It may seem surprising, but some people enjoy entering into the darkness of a movie theatre in order to scare themselves with all kinds of onscreen frights. For researchers at the University of Pecs, Hungary, this penchant may well be explained by the excitement of fear itself.
The study, titled “The role of excitement and enjoyment through subjective evaluation of horror film scenes”, published in the journal Scientific Reports, explores how curiosity about morbid subjects plays a key role in driving people to watch horror movies, as do the realism of the scenes and the intensity of the fear felt.
