Young People Ask . . .

What’s So Horrible About Horror Movies?

DENOUNCED by critics, assailed by parents, and often censored by TV-network officials, horror movies still thrive. If the capacity to make money is the measure, horror movies are huge successes, some even setting attendance records at the box office. Enterprising filmmakers, eager to turn more profits, rush to make sequels. Coveting these profits, other moviemakers hastily spawn imitations.

And who is the targeted audience for these frightening films? Young people. It is not unusual to see teenagers braving long lines and inclement weather to catch the opening of the latest horror flick. What, though, is the lure of these films? Is there any reason for youths to be wary of them?

The New Horror Films

The films that frightened audiences a few decades ago have yielded place to a new genre. Today’s horror films do not achieve their chills and thrills through good storytelling, suspenseful plots, or stimulating the viewer’s imagination but depend largely on luridly detailed violence to obtain these effects. As the New York Post reported, “Traditional monsters have been replaced by bloodthirsty maniacs.”

For example, a reviewer of the fourth “Friday the 13th” film remarked: “The 91-minute film consists of little more than bloody mayhem and teenage nudity . . . including brief shots of decapitation and garroting.” The featured character is “a demented killer named Jason, wearing a hockey mask, chopping up and skewering an assortment of teenage boys and girls.”

Massive doses of blood and gore are thus the staple of the new horror movies. Little wonder, then, that they have been dubbed “knife-kill,” “splatter,” and “gore” films.

The Lure of Horror Films

Incredibly, though, it is this carnage and “bloody mayhem” that send many youths scurrying to the box office. When asked why she frequented horror movies, 16-year-old Melissa admitted quite candidly: “I like, like, guts. I don’t like going to a movie that’s all like Goldilocks. I like going to a movie like Nightmare on Elm Street.” She adds, “I like seeing people get ripped apart.”

Indeed, for many youths, the touchstone for judging a film is how “creatively” the murders are performed. One teen wrote: “I have actually heard audiences clap and whistle at grisly murders.” Adds 17-year-old Sandy: “If the scenes really scared me, it was a good movie. If it didn’t​—just routine killings—​it was so-so.”

Why Others Watch Them

Admittedly, not all horror-movie viewers are drawn by a craving for violence or a morbid curiosity. For some teenagers, horror films are simply a means of escape, a respite from a life knotted with anxieties. Observed psychologist Joyce Brothers: “When your own life gets very complex and scary . . . , it is easier to escape into a fearful story.”

Other youths are attracted by the prospect of suspense and excitement. States 14-year-old Bobby: “The suspense keeps you on the edge of your seat. You are on a roller-coaster ride of chills and thrills with few valleys or lulls in between.”

Some teenage boys feel that their masculinity is confirmed by the ability to view macabre scenes and graphically depicted bloodletting without flinching. Reggie, a frequent horror-movie attender, says: “If you can handle the blood and guts, you are a man. If you can’t, you are considered a sissy by your friends.”

Many youths, however, attend horror films for the “romantic” possibilities they present on dates. Twenty-year-old Quintella recalls: “When I went to horror movies and a scene got gruesome, I grabbed my date.” She adds, “I think he expected and wanted this reaction.” Teenage girls have even been known to feign squeamishness so as to snuggle up to their dates. Their male companions, hoping for this reaction, respond obligingly with protective cuddles.a

Thrills, excitement, escape, romance​—many youths feel that since horror movies provide all these seeming boons, there cannot be much harm in them. But is that really the case?

Horror Films​—What They Teach

True, some psychologists feel that horror movies are harmless, causing nothing more severe than an occasional sleepless night. Nevertheless, a number of respected authorities maintain that there are dangers.

Dr. Leonard Berkowitz, professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin, asserts that horror-movie violence has a threefold effect on audiences. “First,” he states, “it makes audiences in general less horrified by, and more indifferent to, violence. Secondly, audiences may learn the lesson that violence is approved behavior. Third,” he goes on, “some can become stimulated by it.”

Really, does not the capacity to sympathize and empathize with the sufferings of others separate humans from brute beasts? The wanton violence of horror movies, though, can only erode that sympathy. We are reminded of how the apostle Paul condemned those who “because of the insensibility [literally, “dulling”] of their hearts” came to be “past all moral sense.” He encouraged Christians, however, to “become kind to one another, tenderly compassionate.” (Ephesians 4:18, 19, 32, Kingdom Interlinear) Can exposure to large doses of senseless bloodshed help one cultivate these qualities?

God’s View of Violence

If the potential desensitizing effects of these films were the only danger, that alone would be reason for grave concern. For Christians, however, the paramount concern is maintaining God’s friendship. This includes accepting his view of violence, which was made clear when he destroyed the ancient world of Noah’s day. The Bible states: “Violence had spread everywhere. God looked at the world and saw that it was evil, for the people were all living evil lives. God said to Noah, ‘I have decided to put an end to all mankind. I will destroy them completely, because the world is full of their violent deeds.’”​—Genesis 6:11-13, Today’s English Version.

The psalmist thus said of Jehovah: “Anyone loving violence His soul certainly hates.” (Psalm 11:5) Hence, early Christians refused to participate in the popular gladiatorial games, which pitted man against man or man against animal in a fight to the death. True, this was an accepted form of entertainment at that time. But a second-century Christian writer named Athenagoras said: “We, deeming that to see a man put to death is much the same as killing him, have abjured [solemnly renounced] such spectacles.”

Not to be overlooked are the spiritistic and demonistic overtones of many horror films. Would a Christian youth be ‘standing firm against the machinations of the Devil’ if he fed himself on a diet of films that featured spiritism?​—Ephesians 6:11; Revelation 21:8.

Because of their desire to maintain a friendship with God, some of the youths who were mentioned earlier​—Reggie, Quintella, Sandy, and Bobby—​have stopped viewing horror films. No, they have not become ascetics, denying themselves every form of pleasure. But through a study of the Bible, they have come to appreciate the need to avoid demoralizing entertainment. Recognizing the need for proper conduct between the sexes, they do not use such films as an excuse for improper displays of affection. (1 Thessalonians 4:3, 4) No longer accepting violence as entertainment, they strive to be selective in what they watch.

They have come to feel that horror movies have become just what the name implies​—horrible.

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