TOW #11: Why We Crave Horror Movies

        Stephen King's short essay, Why We Crave Horror Movies, is about how everyone is a little psychotic, and how we watch horror movies to "show that we can, that we are not afraid, that we can ride this roller coaster." He uses multiple metaphors to show how a horror movie is similar to a roller coaster, and how people enjoy the ride. King directly shows the relationship between humans being mentally ill, and enjoying horror movies. He explains how, "One critic has suggested that if pro football has become the voyeur’s version of combat, then the horror film has become the modern version of the public lynching," and then continues on to say, "The potential lyncher is in almost all of us." This comparison proves to explain how we watch horror movies to embrace the crazy person inside of us. Stephen King also uses juxtaposition in comparing fears and exercise, "Our emotions and our fears form their own body, and we recognize that it demands its own exercise to maintain proper muscle tone." He stresses on the idea that people crave horror because we share a common insanity, some just hide it better than others. The format of King's essay is generally informal with his use of side notes and rhetorical questions and allusions. Towards the end, King ties the point of his essay all together by saying, "If we share a brotherhood of man, then we also share an insanity of man," he goes on to show how this explains why horror movies, "manage to be reactionary, anarchistic, and revolutionary all at the same time." King's entire essay is a new view on why so many people crave horror movies, using many rational explanations and comparisons. Although the mood is probably meant to be more satirical than scientific-based, King definitely gets his point across.