Conclusions

My main motivation for writing this blog has been to better understand the thriller/horror genre, and to analyze the differences between film, game, and textual media. It has also served as research to help me create my horror game, "Nightmares of a 6 Year-Old Girl" (pictured).

What I've discovered:

• It is a very powerful technique to prey on the participant's sense of security in what they take for granted: that their friends and family can be trusted, that they have a safe place to live, that there is a police force they can count on, etc.
• In a largely religious global community, fear of demons, the Devil, and other anti-deities is strong, and easily exploitable.
• The key to an effective scare is in the control of tension.
• There are basic formulas inherent to the media you are working in, and knowing the formula (whether you're breaking it or adhering to it) is important in creating the best narratives.
• Each type of medium gives the participant more or less control of the story, this can be used to your advantage.
• Find inspiration in folk stories, as they are often based in truth, and have had countless re-tellings to evolve into a better story.

InfoGraphic: What makes a good horror movie?

See below for my analysis of the data.
Click here to view the large version

Starting our analysis at the top of the graphic, we see an interesting phenomenon: religious fears, for a majority of those surveyed, creates the strongest emotional response. That's not surprising though, as the CIA World Factbook claims that 33.5% of the world population is Christian (at least a faith based in Christianity).

Most interesting to me is the correlation between the themes of the movies, and their ratings on both the survey and on RottenTomatoes.com. It suggests that the ranking of the themes is accurate, in that the scariest movie has the scariest theme, and so on. That trend also continues for the top 5 movies. Moreover, the movies that are the scariest aren't necessarily the best. We could also consider the evidence that movies which mixed their themes got significantly more critical acclaim, but there isn't enough data to prove that hypothesis.

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Sources

Central Intelligence Agency. (2008). The World Factbook: Religions. Updated October 4, 2012, Retrieved October 26, 2012, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/...

HorrorBid. (2012). The Best and Worst Horror Movies of All Time Survey - Fans Speak!. Updated October 12, 2012, Retrieved October 25, 2012, from http://www.horrorbid.com/blog/blog1.php/...

Why do we enjoy being scared?

Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his First Inaugural Address: "We have nothing to fear but fear itself". That may explain why you don't like the idea of scary movies, but doesn't explain what drives the fear you experience when you're watching one. Fear is your body's way of getting you out of the way of a perceived threat - much like disgust, which is the body's way of avoiding exposure to diseases. You may have questions regarding this, and I myself have posed some question I intend to address succinctly and analyticaly.

1. What is fear?
2. Why do our brains, which evolved to run from large cats with big teeth, enjoy being scared?
3. Is thrill seeking purely a group activity?
4. What sub-genres of scary thrillers exist?
1. Why does each affect us the way it does?
2. Which techniques generate the biggest "scare" factor?
3. What are some examples in movies and games?

Why should you care?

Knowing the underlying factors of fear is of prime importance in creating art and narrative, especially manipulating the emotions of your audience. As artists, we are expected to convey our thoughts to our audience; to do this, we must first understand what they feel, and why. Of course there is already a large amount of literature on the subject, but this method aims to succinctly unify the various sub-genres of horror and thriller using a set of basic, primordial fears, and identify why people enjoy them.

How am I going to do it?

By comparing the success of movies and games to their various sub-genres and methods of terror, I am expecting to find general, though perhaps not perfect, equations for creating successful thrillers. By observing factors that make a thrilling story, it will also be interesting to see how the equation can be used to break the mold, and create more innovative thrillers.

What can you look forward to?

To figure out what we are most scared of and which of these things thrill us the most, you can expect a series of breakdowns of each sub-genre and aspect of fear, compared to the success of popular films, games, and stories. I'll attempt to do this with around ten posts, the aid of charts and infographics, interviews, and podcasts.