Fright Night
It’s the middle of the night and you’re at a friend’s house. One of them decides it’s time to watch a scary movie. Upon hearing this, you think of all the excuses to escape the situation. At the end of the night, you find yourself unable to sleep and having nightmares.
After this experience, you realize you’re not one of those horror movie veterans or thrillseekers. What makes them enjoy such an intense and emotional experience, anyway?
The Dark Side
Many people have been trying to make sense of horror and the unknown. How do they do this? Through horror movies and haunted house entertainment. People are curious about horror because of how different fear is from everyday life. It’s not every day that people run into a serial killer or ghost in the middle of the night.
People also associate scary movies and haunted houses with the need to conquer. The need to conquer something scary or threatening can come as a challenge, hence their desire for the horror aspect.
A Memorable Experience
Whether people enjoy horror or not, many concede that fear can bring people together. There are the usual campfire stories and horror movies that beg us to come closer to each other. As social beings, people need each other during stressful situations, so clinging to the ones we love when watching a scary movie is perfectly natural.
Adrenaline Junkies
Otherwise known as “type-Ts,” these are the people who’d likely invite you to the next trip to the roller coaster. They thrive in hair-raising situations such as bungee jumping and other extreme activities. The physical sensations of fear accompany an adrenaline rush, an incredible sensory experience that people go through. Some people are motivated to push themselves with the help of fear, and type-Ts are those people.
Controlled Fear
The fun of trick-or-treating and watching scary movies means feeling the thrill of facing your fears in a safe environment, especially with other people. In a scenario like bungee jumping with friends, you experience a flood of endorphins and dopamine in a relatively safe situation. On the other hand, being alone at home and seeing an intruder with no help in sight is not an experience anyone wants to go through.
Different Experiences
There are groups of people who avoid scary movies and people who flock to them. For some, it’s about facing their fears with friends and gaining confidence once it’s over. For others, they simply enjoy the thrill of the rush and the excitement that keeps them alert and engaged.
Some people even go as far as wanting to be kidnapped. A company in New York specializes in people who seek this desire, helping them with how they want to be abducted. People who were abducted were interviewed about what their fears were, which were then played out. The responses from interviews help the company design the scariest possible way for customers who want their fears to become a reality.
People have many reasons for being afraid, whether they want to feel it or not. Sometimes, it’s the things that scare us that push us out of our comfort zones and help us conquer life’s challenges.
