Why do people get scared watching horror films?

Sudha Pillai / TNN / Jun 20, 2003, 04:48 IST

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One day Ramgopal Varma decided to "put people in a hall and scare the hell out of them." Therefore, he made Bhoot.

Why do people get scared watching horror films?

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">One day Ramgopal Varma decided to "put people in a hall and scare the hell out of them." Therefore, he made Bhoot. People are scared, all right! One person is said to have died of cardiac arrest in the theatre while watching Bhoot."Any intense emotion results in a sudden upsurge of blood to the brain and the heart and in people who suffer from psychotic and neurotic problems, it might prove fatal," says Dr Shekar Doddamani, psychologist. However, even self-confessed I-don''t-easily-scare people have been scared out of their skin by films like Bhoot, Exorcist and The Omen. "It''s been more than one week since my sister watched Bhoot, albeit with closed eyes. In the movie the ghost makes its entry when Urmila goes to fetch a glass of water, nowadays my sister and her friends sleep with not just one but many bottles of water by their bedside," says Sharat a computer professional. Amrita Rao, an advertising professional, says, "One week after watching the film I was working late in the office. I was alone. A calendar fell off the wall and I felt a chill run down my spine. Soon after I went to the toilet and looked into the mirror. Suddenly I was reminded of the scene in Bhoot where Urmila looks into the mirror and finds another reflection. I thought I was going to see one too. I told myself that I was acting silly and it was after all a movie. My bravado lasted a second. I quickly locked up the office and left." Amrita never works late anymore. Why do people react in this manner? "When they are seeing the film it is fiction, but when the movie and the reactions to the scenes get registered in the subconscious mind it becomes real. The sub-consciousness records whatever you perceive through your five senses. When a person encounters a similar setting as seen in the film, he or she begins to re-live the reactions/emotions that have been registered in their sub-consciousness," says Dr Shekar. That explains Amrita''s fear each time she sits on the potty. "I feel that the ghost is standing near the door." A la Urmila. Manu Joseph, the Outlook journalist who took on powerful politicians in Ahmedabad, confessed to a friend that he just couldn''t go back home and "sleep alone" after watching the movie. Although people watch the movie in a hall filled with people and are fully aware that they are watching "make-believe" on a 70 mm screen they still get scared out of their wits. "Once the light goes off in the theatre, movie-watching becomes a personal experience. It''s like every scream, every breath and every apparition is aimed at you, personally," says Amrita. Part of what makes horror flicks so compelling and scary may lie in a segment of the brain programmed to react to expressions of fear, say researchers. Dr Raymond Dolan, professor of neuropsychiatry says, "The amygdala, a small almond shaped structure in the left temporal lobe of the brain is highly responsive to fearful facial expressions. The response to fearful expressions is probably not learned, but instinctive. The brain is simply tuned to that kind of response." A disease called Urback-Wiethe Syndrome can cause the amygdala to waste away in rare cases. These people have the inability to recognise expressions of fear in others faces. Ramgopal Varma might not be able to scare the hell out of such people with his Bhoot. Why do people watch horror films when they know they will not be able to go to the bathroom alone in the night for the next few weeks? "The mystery of the unknown attracts us and the fear of the unknown follows us after we leave the theatre. That''s the joy of watching horror films," says Vijay Kishen. Human beings! </div> </div>

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