Illustrated by Maggie O’Connor.
Moviegoers fainted and threw up in theaters watching “The Exorcist” when it premiered in 1973 according to Parade. They couldn’t stand the disturbing visuals of a young girl’s demonic possession and the battle to restore her.
Horror movies often cross the line between telling a good story with dreadful and supernatural elements and focusing too heavily on horrific visuals. It is important to moderate how much entertainment we find in disgusting images and ideas.
We should not corrupt our minds with disgusting images. What we put into our heads can last longer than we might want it to.
Movies should entertain and provide useful information and insights. They should tell a story. While some horror films, such as “The Sixth Sense” and “Psycho,” tell good stories, people should not watch the horror movies that highlight gore and distasteful visual elements over the story itself.
Horror movies such as “Friday the 13th,” “Saw,” “Terrifier,” and “Insidious” include unnecessary violent scenes of slow hacking and dismembering of characters in front of their family members, brutal murders and roadmaps for entering into spiritual worlds.
Some people go to watch horror movies like these purely for the gore or to be disturbed in some way.
But we should not watch movies that include excessively violent and disgusting scenes — these scenes taint the story being told and leave lingering images floating in our minds.
In a study published in the journal “Human Brain Mapping,” participants watched horror movies while researchers ran tests on their neurological responses to the films.
When the participants saw scary scenes, there was increased activity in areas of the brain that are involved in processing emotions, sensory and visual information, and awareness of bodily sensations.
The experiment demonstrates that some people who enjoy intense experiences may find frightening entertainment more appealing because it stimulates their minds more than mundane situations. This means some people find pleasure in the stimulation that horror movies give them in environments they know to be safe.
This study shows that people do not just experience fear differently, but that there are people who enjoy horror movies for the neurological stimulation it gives them rather than simply enjoying fear itself — and the movie for itself. We cannot numb our perception of the reality of horror movies and what they show us just because we like the feeling it gives us.
People should not seek horrifying experiences because they crave mental stimulation, and the genre of horror movies encourages people to find entertainment in the gruesome.
A moderate amount of horrific images in movies can certainly lead the viewer to question the reality of death, the afterlife and human psychology in fearful situations. Being exposed to the ugliness and sin in life is something that is unavoidable and thus can be directed in an educational way. For instance,“The Passion of the Christ,” (though not a horror movie), includes disturbing and ugly scenes for viewers to understand the reality of Christ’s Passion, not just to give the viewer a thrill of horror.
Supernatural or terrifying things can be attractive. The world around us is not only material but also spiritual, and we should want to understand the spiritual aspects of the world as best as we can. However, a fascination with horrible and dreadful things is not wise. There is a supernatural world and there are ways to encounter dark and evil forces. Some horror movies might begin to open those worlds and make them more readily available to use.
Images and scenes imprint themselves in our minds for the rest of our lives. It’s not just pornography or nudity that are inappropriate to watch. We also shouldn’t expose ourselves to horrific representations of demonic occurrences.
The horrible images and visuals pollute the story being told. Don’t waste your time watching horror films — you could see the most disturbing things imaginable, and they may never leave you.
Monica Smies is a sophomore studying philosophy.
