A horror book or movie can be so scary it prompts insomnia, double-checking locked doors and peeking into the closet, heart racing to make sure nobody’s hiding with a chainsaw.
The fear created by horror is so powerful it changes how people behave. But if it’s so terrifying, why do people seek it out?
Stephen Graham Jones, a University of Colorado Boulder English Professor, said horror is like a “funhouse mirror” for people’s anxieties and fears.
“I think horror reminds us that we’re human,” Jones said. “Being human means being scared.”
Jones said some people enjoy horror because they see it as the most accurate reflection of the world they live in. In a world filled with scary stuff, Jones said, horror feels more authentic to some compared to fantasy or romance.
Horror also shows people “there’s light at the end of the tunnel,” Jones said, by ending the story with a positive ending no matter how scary.
“Horror shows us what we’re afraid of,” CU Boulder Sociology Professor Laura Patterson said. “As society changes and we have different prominent fears, you definitely see that reflected in different horror films.”
For example, she said, science fiction monster films from the ’60s show a clear fear of nuclear fallout. There was an uptick in zombie and apocalyptic movies following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, Patterson said there may be a correlation between the haunted house horror films from late 2000s and the recession and housing crisis.
“It (horror films) are a safe place to explore fears,” CU Boulder Sociology Professor Marshall Smith said. “In even the scariest horror movie you can tell yourself it’s just a movie.”
Smith said the first wave of slasher films, beginning with “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” in 1974 and peaking with “Nightmare on Elm Street” in 1984, reflected white people’s fear of racial integration.
He said those films are about supposed safe spaces in white, upper middle class communities that are no longer able to keep white people safe. Those movies, Smith said, coincide with the anxiety of Americans that elected President Ronald Reagan, brought white flight in the ’70s and ’80s and created the narrative that institutions like hospitals, schools and the suburbs aren’t safe anymore.
Smith also noted that those movies were remade around the same time that President Barack Obama was re-elected and similar anxieties resurfaced.
Patterson and Smith teach a class called “Gender, Race and Chain Saws” where students study the sociological implications of horror films. The two also have a podcast called “Collective Nightmares” where they interpret lessons from horror films as sociologists.
“We ask ourselves, what is this film teaching us about how people should be?” Patterson said. “Once you open your eyes to that you can see the film in a whole new way.”
She said horror films can reproduce harmful tropes and promote hierarchies, but it can also critique them. Ignoring that messaging is how people stay blind to systems of oppression, Patterson said. There are messages in all films that affect people’s view of the world, she said, and horror is no different.
“Horror can in some ways reflect problematic hierarchies and challenge those same hierarchies if it’s done with purpose,” Patterson said.
For example, Patterson said horror was a mostly white genre until recently. Jordan Peele’s film “Get Out” opened a whole new area in horror, addressing racial oppression and white supremacy.
“As we’ve seen the genre open up … we’re seeing new and different stories from folks who haven’t historically been prominent behind the scenes in the genre tell different stories about new fears and anxieties,” Smith said.
Patterson said “Fresh” is another good recent horror film that’s written and directed by women. Patterson said the film metaphorically looks at a critique of dating under the patriarchy.
“Horror is having a moment right now,” Jones said. “Hopefully the world continues to acknowledge that horror is in dialogue with it.”
Smith said horror, as a genre, can deal with issues that are typically excluded from other genres.
“Having films that address those issues and take those head on can be really valuable,” he said.
Smith said oftentimes on the surface, a horror movie seems to be about something that it actually isn’t. Sometimes initial impressions of what is good and evil and what is the monster changes after thinking about it more critically, he said.
“Once you dig into what characters represent, who prevails, who’s slaughtered and who or what is the evil, it can be very different after further analysis,” Smith said, adding, “That’s why its very helpful to really think about what is happening in these movies.”
For those looking to explore horror this Halloween, Patterson recommends watching “Fresh,” “Get Out,” “Talk to Me,” “The Blackening” or “It Comes at Night.” For older films, Smith recommends “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and “The Exorcist.” He also loves “The Blackening,” “The Perfection,” “Fresh” and “Swallow.”
For books, Jones recommended Sarah Gran’s “Come Closer.” For films, he suggested “When Evil Lurks” and for T.V. shows, he recommends anything by Michael Flanagan including “The Haunting of Hill House.”
