Horror Films and Teens

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Everybody makes fun of the girl in the horror film that yells “Hello, is somebody in here”, the viewer’s general reaction is come on sweetheart do you really think that the psychotic murder is going to be like “Yeah, I’m coming up the stairs to kill you so be prepared”. Everybody who watches horror films hates these clichés, so why do film directors still put these horrible played out clichés in their films. Are the directors and writers’ clueless to the countless number of parody horror films and internet memes, or are they brilliant minds who understand the needs of their core audience? Think about it, why is it that in all the years that horror films have been out they still follow the same pattern? The answer is rather simple, teenagers of today and every generation, no matter how different they think they are from the previous generation of teenagers are the same. Horror films are made to appeal to teenagers, which means the format does not need much changing to get its job done. It is these very clichés that are oh so hated, the distraction from the real world, and the excitement, and the pride felt after because we faced a fear that makes horror films appeals to teenagers as opposed to adults. For teenagers, who in this essay will be defined as people ages 14 to 20, life is constantly changing. They are moving in to Junior High, High School, or their freshman year of college and the world as they once knew it is no longer the same. It seems like as soon as the teen can say “ok this is something that will not change”, it changes. This is why the clichés in horror films appeal to teenagers so much. Stephen King, a famed horror novelist briefly touches on this need for a constant when he says in “Why We Crave Horror”, “We als... ... middle of paper ... ...We still go and watch the horror films though, we do it so that when we walk out we can say I overcame that so I can overcome anything. One of my fellow classmates Kayla Hillegass, said “I like to watch scary movies as a challenge to see what will scare me and what will not scare me”. Teens love and need this thrill and this sense of pride they get when watching a horror film and that is why they keep pilling in to the newest horror film to be released. The clichés that give teens a feeling of normality, plus the break from the real world and all of its troubles, plus the pride of overcoming the fear one feels in horror films, is the perfect equations for why horror films appeal to teens as opposed to adults. As long as teenagers need to feel like they have control of something, and can do anything as well as need a break from life horror films will appeal to them.

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