Research shows that there are 3 main reasons as to why young people watch horror films:
- tension which is created through mystery, suspense, gore, terror, or shock and allows people to feel the suspense
- relevance as the film or topic may relate to personal relevance, cultural meaningfulness or the fear of death
- unrealism
A clear reason viewed by many as being accurate is that we watch violent and frightening films as a way of purging negative emotions and/or as a way to relieve pent-up aggression as we have no other way to do so in real life so if we watch this kind of film it allows an empathy link that relieves your aggression and allows you to appreciate the genre as it makes you calmer in some way
Different people like watching for different reasons and no theory has been put forward that explains everyone’s motives and reasoning however it is clear that there is some twisted part of people that likes viewing this type of genre and I would not say that they enjoy it but I would use the word intrigue as people like to see things that open up the world for them as they know that they themselves are never going to have something along the lines of this happen to them however the movie that they are watching creates a bridge into this world where more dark feelings and horrible events are accessible on a regular basis.
The psychology of horror:
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