Why are people are afraid of horror films??

[cameron_lodge]

This is my husband's username. I just happened by and saw your post and, since I am one of the people who continually refuse to watch scary movies (no matter how he begs, pleads and bleeds out of his eyes). I think for me it is a matter of life experiences. People who have witnessed violence, had encounters with victims of violence, or even just have a very acute sense of empathy can find certain situations on film, or portrayals of conflict, painful...even traumatic to watch as they cause the person to re-live their own events or to identify with characters in a more intense way. Since the purpose of watching a movie is primarily entertainment, and no one would find that type of internal conflict enjoyable...I would stop nagging and just accept that the genre isn't for everyone.

[allmessedup]

As a kid, I was always scared and fascinated at the same time. When I got older, the part of me that was scared kind of receded, at least most of the time. Romero's Dead series gave me nightmares all through my teens [and sometimes later], but I still enjoyed watching the films. I chalk it up to some people not enjoying that feeling, although there are some horror films I don't enjoy because they bother me too much to be enjoyable, although those are pretty few and far between.

[Erick H.]

I think a lot of younger kids had their first horror movie experiences either watching films from behind the living room couch or viewing the film from between their fingers,ready to re-cover their eyes when the big scares came.As they grow up and see more films this reaction usually passes and they don't get so worked up about seeing a scary film.In your teens there is a tendency to try to break taboos and push boundaries,rites of passage usually experienced with friends.You test your nerve with horror films.
As Cameron Lodge's wife stated though,some people have suffered traumas in their real lives that take the fun out of make believe mayhem on the screen.Others just don't seem to be wired for it,they reject anything that makes them tense.A friend of mine had a girlfriend who would completely freeze up watching ANYTHING that was the least bit tense.He once had her with him at a party where a short film was run that I had done some tech work on (a friend in attendence directed the film).The film was nominally a ''horror" film,it was actually quite funny but the poor girl got so distraught at this screening that she had to go home,she just sort of shut down.Everybody is different,some people just cannot stand to be startled or jolted.It's like rollercoasters,you either dig them or avoid them like the plague.

[17thJuggalo]

Originally Posted by allmessedup

As a kid, I was always scared and fascinated at the same time. When I got older, the part of me that was scared kind of receded, at least most of the time.

That's pretty much where I was as a kid. Gremlins had scared me when I was really little, but then over time it became one of my most watched movies. Also, I would Day of the Dead all the time, but fast forward through the super gory scenes.

Eventually, one of my favorite movies as a kid became Evil Dead II, due to the bad-assery and comedy involved. After that, my mom's friend taped all these horror flicks off of Showtime and HBO and let us borrow the tapes. That's when my real love of horror films began.

Also, I don't buy that "I had a real life trauma so I can't watch horror movies". Nearly everyone has has some sort of awful trauma in their life, and watching something for entertainment isn't going to scar you.

[Ash28M]

I really think you are either attracted to being scared and or the darker elements of life or your not. I have a bunch of friends and family members that as far as violent life experiences go. None of them have really experienced much less or more then I have. Yet I am the only one I know other then my GF who really loves the genre. I find if you love horror who have always loved horror. It's not something you really start gravitating to in your 20's or 30's. Something else I notice some of my non horror friends saying is I know it's just a movie but I can't help letting it bother me. Personally no matter how disturbing a film is, I have never had a problem seeing it as just a movie. Even if horror films have desensitized me to fictional violence. Real life violence disturbs me now as much as it did when I was a kid. There is just such a massive difference between real and fake violence to me that it's not even the same conversation. This is the main reason why although I like the move on a surface level, I see Michael Haneke's Message behind Funny games as Ignorant.

[baggio]

I know a bunch of people that don't watch horror movies. And you know their reason?

Because their dumb and stupid. I think that's a cop out. Because after much prying some of them admit they feel uneasy/scared of them. But some people are just afraid of the sight of blood. I know a guy that turns his head during any needle injection of ANY type of movie. My friend can watch ANY horror movie out there EXECPT zombie movies. I have no idea, because he won't tell me, but the won't watch them. Gets pretty stand offish about it too. My cousin, at my house, the movie Disturbia was on and had to LEAVE my house after a half an hour in. Actually left my home and proceeded to call up her friend when she got home because it bothered her so much. She's 45.

As for me, I really like the genre but I'm not a psycho about it. Where I only care about is to watch horror movies, which my friends think I do. I watch ALL types of genres. ALL of them. My dvd / vhs collection is an even percentage.

It's like music. I can listen to just about anything if it's good. But have a major type that I listen to.

Anybody here sometimes like the fact that some of your friends don't like horror films. Sometimes it makes me feel special or something. Like they are missing out on cool experience. Like if you went on a great vacation & tried to explain to people (who would never get a chance to go to that location) the details. You know, I wish you where there.

One of my favorite things is my buddy who's married and has kids. Tells me his kids get scared of the movies like Willy Wonka. And I said "If they think those where scary, I show him a few movies that will destroy their life and yours"

[BrokeNads]

My friend is very scared in some horror movies and no problem in others horror movies and he say is because if it can happen. In example if is a movie and is a monster with 5 eyes and 2 brains like a fish is never can happen so he is not scared because is never can happen in real life but if is a serial killer he says it can happen so is scare him. Even if is when a movie with a unreal monster is very gory and violence is ok and if movie about serial killer is no violence to show in camera is still worst for him.

[Workshed]

People are different, people are strange. I bet, somewhere, there is a messageboard devoted to Lima Beans, and there is a thread titled "Why Don't People Like Lima Beans?" and there are a whole bunch of posters claiming that people who don't eat lima beans are cretins and/or boring clods with poor palates.

Well, to that board I say, "You think you're better'n me? Do ya? Lima beans are shit and so are you!"

[msw7]

Originally Posted by Workshed

People are different, people are strange. I bet, somewhere, there is a messageboard devoted to Lima Beans, and there is a thread titled "Why Don't People Like Lima Beans?" and there are a whole bunch of posters claiming that people who don't eat lima beans are cretins and/or boring clods with poor palates.

Well, to that board I say, "You think you're better'n me? Do ya? Lima beans are shit and so are you!"

I'm afraid of lima beans. Please don't make them angry.

(also afraid of clowns and little small rocks, but for different reasons)

[bwana the clown]

Originally Posted by rxfiend

but when a 30 year old tells me they're too scared to watch the latest horror remake, I just shake my head....

Of course they may just be afraid of wasting their precious time on unoriginal pap.