The article "Why People Love Horror" illistrates many reason why people are drawn to terrifying images. The author suggest that its fun to be scared. That is when you are sitting comfortably on your sofa. The author also poses the question of what is scarier, that which you can see or that which you cannot. Horror comes in two different forms: psychological horror concerning the thoughts and scary plots that occur, and then there is physical horror dealing with gore and freakish looking things. Another aspect of enjoying horror is the fact that we can place ourselves into the characters situation and wonder what we would do differently. Similar to the "do not go in there" we sometimes think when watching a horror flic. Perhaps, we feel the need to watch horror so as to best be prepared when a scary situation does arise. This might be our inate survival mechanism that allows a hightened sense of awareness when fear is in the air, and thus we may need to scare ourselves to replicate that feeling of being fully alive. This is similar to the question "How can horror audiences find pleasure in what by nature is distressful and unpleasant?" that the Why Horror reading assignment proposed. So certainly a good number of people have wondered about the paradoxical nature of horror. Furthermore, the thrill of the chase also draws a lot of people to the theatres, because not knowing whether they will get away brings a greater level of anxiety than an abrupt shock that occurs at some moments in horror films. So there you have it, the fear of the unknown, the novelty and the adrenaline rush all bring people to like horror as this author suggests.
Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc. (2006). 'Why People Love Horror'. AuthorsDen. retrieved 11/4/07 from http://www.authorsden.com/categories/article_top.asp?catid=52&id=25283
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