Why do we love horror films - even when they terrify us?

Why do we love watching horror films?

As a small child, I loved nothing more than scaring myself silly watching Poltergeist alone in the dark. Whether you credit Tobe Hooper or Steven Spielberg for the film is another debate entirely, but one thing’s for sure - I was far too young to be watching it. Still, that strange mix of fear and excitement is one of my fondest childhood memories.

Many of us share the same fascination - the thrill of being scared when we know we’re safe. And for some of us, it’s a feeling we keep coming back for.

But what is it about being frightened that we find so appealing? To explore the psychology behind our love of a good scare, Mark Vahrmeyer, a UKCP-registered psychotherapist at Brighton and Hove Psychotherapy, explains what happens in our brains when we watch horror films.

“A jump scare works because your body reacts before your brain has time to catch up,” he says. “A sudden noise, movement, or image triggers your startle response, causing your brain and body to react, for a split second, as though they’ve detected a genuine threat.

"We can know perfectly well that we are sitting safely in a cinema or on the sofa and still physically jump. A fraction of a second later, of course, we realise that we are safe. Horror plays very effectively with that movement between alarm and reassurance.”

Mark Vahrmeyer

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Vahrmeyer explains that the key difference between screen-based fear and real-life danger lies in our sense of control. Horror allows us to experience the thrill of fear while knowing that, ultimately, we’re safe.

“If somebody genuinely threatens us in the street, there is nothing enjoyable about it because we do not know what is going to happen, whether we can get away, or whether we are actually safe,” he says. “Horror gives us something quite different - an experience of fear within a boundary.

“Part of us responds to what we are seeing as though the threat were real, whilst another part knows that it is not. We know where we are, we have chosen to be there, and, importantly, we can stop the experience. We can turn the film off, leave the cinema, or remind ourselves that what we are watching is fiction.”

Vahrmeyer notes that this creates an interesting psychological paradox - we can surrender ourselves to fear without surrendering control. He compares horror to a form of play, much like children who ask to be chased or frightened, only to want to do it all over again.

The fear becomes enjoyable because we can explore it without feeling genuinely threatened.

The surprising ways horror films can help us relax

I’m definitely one of those people who finds watching true crime documentaries and horror films oddly relaxing. In fact, I’d go as far as to describe it as a cathartic experience.

Vahrmeyer, however, cautions against taking this idea too literally, as it suggests we can simply release a build-up of difficult emotions and emerge feeling somehow cleansed of them.

“Human emotions are rarely that tidy,” he explains. “What people may experience, though, is the contrast between heightened arousal and subsequent relief.

“For the duration of the film, anxiety is given an object. It becomes the monster, the intruder, the ghost, the killer. The threat is visible, external and, importantly, finite. The film has a beginning, a middle, and an end.”

The psychotherapist explains that this differs from much of the anxiety we experience in everyday life, which is often far less defined. We worry about our relationships, our health, our work or the future, without necessarily reaching a point where somebody turns on the lights and tells us the danger has passed.

There can, therefore, be something reassuring about fear that has a clear focus and a definite endpoint. We’ve been frightened, the experience is over, and we’re still here.

When a scary film does more harm than good

Despite my love of the genre, horror isn’t for everyone. For people living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, or those who struggle with sleep, it may be worth limiting scary films or balancing them with something a little lighter.

Vahrmeyer’s advice is simple - pay attention to whether you still feel safe and in control. If you experience intrusive images, heightened anxiety, or sleep loss, it’s time to take a break.

“The same applies where films touch directly on traumatic experiences,” says Vahrmeyer. “Someone living with PTSD does not necessarily need to avoid every frightening film, but deliberately exposing yourself to material connected to your own trauma is not the same thing as therapeutic exposure. Clinical exposure is carefully structured and undertaken for a particular purpose.”

He adds that if you watch a horror film late at night, you’re essentially increasing your physical and mental arousal. This isn’t the best thing to do if you’re trying to go to sleep, as it’s asking your body to do the opposite.

“Some people can switch a film off and go straight to bed,” Vahrmeyer explains. “Others continue replaying what they have seen long afterwards.”

How to enjoy a good scare without losing sleep

If you love a good scare, especially around Halloween, there are ways to enjoy your favourite horror films or TV shows without increasing anxiety or disrupting your sleep.

Vahrmeyer admits he isn’t much of a horror fan himself, but he understands the genre’s psychological appeal.

“In many ways, horror films give form to archetypal fears, and to parts of ourselves that are difficult to acknowledge directly,” he explains. “The monster, the intruder, the possessed child, the double, the haunted house - these can all be understood as external representations of anxieties, impulses, and conflicts that would otherwise remain internal.

“That may be part of why horror can feel so compelling. It allows us to encounter fear, aggression, death, loss of control, and some of the more primitive parts of ourselves at a safe distance.”