Psychology and neurobiology of horror movies

This review covers the neurobiological and psychological aspects of horror movies. Cinema audiences are not exposed to real threats, thus the movie should pass the brain’s “reality check” systems and emotion regulation to engage the fear responses. This can be achieved through vicarious simulation, felt proximity of threats, as well as unpredictability of the fearful events, particularly by using universal sources of fear such as illness or isolation. Acoustic features such as roughness are also threatening, and they can be used for unobtrusively activating the fear circuits. Paradoxical appeal of horror movies stems from universal curiosity towards morbid and threatening subjects, mixing of emotions of fear and excitement in the brain and the capability to learn about dangerous situations safely in the context of movies. These findings are summarized in a conceptual model for eliciting fear through cinema.