"saw movies were not scary at all.."
"Yes. Saw is scary."
You know the story, you find one film scary, the person next to you, finds the whole thing hilarious and even confusing that you are scared. A recent blog post (found here) commented :
'Further, "Paranormal" isn't a bad movie, but the fact that my mom was re-organizing her purse during one of the pivotal scenes should give you a sense of our collective reaction. It isn't even close to "Blair Witch," which mildly frightened me because I lived near a wooded area at the time.'
I could not disagree more. Paranormal activity scared the heck out of me, probably more than any other film. Blair Witch was not in the same league FOR ME. Why?
Fear is personal and global. There are proven, common, human fear reactions - we all react chemically when we observe fear on someone elses face. Yet I'm afraid of spiders and you perhaps are not. This means some themed films such as Arachnophobia aren't in the least scary for some and almost traumatic for others.
So we know there are personal phobias, global human fears but the bogger above identifies a 3rd and important point (without realising it!) She said:
"Blair Witch," which mildly frightened me because I lived near a wooded area at the time.
Empathy. The writer was afraid for the actors because she had experienced this herself. It was an easy way for her to empathise. She had direct experience of a similar situation, in this case a wooded environment. I would argue this is the biggest factor in any horror movie. Empathy. Someone with no empathy for others will rarely be scared because they develop no relationship with the characters, no involvement in the situation, and so feel no threat.
Highly empathic people I know re hardly able to watch horror at all. Nearly everything frightens them. Yet in real life, outside of the movie theatre, they are no more or less scared than anyone else. Why? I put this down to an inability to do something.
If you empathise for the characters, worry about them, and then cannot act to help them, there is a double whammy of emotions hitting you. In real life the empath would pick up a person who had fallen, but in the movie theatre they cannot. It hurts them. But it gets worse. Most horror movies the people on screen fight for their lives. They battle the horror and so we can root for them, we can release emotions as we ride the roller coaster with them. Paranormal activity does not allow this release. Why? The people are sleeping when the horror happens. They cannot fight back, they are helpless, we are helpless, the empath is trapped.
So, an empathic person will find Paranormal Activity a triple hit. The non-empathic is likely to find it boring. Thats why the film splits people into two groups and why the film is simultaneously the scariest film of all time and also the most boring horror movie ever.
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