Introduction
According to Stephen King, everyone is insane to some degree though the level of insanity differs from one individual to another. Stephen King’s ethos in horror films is the key reason why many people like movies. “Why we crave horror movies” forms an outstanding argument written in his essay (King 280). The pathos in his subjects makes every horror movie viewer question him/herself about sanity. We as humans are mentally ill only that some know how to hide it better than others as much as we are all humans and have the same character traits; we also share insanity as a human character. King justifies that people crave for horror movies to have the feeling of essential normality, to prove that they are not afraid but like and enjoy watching horror movies.
Due to uncivilized emotions in humans and personal urges in ones’ self, at one time, everyone needs to let them out. We enjoy horror movies because they help let out these uncivilized emotions deep within us; hence we temporarily release our inner “demons”, hence we satisfy our socially unacceptable feelings. Unrealism people enjoy watching horror movies without fear, just knowing it’s not real. They sit without any fear that a vampire will come and have them drain their blood. People use their madness to justify their urges by watching horrific films. I do support King fully because no madmen ever accept to be mad, but their madness is expressed through the actions they do, similar to horror movie viewers. Some will be seen yelling throughout the movie session, while others will sob as if it was real because of the wired brain to think it is in the real world.
Adrenaline rush
Fear is caused by negative emotions which are not attractive to an individual (Palmer 58). We normally want to get rid of emotions because of distress. Fear is the essential element in the horror genre, according to film psychology. That is why we consistently crave an adrenaline rush in the scary scenes of horror movies. Filmmakers carefully study viewers’ fear responses to see which styles can scare the audiences. Adrenaline is a hormone responsible for the faster work of the heart and lungs, sending more oxygen to the muscles hence boosting strength temporarily and sharpening vision and hearing. Watching scary movies increases the speed of the heartbeat (Jaber 171). Sometimes many people may clutch on seats in terror due to the associated suspense.
This is because the brain is influenced to treat what it sees in the movies to be reality; hence the brain triggers impulses to the body to react accordingly. There is intense anxiety in one wanting to know what will happen next.
Conclusion
Fear and anxiety are known to influence the secretion of endorphins which is a positive feeling in the body. The feeling brings a hot feeling, which is thrilling to the body. The thrill from watching horror movies triggers an emotional feeling of desire to escape from reality (Palmer 74). The high-pitched sound and the resultant movement of the costumed actors improve the tranquility of the movie. The effect at times may impair the speech of the individual watching the movie. This impact of anxiety in watching horror movies is the feature sought most by enthusiasts (Jaber 169). Notably, other people who watch horror movies argue that it assists in stretching their fear emotions hence hardening their perspective in life. However, opponents of horror movies lack any justification for why people watch horror movies.
References
Jaber, M.H. “Trauma Horror and the Female Serial Killer in Stephen King’s Carrie and Misery”. Critique Studies in Contemporary Fiction, vol. 62 no. 2, 2021, pp.166- 179
King, S. Why we Crave Horror Movies, Short Essays for Composition , n.d.
Palmer, M. A,. “Fear. A Psycho Physiological Study of Horror Film Viewing”, Texas State University-San Marcos, San Marcos, Texas, 2008.