). It's fun. Like a rollercoaster ride! An adrenaline rush. A relatively safe one!

Answer 3

It is something about pshycology,
when u start watching your movie you could be expecting certain scenes
that would make you feel scary
even you loose control on your normal breathing

make your mind open,
keep your feet touched in the ground,
drink water, eat popcorn,
blink your eyes and see the movie from the camera mans
angle try to find mistakes in the shoot
observe the clothes, colour the background of the scene,

hear the music, sounds for special effects - try to identify
what musical instrument was played to create that sound,

i'm sure when u are not focussed in the movie
it won't scare u.

or else just enjoy the movie and go to sleep

in the morning u will be back to normal

Answer 4

I've asked that question myself too:)
Well, I think it's very simple. There are some memory manipulation techniques that use unusual symbols in a text, so that the reader can memorize it more easily. And that's because it makes us more aware of it. Because it's Unusual.

The same way horror films present something paranormal, something to grab our attention. And because it's not in everyday life (it's unusual) it gets deep in to our mind. Even maybe sometimes horror movies give us such interest that in the first 30 minutes after the film we think about it constantly, usually leading to nightmares and other stuff.

Answer 5

We get scared when we see horror films because we never experience these horror events in our life first hand. The special effects used in the movies make us scare.

Answer 6

That element of horror is there in the content and presentation.It is a part of fim making.Such films are encouraging voilence in the society.It is better to avoid seeing such films Whatever be our age and mental makeup voilene will have an adverse effect on our life and thinking.

Answer 7

What i feel is this way... that suppose you are watching a movie. Imagine.... that a monster like character is grabbing a small infant and running amock on a country bridge inside a small forest. Here whoever watches will start thinking that the monster may throw the child down from the bridge or he himself will slip and fall down etc. etc...such imaginations one by one will start moulding according to one's thinking power or so. ... whereas suppose the devil suddenly stops and bites the neck of the child and throws away the body.. such unexpected scene which did not tally your imagination suddenly sends in you an imbalance signal which warrants to think more and more unexpected scenes. If you yourslef srart analysing the scenes scared feeling will reduce. Is there Great Alfred Hitchcocks to comment on my reply please.

Answer 8

It is logic to be scared. These horror films are irational..Look at normal movies, comic movies, SF movies but not horror.Even some of Sf movies are horror movies...It is not polite to show such things to people....even if gets some money...They could earn money doing very good films...Thunder is not a horror film.it is even pleasant when you are inside a house...and listen...I saw on TV a reporter or a man filming a tornada..and saying..BEAUTIFUL...

Answer 9

If someone is watching a horror movie with the full awareness that it is just a movie, he/she doesn't get scared. But usually people get so much involved in the movie that they are actually living out the scenes and then they get scared.

Answer 10

I often wonder that myself. I am extremely unnerved by watching horror movies. Seeing these so called "evil" monstrosities of human/devil/monster killing and torturing a person's human body in so many ways, is very shocking to most people's mental health. In theory, the most people who are terrified and avoid horror movies are people who are very afraid of death and dying in a extreme method like what's depicted in these movies (myself included). The terror will continue in these people's minds when they continually remember through daydreams, the gruesome scenes that scared them most. On the other hand, the people who are desensitized to these movies and ignore the gruesome scenes after the initial shock, are persons who have accepted that their going to eventually die some day. Whether through natural causes, accident, or being killed (although they do hope it won't be like in what you see in these movies) .