Horror Films: then to now
Gore, monsters, demons, possession, blood and guts are all the components of the horror film persona or at least they were back in the day. Films like Friday the 13th (1980), Halloween (1978), Dracula (1931), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and countless others have paved the way for horror flick fanatics portraying the true background of the horror film industry.
Today, horror films are based on the psychological aspects that instead of focusing on fear, mold the minds of viewers into sadistically paranoid human beings.
Horror films have always been a large part of the film era. Movie-goers constantly gravitate towards this genre for the monsters and characters that make the blood run cold and keep the mind awake at night. Perhaps the popularity is built upon the adrenaline rush that accompanies the fear or perhaps it’s to simply prove that one’s bravery is enough to handle those creatures that go bump in the night created by a collective imagination.
Regardless of the reasons for volunteering for fear, the genre has continued to evolve through the decades without faltering. Horror flicks now play on the insecurities of real life rather than the simplistic horrors of a rabid monster. There are three distinct sub genres for horror movies according to Psychology Today magazine: the horror-of-personality (e.g. Psycho film), the horror-of-Armageddon (e.g. Invasion of the Body Snatchers film), and the horror-of-the-demonic (e.g. The Exorcist film). Every horror movie produced over the recent years has fallen into one of those categories.
On the other hand, emotional stimulation is easily accomplished by the films produced today because of the personal life aspects that are toyed with by actors and aesthetics. What is unsettling about the matter is there are those who find pleasure in unpleasurable instances such as fear.
It was established years ago, that people enjoyed such experiences because of the energy released within them from the understanding that they would not have to respond to their emotional pulls through the film which differs from real life. Everyone knows before they even enter the movie theater that they’re going to feel unpleasurable fear during the film, but they also are aware that they will feel pleasure even during that moment of fear because they won’t have to do anything about it. In sum, the horror movies of this day and age are creating a population that is numb to a sense of morality.
The film industry needs to find a happy medium between the classic forms of fear and the modern psychological forms of fear.
It’s obvious that horror films show a definite impact on people, whether that be an irrational fear of dolls due to viewing Chucky as a young child or picking up a poor hitchhiker who tortures and kills kind samaritans. Horror films are known for being the form of entertainment that no matter what will give viewers a thrill ride they may or may not be seeking. This genre is continuing to evolve and has the potential to become even more mentally-mutilating than it currently is.
