Thank you, Allan Getliff, for such a paradoxical question!
There is an implication here that scary movies are somehow a bad thing – that being scared is a bad thing. That notion makes us question why we should enjoy something that is bad. As an avowed horror fan, I have considered this before, and have three main points for your consideration.
First of all, being scared is not a bad thing. Emotions are not good or bad – they are all necessary in moderation. When your house is on fire, it is fear that motivates you to run outside and get help. If you are being chased by a maniac with an axe, it is fear that pushes you to escape and find safety. In these cases you are at risk of serious physical harm, even death. But when it comes to watching a scary movie, you are in no such danger, so you get to feel the rush of this particular emotion in a perfectly safe environment. The worst that can happen is that you might soil your undies.
Secondly, the horror genre in particular has long been used as a tool to tell bigger stories. Night of the Living Dead isn’t just about reanimated corpses roaming the land in search of delicious brains; it is an allegorical tale about the fear of death. Death itself stalks the heartland of America, and it is the inevitability of death that is truly frightening. Likewise, its sequel, Dawn of the Dead, is an almost comical satire on mindless consumer culture (compare some images from that film with actual footage from Black Friday sales and see if you can tell which is which). The power of the movie as metaphor elevates these pieces from dumb gore-fests to works of art with important stories to tell.
Finally, there is the simple appreciation of the skill required to make a genuinely scary movie. You know that what you are watching is not real. That guy’s head didn’t just explode; it was a dummy. That girl is not really covered in blood; it’s corn syrup. But the fact that these things still get under your skin is testament to the director’s skill in embedding terror in every frame. The feeling of dread you get while watching Evil Dead is put there very deliberately by Sam Raimi, and the fact that he is able to scare you at all when you know that it is not real is remarkable. Some of the scariest movies I have ever seen are the ones where it is hard to describe exactly why it was scary. I still don’t know what is so creepy about Ju-On: The Grudge – it’s just that feeling… After it is over, I am left wondering what the hell just happened and why it affected me in such a way.
It is important to note here that I am of course talking about good scary movies. There are plenty of mindless gore-fests that are all blood and no brains, but when you get a good one there is nothing else like it. You can watch all the rom-coms and superhero blockbusters you like, but nothing burrows into your psyche and lays its little eggs quite like a good horror movie. So, dim the lights, sit back, and let yourself get scared. Just try not to soil yourself.
What do you think? Do you enjoy watching scary movies? If so, why? Let us know in the comments.
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I studied philosophy at the University of Stirling, earning my degree in 2005 and a Master's in Knowledge & Mind in 2007. I first became interested in epistemology after snaffling a copy of Descartes’ Meditations off my brother while still at school, and it sparked all kinds of ideas in my mind so I just had to find out more. These days I like finding philosophical ideas hidden in movies, song lyrics and other everyday places people don’t expect. It’s not all high-brow beardstroking theory, but if you start small you might like where it can take you.