Why do we love to be scared? Columbus State professor explains the fascination with horror movies

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — From creepy clowns to classic slashers during the Halloween season, the fascination with fear is everywhere. But why do people love being scared so much?

“It’s not new, it predates movies.” Associate Professor of Psychology at Columbus State University, Dr. Brandt Smith, said. “Everybody loves the stories about ghosts.”

Love them or hate them, horror movies have been fascinating audiences for decades, and experts said the interest could be rooted in biology. Horror movies allow people to engage with primal fear, without real danger.

“We like that arousal, you know, the heart rate goes up, the electricity in the skin.” Dr. Smith said. “But when we do it with the movie, we get to face the terrors that our ancestors did in the past without having to actually be on the line for trying to dodge a saber-toothed cat.”

When experiencing fear in a controlled environment, the body releases adrenaline and dopamine, the brain’s “feel-good” chemical. According to Dr. Smith, this desire for a safe scare extends beyond the screen to haunted houses and ghost tours. It’s all about the thrill of anticipation.

Dr. Smith compared the experience to a roller-coaster, “You feel that tick, tick, tick when you’re going up the hill and you’re all the way at the brink and the anticipation and then you’re crashing headlong down,” he said.

One Columbus State University student agreed, “It’s like, when you get scared and your heart races and all that stuff. I think that’s what gets me. And it’s unexpected.”

Another student, Leila, said, “People don’t like Terrifier too much because of how gory it is, but it does show all the things that could happen to a person like, ‘oh, I don’t want to see somebody get sawed in half,’ but it’s possible.”

The elements of a movie that make it scary stretch from music choice and jump scares to tilted camera shots. Dr. Smith mentioned Dir. David Lynch, who would play with out-of-sync dialogue.

“He would have somebody talking, but then the voice track over that would not be matching the face, just the small, little eerie things like that,” Dr. Smith said. He explained the uneasy feeling comes from the Uncanny Valley theory, where something almost human but not quite provokes a negative emotional response.

Dr. Smith said horror movies can help process bigger fears, like our own mortality, and even let us put a face on abstract evil.

“It’s a lot more comfortable for us to be able to look at Pennywise the Clown or Jason Voorhees and see that’s what evil looks like,” Dr. Smith said. “Now, I’m off the hook.”

Whether it’s fear or fascination, experts said the love of horror is timeless, and so is the thrill of knowing you’ll walk away safe when the credits roll.