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Horror Movies And The Interest Behind Them
It is no secret that today a great variety of people enjoy watching horror movies for a great variety of reasons. These types of films are so popular that the genre itself has been split into a variety of subgenres, ranging from monster flicks to slasher flicks to the ever popular zombie apocalypse flicks. There are even extremely popular and extremely long running franchises.
A lot of people may be surprised to see such popularity in a genre which purports to have the purpose of doing nothing less but scaring the proverbial pants off their audience. However, what might come as an even greater surprise to some people is the fact that this is hardly a new invention. Not only have filmmakers been making such scary films since the very beginning of filmmaking, but the scary stories themselves are even older than that.
The key to understand the inception of this type of genre is to look at the birth of mass entertainment in the western world, the plays of ancient Greece. The concept that many such plays worked around, although none of them were considered scary, regardless of what sort of a chimeric monster formed the centerpiece of the action, was the idea of catharsis.
What that word refers to is the singular moment right at the end of a story, usually one that is very sad or very scary, where the audience experiences a release of negative feelings. Throughout the story, the audience is encouraged to live the action through the eyes of the characters, feeling sadness or fear, and then through this climactic moment, the audience is purged of those negative emotions.
These techniques described above should come as no surprise to the discerning viewer of today. In fact, both classic films and the most recent entries in this genre use such techniques to give their audiences many different build ups and releases during the course of a film. By plumbing the darkest corners of our subconscious, the filmmakers can create truly terrifying visions.
Of course, this does not work for everyone. In fact, some people eschew this type of entertainment entirely, and it is important to note that children with their overactive imaginations are best left out of such entertainment. For those who do wish to enjoy such an experience, though, the modern era has brought many different choices.
For those of us who enjoy scary movies, though, the modern era has brought with advances of technology many ways that a person can familiarize themselves with the choices out there. There are online sites which have collections of films of this genre, everything from the earliest entrants to the franchises spanning decades. Some of them may even offer such films for free.
Regardless of the viewer's preferences in this day and age, whether or not he or she enjoys a particular subgenre or all scary films regardless of their characters, the choices in horror movies are greater than ever. Accordingly, they are attracting a greater than ever audience as well.
A lot of people may be surprised to see such popularity in a genre which purports to have the purpose of doing nothing less but scaring the proverbial pants off their audience. However, what might come as an even greater surprise to some people is the fact that this is hardly a new invention. Not only have filmmakers been making such scary films since the very beginning of filmmaking, but the scary stories themselves are even older than that.
The key to understand the inception of this type of genre is to look at the birth of mass entertainment in the western world, the plays of ancient Greece. The concept that many such plays worked around, although none of them were considered scary, regardless of what sort of a chimeric monster formed the centerpiece of the action, was the idea of catharsis.
What that word refers to is the singular moment right at the end of a story, usually one that is very sad or very scary, where the audience experiences a release of negative feelings. Throughout the story, the audience is encouraged to live the action through the eyes of the characters, feeling sadness or fear, and then through this climactic moment, the audience is purged of those negative emotions.
These techniques described above should come as no surprise to the discerning viewer of today. In fact, both classic films and the most recent entries in this genre use such techniques to give their audiences many different build ups and releases during the course of a film. By plumbing the darkest corners of our subconscious, the filmmakers can create truly terrifying visions.
Of course, this does not work for everyone. In fact, some people eschew this type of entertainment entirely, and it is important to note that children with their overactive imaginations are best left out of such entertainment. For those who do wish to enjoy such an experience, though, the modern era has brought many different choices.
For those of us who enjoy scary movies, though, the modern era has brought with advances of technology many ways that a person can familiarize themselves with the choices out there. There are online sites which have collections of films of this genre, everything from the earliest entrants to the franchises spanning decades. Some of them may even offer such films for free.
Regardless of the viewer's preferences in this day and age, whether or not he or she enjoys a particular subgenre or all scary films regardless of their characters, the choices in horror movies are greater than ever. Accordingly, they are attracting a greater than ever audience as well.
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