Book Review
Title: Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films by Nina Nesseth
Genre: Non-Fiction, Science, Culture
Rating: 4.25 Stars
The introduction and first chapter really dives into the psychology and science being horror movies, both in their creation and why they scare us. As we go through the different reactions and emotions people experience during watching a horror film, we find that a lot of our reactions are evolutionary mechanisms designed to protect us from threats even though we know the threat in question is manufactured and can’t hurt us. A lot of examples are used to demonstrate the points and when you’ve seen the movies referenced it becomes a lot easier to visualise and understand the science. The most interested party for me was the flight or fight response and the other reactions that are often forgotten like freeze and fawn. While we are told the science, the author references characters that demonstrate these reactions to give a true reference and visual to the reader. For a nonfiction this is one of the most readable books I have picked up in a while.
Next, we take a trip through memory lane looking at the history of horror. This is by no means an in-depth look at horror in general but a brief overview. We investigate the different trends in horror throughout history and the movies responsible for setting those trends. Before WWI horror wasn’t really the horror, we know today but the first movies we would classify as horror specifically gothic horror were Frankenstein and Dracula coming in during the post war period. Through looking at these trends we can see they reflect the things that society in general feared at that time and some like communism repeat several times throughout the past century. While I would have liked more depth especially in the 70s through to the 90s, I understand that this isn’t the focus of the book.
The next chapter looks at the monsters of horror movies. We don’t only look at the monster but what they represent and why they instilled fear in viewers both then and now. There are many different reasons a monster is scary, but they seem to fall into the categories, those that can cause bodily harm (mainly humanoid monsters), those that cause disease (zombies), and those that cause psychological harm (ghosts and demons). Almost all the horror movie Vivian’s Abe monsters can be broken up into these categories and everyone’s fear response to each one is different. There is also an element of the uncanny valley meaning that many monsters unsettle us is because they look human but not human enough this can include masked killers like Michael Myers but also dolls, puppets and similar beings like Chucky or Annabelle.
Another huge factor in horror movies that provides scares is the sounds and music. While some might overlook this area, the score of a movie can really add or distract from the point of the film, in this case scares. Many horror movies use scores that are recognisable but distorted fostering a sense of unease in the audience. Several films in recent years have also used infrasound in their movies. Infrasound is below human hearing level, but we feel the effects of these sounds as it can make people anxious and even feel nauseous if they are sensitive to the infrasound. The ways in which both music and silence add to the atmosphere of horror movies was intriguing to read about and made me want to investigate it more.
We dig a little deeper into the psychology of horror movies as we look at why some scares stay with us, in some cases from childhood while others don’t resonate at all with some. Whether or not something scary sticks with you depends on a few factors, starting with evolution. Evolutionary fears are fears that were carried throughout evolution to ensure our survival, these can be things like a fear of heights or deep water as we aren’t suited to these environments and movies set in these setting like Open Water will scare most people. Other reasons come down to whether, the scariest parts of the movies are cemented in your long-term memory as those memories solidify and stick with you. It has been proven doing something like playing Tetris after watching a horror movie will override most people’s short-term memory as it requires spatial intelligence and therefore the horror won’t stick with you. However, this will not apply to everyone, and some will just be scared, and some won’t, but this provides a good guideline for explaining why some people are far more sensitive to horror movies than others.
The final couple of chapters ask the question whether on screen violence plays any role in real world violence and it seems that studies into this are inconclusive now due to restrictions on what researchers can ethically do within a lab setting. It also breaks down the difference between violence and gore and where we draw the line for genres like torture. Overall, for a horror fan like me, this was an amazing read with some incredible insights into how these movies are made and why they affect us the way they do. If you are interested in the making of movies, especially horror films, then definitely gives this a try.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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