Having been chilled to the bottom of our boots watching the most recent instalment of the terrifying and stomach churning Saw franchise – Saw VI – we got to pondering what it is exactly that makes the ‘scary’ quite so scary.
From Jigsaw, to Frankenstein to good old Freddy Kruger the mere thought of certain horror characters are guaranteed to send an icy chill down the spine. But why? How does Hollywood manage to produce horror icons that can petrify even the hardiest of us? Arguably it’s all to do with our more basic instincts, so we’re taking a quick, highly unqualified look at the psychology behind our most terrifying horror heroes. Why it is they make us tremble in our boots…
Film: Saw VI, 2009
Character: Jigsaw
Why so scary? Day of judgement
So, everyone has done things in the past that they are not proud of and the thought of these bad things catching up with us is one of the oldest scare stories in the book. Jigsaw and Billy are pretty much a puppety version of God with a more immediate plan than Hell and less of an inclination to mercy. The Saw franchise highlights again and again that none of us are perfect, and leaves us wondering what that alarmingly judgmental puppet would have in store for us…
Film: Child’s Play, 1988
Character: Chucky
Why so scary? Corrupted innocence
Everyone has a doll of some description when they are a child, you probably lavished attention on it and spoke to it in the vain hope that one day you could be friends. Imagine now that one day it had spoken back, and it was mean, really mean. The fear of Chucky is twofold: 1) the thought that all childhood implements have the potential for bad, 2) those cold, crazy blue eyes in a distressed but senseless doll face…eek!
Film: The Ring, 2002
Character: Samara Morgan
Why so scary? Death!
Watching The Ring basically means you’re going to die, and we all have to admit this is going to happen to us one day, like it or not! So thinking that a girl could any minute pop out of your TV screen with only one thing on her mind only adds to what is already a frightening concept for a film. Samara’s specific awfulness lies in her not just being simply evil, but because (see above) she’s also an evil child. Children have a unique status as icons of innocence, delight and life, so seeing a child who really, really wants to hurt you freaks us out. A lot.
Film: It, 1990
Character: The Clown
Why so scary? Fear of Clowns
Coulrophobia is a well known psychological problem, so we don’t really need to look far for an explanation here. Basically, clowns are scary. Even if you’ve never had a ‘bad experience’ (i.e. a clown asking you to smell his flower and then spurting ink in your face) you know that there is a fully grown man somewhere underneath all that makeup and fake hair, and that is just frightening.
Film: A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984
Character: Freddy Kruger
Why so scary? Primal fear of claws
Quite apart from the unpleasant thought of being attacked in and by our dreams, the key to Freddy’s horrifying success lies in his hands. Apparently it’s all down to our evolutionary history that we are, deep down, terrified of predators with claws and the painful potential that they bring with them. Director Wes Craven was aware of this when he was making this classic horror.
Film: The Shining, 1980
Character: Jack
Why so scary? Madness
At the beginning of The Shining Jack Torrence seems like a normal man, so his descent into homicidal insanity is frightening for a number of reasons: Not only does he turn against his own wife and child, deliberately cutting them off from the possibility of external aid, but his behaviour also leads us to question those around us.
Film: Halloween, 1978
Character: Michael Myers
Why so scary? Unstoppable evil
After being described as ‘pure evil’ by your psychiatrist, it’s likely that you’ll be the frightening type, so try adding a mask to the mix and see what kind of reaction you get! Following Halloween, killers in masks became very much en vogue and you rarely get a slasher movie these days without a mask of some sort making an appearance. The theory behind the mask (ahem…) is that it dehumanizes the killer, making them an unemotional and detached murdering machine. This focuses your attention completely on the terror of the victim, so making you terrified…clever eh?
Film: The Exorcist, 1973
Character: Regan MacNeil
Why so scary? Possession
One of the first child horror heroines, Regan’s possession by the Devil is still possibly the most explicit and gruesome depictions of what could happen if Satan ever took a fancy to you. Like it or not, religion is all around us and these evil spirits tap into this vast backdrop of spirituality. Taping into the horror we have at seeing children do terrible things, William Friedkin highlights the bad side affects possession has including frightening your mum, embarrassing social situations and, frankly, a lot of pain
Film: Frankenstein, 1931
Character: The creature
Why so scary? Fear of the undead
Although not nearly as scary now as it was after its original release in 1931, Frankenstein’s classic horror imagery and motifs is still capable of frightening audiences anew well into the 21st century. The original zombie movie, it is complete with deserted towers, damsels in distress and a big killing monster on the hunt for revenge. The creature remains one of horror’s most familiar figures as it taps into our primal fear of corpses. And what might happen when technology finally catches up with our imaginations and we can reanimate the dead – i.e. nothing good.
'Saw VI' is out now on DVD and Blu-ray from Lionsgate
ShareThis
