Post by Flynn on Feb 10, 2018 18:03:13 GMT
I think it comes down to age. It's well known know that the emotional part of the human brain stops developing around 25. If you are under 25, you'll probably be scared by a horror film (assuming it's trying to frighten), but if you're older, you probably won't be scared by a film. By that point, your brain is too rational to let a film frighten it; you have real-world concerns that frighten you more, like losing your house.
So, I think what happens is that we tend to be drawn to horror when we are young, maybe age 10-20. We find horror movies that do in fact frighten us at this age. Then, as we approach and pass age 25, horror movies stop scaring us. We at first chalk it up to our having seen and become numb to all the cliches. We start saying things like, "horror movies aren't scary anymore" or "this movie wasn't scary" because we are trying to regain that experience we had at 16 or 18. But the truth is that WE have changed, not the films.
When we get to our 30s, we have to form a new appreciation of horror. Sadly, horror films will never scare us again, and we have to find other qualities to enjoy.
I do disagree with RiP, IMDb in that I think most serious horror movies would scare a typical 6-year old, thus proving that they can be scary to a particular audience, but I get the point that horror movies aren't scary overall, especially to the average adult, and even more particularly to RiP, IMDb.
So, I think what happens is that we tend to be drawn to horror when we are young, maybe age 10-20. We find horror movies that do in fact frighten us at this age. Then, as we approach and pass age 25, horror movies stop scaring us. We at first chalk it up to our having seen and become numb to all the cliches. We start saying things like, "horror movies aren't scary anymore" or "this movie wasn't scary" because we are trying to regain that experience we had at 16 or 18. But the truth is that WE have changed, not the films.
When we get to our 30s, we have to form a new appreciation of horror. Sadly, horror films will never scare us again, and we have to find other qualities to enjoy.
I do disagree with RiP, IMDb in that I think most serious horror movies would scare a typical 6-year old, thus proving that they can be scary to a particular audience, but I get the point that horror movies aren't scary overall, especially to the average adult, and even more particularly to RiP, IMDb.