Here's a short thread of really fun infographics about horror movies, many of which I found on @DataIsBeautiful. We've got everything from demographics to jump scares to Bechdel Test scores.
A few of these may surprise you!
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Let's start with popularity. The past 2 years have seen horror devour its largest share of the Box Office in history.
People flocked to horror during the pandemic. However, the popularity of horror (and thrillers!) has been on a steady upward trend for decades.
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Horror is the genre most likely to turn a profit. A spooky story doesn't require a big budget to be a hit. @jason_blum built a genre empire on this.
The first @blumhouse film, Paranormal Activity, is the most profitable film ever. Shot for $15k, It grossed nearly $200M.
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Despite being the most profitable genre, horror doesn't spend much time in theaters. In fact, horror spends less time in theaters than *any* other genre.
R ratings limit the number of potential viewers in theaters, so horror relies on big opening weekends.
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Where is horror the most popular? Turns out that Mexico *really* loves the genre. South Korea, Russia, and the US/Canada are also big consumers. Censorship in China makes horror (especially supernatural) largely unavailable.
Low popularity in Japan surprised me!
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Horror audiences are younger and pretty diverse. Horror is really popular among racial and ethnic minorities in the US. In fact, the gap might be larger for horror than any other genre.
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In the UK, horror has a larger share of viewers in lower social classes than any other genre.
I found this interesting since it contradicts a recent study suggesting that horror fans are more likely to have high levels of resources.
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Maybe the elites just don't like jump scares? The critics apparently don't. Horror movies with more jump scares tend to have lower @IMDb scores.
Still, there seem to be plenty of great horror movies with a lot of jump scares.
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Speaking of jump scares, when are they most likely to happen? A lot of horror movies have a big jump scare near the end of the movie. Looks like the only time you're safe is in the last few minutes of the movie.
Would be cool to see this broken down by sub-genre.
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Last but not least, the Bechdel Test. Horror has a higher pass-rate for the Bechdel Test than any other genre.
I've argued that recreational fear (e.g., horror movies) can help build resilience by offering playful opportunities to practice emotion regulation skills.
This paper on spider and height phobia suggests exposure treatment does generalize across categorically different fears.
Over the past few months, I've tweeted out a number of threads about the psychology of the horror genre and true crime.
I thought it would be fun to put together a mega thread of threads for the spooky season.
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First up, let's talk about true crime and serial killers. I've received a bunch of interview requests the past 2 weeks to talk about the new #DahmerMonster series.
Why are we fascinated with evil men? Check out this thread to learn more:
Freddy loves kids, has a great sense of fashion and is, in some ways, the man of your dreams. However, I think we can all agree that he might not fare too well on Tinder.
Rather than masking his face, Freddy proudly shows it.
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When you first saw these photos, you probably had a similar reaction as when you saw Freddy’s face. You likely experienced a feeling of disgust.
This response is part of the behavioral immune system — it helps us avoid infections.
The rise of slashers led to moral panic from the public & critics in the 80's. Gene Siskel encouraged readers to mail complaints to Paramount's chairman, & The UK banned what they called "video nasties," leading the Scotland Yard to raid VHS stores. imdb.com/list/ls0513642…
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There's some evidence that horror fans are lower in empathy, but this literature is small, mostly from the 80s, and suffers from some methodological and conceptual flaws. I addressed these issues in a previous thread.
Horror is a controversial genre, and horror fans are a commonly misunderstood group of people.
Here are 3 of the most common misconceptions about horror fans and why they are wrong.
1. Thrill-seekers 2. Anxiety 3. Empathy
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⚠️Misconception #1⚠️
Aren't horror fans just thrill-seekers?
This idea comes from work in the 1980s on sensation-seeking. Sensation-seeking is a trait that promotes the seeking of varied, novel, complex & intense sensations & experiences.
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There's some evidence that sensation-seeking is correlated with horror fandom, but it's not consistent.
Sometimes sensation-seeking predicts attendance, and sometimes enjoyment. Sometimes its only true for men or for a specific type of sensation-seeking.