Why We Crave Horror Movies Analysis

We live in a society where a life of another human being is losing value by the minute, murder is almost more common than marriage, and monsters no longer lurk under our beds but inside us. Even sadder, this is acceptable; this is our normal. When we are children, we have an indescribable innocence; we are invincible. As we grow up, life happens, and we go through hardships that break us. Stephen King says it best with the words “sometimes inhuman places create human monsters” (Stephen King, The Shining) It is in the battle of finding ourselves in the process of trying to pick up the broken pieces. We tend to feel our losses more intensely than our gains- the exact reason we often see the walls we build from our past and not the strength gained in our experiences that aid us in our futures. We all have both good and evil in us, and we become the one we choose to act on. The majority of us choose to represent our good side, the more socially acceptable choice, but some fall victim to their darkest self. However, in order to survive in our society, we generally act on the good in us, and in order to maintain the good, we must feed the bad sometimes. This Is why I agree with Stephen king on his view of why people like horror movies?
“Why We Crave Horror Movies,” an essay by the legendary Stephen King, explains two challenging concepts to understand: why people like gory horror movies and how people are able to control their darkest desires. “I think that we’re all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it a little better – and maybe not all that much better, after all.” King opens the essay by addressing the hard truth- we are all insane. People have dull lives, and often it’s the little bit of crazy within in us tha...

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...is that isn’t always the case. Often, we either became the prey or the predator. Another reason is that we need to reassure ourselves our lives could be worse. We have this idea that what happens in movies only happens in movies and therefore we watch these films to guarantee our worst fears will never become our reality, regardless of how realistic it may seem. Lastly, we watch the genre of film that best matches our current mood or events that previously took place that day. Our emotions are key; if we’re depressed, we may be more likely to watch a horror film.

We build our own cages, and Stephen King does an excellent job expressing this throughout his essay. Society is indeed a messed up place. A place based on judgment. A place where we have an excuse and name for all of our inner demons. We all our mentally ill, but society will intend that we never find out.