Another year in a few days it is again Halloween . A celebration that is not typical of our country, but is slowly gaining ground, perhaps because it is a date set for terror .

Throughout this week, the television channels will start broadcasting horror movies and specials, and on the same night of the 31st we will be able to see people in costumes roaming the streets.

Scary movies: the bewildering taste of horror

If one thing is clear, it is that a large section of the population likes horror films. But, why do they come to like horror films? The sensations associated with fear are not usually associated with pleasure, but rather the opposite: fear is produced by a physiological response that appears when the possibilities of seeing our life threatened by some danger are relatively high and, therefore, we learn to avoid it. However, in the cinema people invest money and time in being exposed to situations that produce terror. Why does this happen?

Many may think that it is due to a lack of empathy or a sadism characteristic of the person who is politically incorrect and that, once a year, it may come to light. However, there are theories that go beyond this view.

Zillman’s theories on our preference for horror and sadistic films

To give some answers we can apply Zillman’s theories (1991a; 1991b; 1996), which talk about why we are attracted to dramatic characters . If you have ever thought about how a genre that is dedicated to the exposure of the suffering of others can be appealing, the following explanation may satisfy your curiosity.

Dispositional Theory: the importance of “good” and “bad” characters

Every fictional story includes a plot and characters. The objective of the screenwriters with these two elements is, on the one hand, to articulate the plot to induce an aesthetic pleasure in the spectator, a “plot that engages”. To do this, on the other hand, it is necessary to work on the characters, so that the spectator can put himself in their place and live their adventures in the first skin . Therefore, unlike what one might think, it is a process of empathy .

However, in every story there are protagonists and antagonists; and we do not empathize with one and the other in the same way. Moreover, the very context of events that involves the protagonist is undesirable for the spectator, that is, nobody would really like to live the same situations that happen in a horror film .

Empathy and compassion for the characters with whom we identify

Dispositional theory explains that after the first scenes of seeing the characters on screen, we make very quick moral assessments of “who is the good guy” and “who is the bad guy” . In this way, we assign the roles to the plot and organize the expectations of what will happen . It is clear to us that misfortunes will start to happen to the characters that are valued positively, thus generating compassion towards them and gaining empathy and identification. In this way, we act as “moral observers” throughout the film, assessing whether the “facts are good or bad” and whether they happen to “good or bad people”; creating what is called affective dispositions .

We wish the best to good characters… and vice versa

When you develop a positive emotional disposition towards a character, you want good things to happen to him and you fear that bad things may happen to him. However, it also has a counterbalance, since if the affective disposition generated is negative , it is expected that those negative acts developed by the character will have their consequences . That is, while we value positively, we expect that the character will do well, while if it is negatively, that it will do badly; a principle of justice .

In this sense, the attraction to these films is given by their resolution . Throughout the minutes, expectations are generated about "how each character’s story should end" so that when it is resolved, it gives us pleasure. The end of the films manages to satisfy the anguish generated by the expectations, fulfilling that end we were waiting for.

Some examples: Scream , Carrie and The last house on the left

As examples, these two processes of affective and negative disposition are exploited in horror films. In "Scream" the same protagonist is maintained throughout the sequels, maintaining empathy and a positive affective disposition towards her and the expectation that she will survive.

Another case is that of "Carrie", in which we develop such compassion that we do not judge the final scene as unfair. And there are also cases of the opposite process, as in "The last house on the left", where we produce a great negative disposition towards the villains and desire their misfortunes ; a feeling of revenge that is pleased.

Theory of transference of activation: explaining pleasure through fear

However, the theory of disposition does not explain why we like to feel uneasy by having expectations that are contrary to the assessment of the character . If we want good things to happen to that good girl, why do we enjoy when bad things happen to her? Many investigations reveal a principle of hedonic inversion in the assessment of dramatic characters: the more suffering the viewer is caused, the better his appreciation of the film .

The worse the protagonist has, the more we enjoy it

This is due to a physiologically based process that is explained by the theory of transfer of activation . This theory states that as events occur that are contrary to our expectations, empathic discomfort is generated and, in turn, a consequent physiological reaction. This reaction increases as the problems for the protagonist accumulate, while at the same time the hope of our initial expectations continues to be maintained.

In this way, the difficulties that appear on the hero’s path increase the discomfort we feel, and the fear that it will not have a happy ending. However, our hope in this remains. In this way we are reacting to the anguish of the contrariness of both paths: we want good things to happen at the same time as only bad things happen. When the end is reached and the expectations are fulfilled, despite the fact that it is a positive emotional experience, we still maintain the physiological activation produced by the misfortunes, since their elimination is not immediate. This is how these "residues of excitement" are maintained during the ending, increasing the pleasure of the end.

There is something addictive about stress

Let’s say that little by little, although we hope it will end well, we get used to misfortunes occurring, so that when we have the happy ending, that expectation fulfilled, we enjoy it more, because we were more predisposed to the opposite. It is a process of habituation towards misfortunes that makes us sensitive to successes. The greater the intensity of residual excitement prior to the outcome, the greater the pleasure it gives us. That is, the more tension appears in the moments prior to the end, the more we enjoy it .

What are horror movies like and why do they get us hooked?

This explains how horror films are articulated. At the beginning there is a presentation of the characters, and the first victims do not interfere much in the course of events. There are many films in which the protagonist discovers the bodies of his companions at the end, in the midst of the chase and achieving the climax of tension. Therefore, the tension is managed in a progressive way, gradually increasing before the end .

Characteristics of horror films

However, the above two theories are elaborated by Zillman to explain, especially, dramas, not horror films. However, both genres are close in their narrative, as they both present characters who suffer misfortunes. Even so, there are features typical of horror films that increase the effects of the previous theories .

  • Number of protagonists . Most horror films introduce us to a group of characters. In the beginning, any of them can be the main character, so our empathic activation is shared among all of them. As the number decreases, our empathy increases towards those who still remain, thus progressively increasing the empathic identification in a parallel way to the physiological tension. That is to say, at the beginning we empathize less, but as characters disappear, our empathy increases towards those who remain, intensifying the effect of the dispositional theory .
  • Narrative of Terror . Watching a horror movie already makes us doubt its ending. Well, many of them have a happy ending, but many others have a tragic ending. Therefore, in addition to the tension of expectations, there is also uncertainty . Not knowing if it will have a happy ending increases the tension and its physiological activation, as well as the pleasure after the end. Playing with the uncertainty of the ending is a feature of the “Saw” saga, in which the expectation about what each protagonist does and how it will affect the ending is maintained.
  • Stereotypical characters . Many of the plots in the genre resort to including stereotypical characters. The “silly blonde”, the “funny African-American”, the “overbearing” are some of them. If the film uses these stereotypes a lot, we may be less empathetic towards them . Moreover, if we add a well-developed villain profile, we may empathize more with the antagonist and like him to survive in the end. This explains the great sequels, such as “Friday the 13th”, in which the villain is more complex than the protagonists and the story is centred on him.
  • Ambience . Unlike dramatic films, the setting in horror films predisposes to physiological activation. The sound, image, or context itself are as important as the plot, since serves to increase the effects that the plot itself produces . Moreover, they are elements that also influence expectations, since, if it is a stormy night and the lights go out, something will surely happen.
  • Murder complex . Being a horror movie, surely some character is going to die. With this predisposition, we, the viewers, hope to see death scenes that will surprise us. Rather, they produce the physiological activation that should provoke us, since those that may have happened previously, as well as those seen in other films, produce an habituation in us; we get used to seeing ourselves die. This may well be an inconvenience, since it makes the audience more demanding, but it also determines how, throughout the plot, each victim develops greater suffering; or in a different way from the previous one, so that we don’t get used to it. There are several examples, like in “Nightmare on Elm Street”, in which when we see Freddy Krüeger appear we are already scared because we don’t know what will happen. The “Saw” saga or the famous “Seven” are also good examples of this.

Summarizing

Therefore, although it seems that it is due to a lack of empathy, the processes that lead to the passion for terror are quite the opposite .

The aim is to facilitate the process of empathy , to raise a series of misfortunes and to play with the expectations of the outcome that the spectator forms. I am sorry to disappoint some readers, since you don’t have a hidden sadist like you thought. Or, at least, not all of them. Happy Halloween to those who enjoy it.

Bibliographic references:

  • Zillman, D. (1991a). Television viewing and psychological arousal. In J. Bryant D. Zillman (Eds.), Responding to the screen: Reception and reaction process (pp. 103-133). Hillsadale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
  • Zillmann, D. (1991b). Empathy: Effect from bearing witness to the emotions of others. In J. Bryant and D. Zillmann (Eds.), Responding to the screen: Reception and reaction processes (pp. 135-168). Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  • Zillmann, D. (1996). The psychology of suspense in dramatic exposition. In P. Vorderer, W. J. Wulff, & M. Friedrichsen (Eds.), Suspense: conceptualizations, theoretical analyses, and empirical explorations (pp 199-231). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates