Psychological horror
Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror and psychological fiction with a particular focus on mental, emotional, and psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle its audience. The subgenre frequently overlaps with the related subgenre of psychological thriller, and often uses mystery elements and characters with unstable, unreliable, or disturbed psychological states to enhance the suspense, horror, drama, tension, and paranoia of the setting and plot and to provide an overall creepy, unpleasant, unsettling, or distressing atmosphere.
Characteristics
Psychological horror usually aims to create discomfort or dread by exposing common or universal psychological and emotional vulnerabilities/fears and revealing the darker parts of the human psyche that most people may repress or deny. This idea is referred to in analytical psychology as the archetypal shadow characteristics: suspicion, distrust, self-doubt, and paranoia of others, themselves, and the world.
The genre sometimes seeks to challenge or confuse the audience's grasp of the narrative or plot by focusing on characters who are themselves unsure of or doubting their own perceptions of reality or questioning their own
Plot twists are an often-used device. Characters commonly face internal battles with subconscious desires such as romantic lust and the desire for petty revenge. In contrast, splatter fiction and monster movies often focuses on a bizarre, alien evil to which the average viewer cannot easily relate. However, at times, the psychological horror and splatter subgenres overlap, such as in the French horror film High Tension.[1]
Psychological fascination of psychological horror
Fascination with horror films lies in the unreasonable, irrational, and impossible. Jung and Nietzsche's theories exemplify humans need to escape the real world and live in a sublime space where anything is possible. Horror allows the watcher to escape mundane conventional life and express the inner workings of their irrational thoughts. H.P. Lovecraft's explanation for the fascination of horror stems more from the lack of understanding of a humans true place and our deep inner instinct we are out of touch with, and the basic insignificance of ones life and the universe at large. Horror forces us to remember. Psychological horror further forces the manifestation of each individuals own personal horror. Our unseen humanity and our most basic human impulses forces us to seek out stimuli to remind us of our true nature and potential.[2]
Modern research reveals the relationship between empathy and fear or the lack thereof with interest in horror. Research shows that the effects of psychological horror affects females more than males.[3] A current hypothesis for this difference between the genders is that it relates to social expectations and the gender roles we are exposed to during childhood.[4] As a result of the lack of cross-cultural research on the psychological effects of horror, one hypothesis is that individual cultures develop their own unique sense of horror, based in their cultural experiences.
Tools of psychological horror
Lighting and shadows
Sound and music
Studies by Thayer and Ellison in the 1980 studied the effects of different types of music layered on top of stressful visual stimuli, they used dermal electromagnetic to capture information about physiological stimulation while watching and listening. They found that with stressful music and composition laid over top stressful images the psychological response was greater than when watching the same visual stimuli with non stressful sound.[6] Music with a positive tones results in viewers perceiving simultaneous visual stimuli as positive, and when negative tones are used viewers perceive visual stimuli as negative or more threatening. They made three hypotheses and were able to prove two with their research: 1. The use of equally stressful sounds and music over stressful imagery increased the psychological response in viewers in comparison to the same imagery without sound. 2. Where sound and music are placed in relation to a stressful visual stimuli effects the psychological response in viewers. This could not be totally proven, as when sound and music are incongruent with visual stimuli the electromagnetic response was heightened without alleviation in moments of non stress. 3. Sound and music placement can manipulate the viewer into believing a stressful moment is about to happen or has ended, when music is used in opposition to human expectation it can increase stress in the viewer when the expectation the music created doesn't happen visual.[6] When following a character in a movie or show, the music exemplifies the emotion of the character, the viewer feels what the character feels, creating a synergy between character and viewer.[7] The addition of music breaths more depth into emotional response that visual stimuli can not accomplish on its own. Music can subconsciously influence the viewer, further intertwining them emotionally with what they are watching forcing them to feel more deeply whatever emotion they are feeling from watching making it an important piece of psychological horror and its success in inciting emotions in the viewer. While the use of full orchestras is a common use in the entire horror genre, when music is not playing sounds from actions in film, as well as the lack of all sound and score are also used as tools to incite psychological horror and emphasize emotion.[8]
Novels
The novels
Films
Psychological horror films generally differ from traditional horror films, where the source of the fear is typically something material, such as grotesque or horrifying creatures, monsters, serial killers, or aliens,[9] as well as the splatter and slasher film genres, which derive its frightening effects from gore and graphic violence,[9] in that tension in psychological horror films is more frequently built through atmosphere, suggestion, eerie sounds and exploitation of the viewer's and the character's psychology to induce fear. Psychological horror films sometimes frighten or unsettle by relying on the viewer's or character's own imagination or the anticipation of a threat rather than an actual threat or a material source of fear portrayed onscreen.
However, some psychological horror films may in fact contain an overt threat or a physical source of fear, as well as scenes of graphic gore or violence, yet still rely or focus mainly on atmosphere and the psychological, mental, and emotional states of the characters and viewers to frighten or disturb. For instance, some psychological horror films may portray psychotic murderers and scenes of graphic violence while still maintaining an atmosphere that focuses on either the villain's, protagonist's, or audience's psychological, mental, or emotional status.
(2021).
The
Video games
Psychological horror video games are a subgenre of
See also
- Art horror
- Body horror
- Conte cruel
- Gothic fiction
- Hitchcockian
- Horror and terror
- Horror-of-personality
- Lovecraftian horror
- Paranoid fiction
- Psycho-biddy
- Social thriller
References
- ^ "Psychoanalytic theory in times of terror". Journal of Analytical Psychology. 4 (48): 407. September 2003.
- PMID 26499301.
- PMID 31681095.
- S2CID 149437842.
- from the original on 2023-04-26. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
- ^ S2CID 246843004.
- ISSN 1751-4193.
- OCLC 1255875757.
- ^ a b c Hayward 2006, p. 148.
- ISBN 0571199968. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
- ISBN 0415157668. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
- ^ Gleiberman, Owen (4 August 2009). "'Psycho': The horror movie that changed the genre". Entertainment Weekly.
- ISBN 0879728213. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
- ISBN 978-1845112974. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
- ISBN 978-0857284495. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
- ^ "THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS And Horror Aversion At The Oscars". birthmoviesdeath.com. Britt Hayes. 16 January 2015. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
- ^ "Top 10 Psychological Horror Movies - Alternative Reel". Alternative Reel. Alternative Reel. Archived from the original on 18 October 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
- ^ a b c d Reid 2009, p. 163.
- ^ ISBN 978-0786441976.
- ISBN 978-0786441976.
- ^ Kurl, Daniel (11 April 2019). "The "D Trilogy" Was Weird, Wild, and Truly One-of-a-Kind". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
- ^ Fahey, Mike (October 31, 2011). "Paranoia, Madness, Suicide and Cannibalism; Who Says 16-Bit Can't Be Scary?". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 18 June 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
- ISBN 9781317574460. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
- ^ Fahs, Travis (30 October 2009). "IGN Presents the History of Survival Horror". IGN. IGN Entertainment, Inc. p. 5. Archived from the original on 29 June 2010. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
- ^ Rose, Victoria (October 22, 2017). "Doki Doki Literature Club is an uncontrollably horrific visual novel". Polygon. Archived from the original on October 23, 2017. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
Bibliography
- Hayward, Susan (12 April 2006). Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0415367816.
- ISBN 978-0313335914.