Horror. Cinema audiences in Mexico and South Korea are the biggest horror fans, with the genre performing less well in Japan and China. The Chinese disinterest in horror is due in part to the restrictive censorship rules in China, which strictly limit what types of movies are permitted in Chinese cinemas.
Japan is often considered to produce some of the scariest horror movies, known for their psychological depth and chilling atmospheres. Films like "Ringu" and "Ju-on" have had a significant impact on the horror genre worldwide.
Some research indicates that people with a higher sensation-seeking trait (i.e., a stronger need for experiencing thrill and excitement) tend to seek out and enjoy horror-related experiences more. Those with a lower sensation-seeking trait may find those experiences unpleasant and avoid them.
But it's for good reason. At the time of its release in 1973, it was undoubtedly one of the scariest films ever conceived, leaving a lasting impact on the horror genre that can be felt even to this very day.
As of October 2022, approximately 35 percent of men surveyed in the United States said they had watched a horror movie in theaters between one and 12 months preceding the survey. Among female respondents, that share added up to 21 percent.
No, enjoying horror movies is not a red flag that someone is a "nutjob." People have a wide range of interests and preferences when it comes to entertainment, and enjoying horror movies is just one of many possible tastes.
Some movies, e.g. Braindead, are completely banned in Germany (mostly for glamorizing violence), as it is illegal even to sell them to adults. These movies are "indiziert" as well as "beschlagnahmt" ("judicially confiscated").
Oregon is the most interested in horror movies, followed by Alaska, Washington DC, Utah, and Wyoming. Southeastern states seem to have the least interest in scary movies. Florida is the least interested, followed by Georgia, the Carolinas, and Mississippi.
The primary goal of J-Horror is to scare through psychological means, and ghosts being a major part of Japanese culture means they are the medium through which to do this.
California captured our attention as the most killer-capable state with 17 horror movies on the list. Famous flicks like A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984), Scream (1996), and The Lost Boys (1987) all cast a dark shadow over the Golden State.
Yes, some researchers do believe that the typical physical reaction to arousing movies results in the release of opiate endorphins. Addiction to trauma (such as in viewing frightening films) is tied up in biology. That is, the films rev up the body's sympathetic nervous system, inducing stress and anxiety.
Liking horror at any level doesn't automatically mean that you're a bad person or that you secretly want to make your own Human Centipede to see if it'll work for you. It simply means that you probably just enjoy the thrill of being scared senseless and witnessing fictional extremes of human behavior.
Phobophilia, which literally translates to "love of fear," from phobo meaning fear and philia meaning love, would fit in nicely. A person who loves the disturbing and horrifying, then, may be known as a phobophile.
Something called “horror-induced horniness” has a lot to do with the body's physiological response to fear. When we're scared, our bodies typically have some natural and hormonal responses reports Refinery 29. Our adrenaline and cortisol levels go up and blood goes to our extremities.
In general, though, Analysts' combination of Intuitive Energy and Thinking Nature is ideal for enjoying scary movies. Intuitive personality types love to look for hidden meaning and tend to let their imagination run wild, and horror films stimulate those impulses in a way no other genre can.
We know that most people say they enjoy horror, but there's still a sizeable chunk of the population — somewhere between a quarter and a third — who say they don't like the stuff (Clasen et al., 2020).
The golden era can be definitively pinpointed by the early 1920s to the late 1930s. Films that fall into the Golden Era category seem to derive from periods of societal anxiety and fear, like the Great Depression. The classics of the late 1920s and late 1930s became the building blocks of horror.
CivicScience data shows that horror fans actually skew female — with women or girls making up to 60% of the audience. This might account for the reason that horror movies in the modern era — though heavily weighted toward male writers and directors — are so friendly to female protagonists.
As of October 2022, almost two-thirds (64 percent) of adults aged 30 to 44 surveyed in the United States said they either liked or loved the horror movie genre. The average age of horror audiences are younger than the overall moviegoing crowd (27% younger for paranormal and 5% for sci-fi).
