Our love affair with horror movies

Halloween is three and a half weeks away. But when it comes to horror movies — it’s Halloween all year round. And with a possessed doll rounding out the top of the weekend box office, we sent Phil Perkins to investigate why people love being scared at the movies.

I’m strategically standing outside the theatre playing the newest horror movie Annabelle — a film about a doll that becomes possessed by a demon. You see, I’m not a scary movie buff, but everyone inside this theatre is. And I tried to figure out, what is it that drives people to pay money to be scared out of their pants.

All horror movie buffs can remember the one film that got them hooked.

Millions of people flock to theaters to watch everything from a demon possessed girl, a really big shark and ofcourse zombies – so that they can do a lot of this — scream.

To some, it’s a physical attraction.

Aaron Allen, creator of the Zed Word: “I really like the special effects, what they can do with latex and molds and puppetry now digital special effects, and that’s what hooked me.”

To others, it’s physiological.

“It’s the thrill, it’s that heart pounding, nail clenching.”

Aaron Allen: “It’s a wonderful endorphin rush that comes from that.”

John Migliore: “You can have that adrenaline rush, that feeling. But it’s a very safe environment.”

A safe environment that, according to Psychiatrist Dr. Nadeem Akhtar, allows us to delve into something more than skin deep: “Repressed feelings, and seeing that on screen makes people, gives people some level of catharsis, a release of, in a safe manner, feelings that they would otherwise not be able to express or address.”

Unless, you’re these zombie guys. Watching horror movies is one thing. It’s a whole other animal living it. For instance, the Hamilton zombie walk…..

Aaron Allen: “The zombie walk, you can let it all out, you can be as dirty as you want get as weird as you want. Let out your inner creeps.”

John Migliore: “You can go crazy like I have today or you can go as simple as some greyed out makeup and some blood and you’re still a zombie.”

With new movies like ‘Annabelle’ and ‘Dracula: Untold’ which comes out this weekend, it seems as though there are horror movies coming out every single month. If we factor in inflation, the highest grossing horror film is still 1975’s ‘Jaws’. It brought in about one billion dollars.