Students discuss views on horror movies

Even though Halloween is on the last day of October, some people spend all month getting excited for the holiday by watching and adoring scary movies. While some may love the adrenaline it gives, others shy away from the fright.

Aria Spence, a senior advertising major from Colleyville, said October is the prime time for horror, thriller and suspense movies. With suspense and thriller pairing together easily, Spence said they intend to keep the viewers on the edge of their seat and stay in wonder. While horror movies are their own separate genre, she said they tend to make the audience have tension, uncertainty and anxiety.

“Some people spend most of the film closing their eyes and curled up in their seats,” she said. “Horror movies are intended to make people jump and be fearful.”

Spence said typically the audience can tell when something scary is intended to happen based on the music in the scene. Characters or objects jumping out in the film are usually what causes people to fill with adrenaline.

“People love being scared and getting that feeling of adrenaline,” she said. “Watching scary movies willingly is the exact same thing as going to a haunted house. Individuals love being scared, and it’s just the culture we live in.”

Alyssa Colt, a sophomore pre-nursing major from Arlington, said seeing a scary movie allows for a different experience because most of the feelings she gets can only be experienced while watching a horror film.

“It’s not your typical movie where you sit back and relax. I actually have more of an emotional response to scary movies,” Colt said.

Once watching horror films, Colt said she gets scared from the slightest things, especially the dark because the movie has gloomy contrasts and was viewed in a dim theatre, so it makes the film somewhat realistic after.

Star Mendez, a junior psychology major from Argyle, said she learned that there are three factors of scary movies – tension, relevance and unrealism – relating to the shock factor, if the audience can relate to it, and how realistic it is.

Although some scary movies may be based on everyday people, Mendez said viewers who like scary movies focus on the content being fake or unlikely to happen. She said people do not necessarily like being fearful or the graphic content of people being killed or haunted. Mendez said there is a huge market for horror movies because people view them for the feeling it gives them.

“Even if in the moment we are terrified, it will subside quickly,” she said. “It’s a rush. It’s the adrenaline. Adrenaline is a stress hormone that gets released when we become fearful.”

Although adrenaline may fill the crave of thrill for some, Mendez said others do not like subjecting themselves to adrenaline-provoking situations on purpose.

Jessica Utz, a freshman human development and family studies major from Denton, said she never watches horror films because she hates the anticipation of jump scares. Throughout most of the film, Utz said she spends most of the movie hiding and is more distracted and focused on when something scary is going to happen.

“A few days after watching a scary movie, I’m always more jumpy thinking about the plot of it,” Utz said.

http://www.dailytoreador.com/lavida/students-share-views-on-horror-movies/article_eb06249a-dd7d-11e8-9510-0f4872ea69b1.html