In the last few years, the interest of people in horror movies has increased further. According to movie database, The Numbers, in 2014, in the USA, the share of horror movies in the box-office income was 2.69%, and in 2021, it augmented to 12.7%. At this point, the question which arises is why do people like to get scared? As per researchers, this has a lot of reasons behind it, and that limited amounts of horror content can prove to be good for our mental health.
Researcher at the Georgia State University, Synthia Haffner has said that people like horror when they feel safe. Synthia, who analyses media’s effects on the psychology, states that it was only once that she had not liked watching a horror movie when she was alone at home at night. As per research, those who like to watch horror content do not like the scary experiences when they do not feel highly frightened. Dr Synthia added that men like horror more than women do.
Dr Synthia, and her colleague, Kenneth Levine, in a study of theirs, have said that those who tend to have less empathy for others have the chances of enjoying horror content more, because they do not care about the affected people. These are the people who love adventures and new experiences, and who like fictional activities. Some studies have shown that the people who are restless and low on morale are more likely to get attracted towards the genre of horror, as it may be offering new mediums to their concerns. Rather than getting worried about a lack of money, they start getting worried about the ghost onscreen.
Coltan Scrivner, Researcher, Recreation Fear Lab, Aarhus University, Denmark, has said that one can divert the reasons of their tension and worries to some other direction while watching horror movies.
