A Very Nervous Person's Guide to Horror Movies by Mathias Clasen

Author:Mathias Clasen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2021-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Figure 6.3 Because of the stigma that still clings to the horror genre, its fans are sometimes worried about looking stupid. And sometimes they do look a little, uh, unfortunate, as in this surveillance image from a commercial haunted house where a startled guest jumps in fright and falls off a couch. Apart from suffering the pain of being laughed at by her friends, the guest did not get hurt. Photo courtesy of the author.

The girl is okay—she jumps right back onto her feet and straightens her hair—but her friends are laughing like maniacs, and the actor is obviously having a very hard time keeping a straight face. Now, the girl knew that she was in a haunted house attraction and that the dead-looking woman on the couch was an actor in makeup, but a powerful startle response still overrode all that rational knowledge. You are supposed to be frightened in a haunted house, but not that frightened. The girl’s behavior violated everybody’s expectations, but in a benign way (because she did not suffer anything worse than transitory embarrassment). So it was funny.

So, if your concern is looking stupid when you scream and jump or just stare at the screen with bulging eyes, I am afraid there is little you can do. Maybe you can find some solace in the fact that you will be providing amusement to your co-viewers. And if they give you a hard time, just tell them that at least your fear system is in excellent shape—you are a natural-born survivor.

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