The first horror film dates back to 1915 when the movie The Golem featured monsters. Just like present times, people like to be terrified, scared and surprised. Horror film pioneers delighted in terrorizing us, using dark, shadowy images, and loved to keep us on edge. And people keep paying for this privilege.
In earlier decades, the predatory nature of characters were prevalent, such as a part-wolf character, then in the 1990’s a more calculated personality was brought out in films, causing us to examine the psychopathic nature of people. Look at more recent spooky, dark films, to see this point: Se7en, Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal.
While psychotic thrillers are not really my cup of tea, it makes me wonder why people love these so much, and why they are box-office hits. Psychologists say we’re a species of habit, prone to overdoing whatever it is we like doing, and say we learn from awful, painful experiences. We also live to soak up knowledge, and to gain an emotional high, no matter how gruesome, ugly, or unpleasant it is. Our brains are trained to seek emotional stimulation, so even if we are watching a play, a dance troupe, or a singing performance, we respond with a positive appreciation of beauty, or a work of art; but we also have a response even if it’s negative. So while we go to see a movie or read a book expecting a positive response, and a corresponding response emotionally, we also respond to negative exposure. So, when we watch a horror film, we are fearful, but we are also cognitively aware we won’t have to do anything about the awful thing about to happen to the victim. We want to help, but know we can’t, thus we know at a cortical, cognitive level that we do not have to act in a responsive way to those sub-cortical, emotional signals we are receiving.
Recently there was a Zombie movie filmed here, and now two other horror shows are slated for shooting in Alaska this summer. I recently watched Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer, about a ghost writer is hired to complete the memoirs of a British Prime Minister (Pierce Brosnan), but whose life is eventually put in jeopardy. Ewan McGregor stars along with Timothy Hutton, and Kim Cattrall and James Belushi in this intriguing political thriller. While there were moments of darkness in this film, it certainly was nothing compared to Polanski’s 1965 horror work, Repulsion. The basic premise is the main character, Carol, has a fear of men. She meets a man, withdraws further into her fear, suffers hallucinations, and propels into further madness.
Horror films seem to allow escape the depressions of life, (like any entertainment does), and the longer our economic crisis, the more we’ll need a sweet escape!
The Smart Alaskan 