Why We Love Horror Movies?我们为什么钟爱恐怖电影？

Do you like scary movies？ Of course you do. That’s why you’re here， reading this article， dressed as Ghostface from Scream， polishing your knives in anticipation of the new movie. But perhaps a more interesting question for Ghostface to have asked 26 years ago is not whether you do like scary movies， but why do you like scary movies. Why are we so drawn towards an experience that makes us feel so much fear and revulsion， which is tailor-made to cause us as much distress as possible？

你喜欢看恐怖电影吗？毫无疑问，你是喜欢的，不然你也不会坐在这里，读着这篇文章，穿着《惊声尖叫》中的“鬼面”服装，把小刀擦得雪亮，急切盼望着新电影的上映。然而，如果“鬼面”在26年前向你提问，他可能不会问你是否真的喜欢看恐怖电影，而是问你为什么喜欢看恐怖电影这个更有趣的问题。那么，我们为什么会被这种令人胆战心惊、心生厌恶的体验所吸引呢？这种体验就是为了让我们感受尽可能多的痛苦而精心设计的。

“People who are high in sensation-seeking tend to get pleasure from extreme feelings，” explains Coltan Scrivner， a researcher at the University of Chicago who specialises in the psychology of morbid curiosity， “and horror movies are one way for them to do that. But also they are only a sub-portion of the people who enjoy horror.”

芝加哥大学心理学家科尔坦·斯克里夫纳专长于病态好奇心理的研究，他解释道：“爱追求刺激的人往往能从极端的感觉中获得快感，而观赏恐怖电影正是他们达成这种目的的方式之一。但追求刺激的人只占恐怖片爱好者的一小部分。”

Most people， according to Scrivner， are ‘white knucklers’， people who are genuinely afraid of horror movies but still enjoy them. “These are the people who feel as if they learn something about themselves through scary experiences，” he says.

斯克里夫纳表示，大多数人其实是“极度紧张之人”，他们虽然非常害怕恐怖电影，但依旧乐此不疲。他补充道：“这些人认为，正是那些可怕的经历，让他们对自己有所了解。”

“White-knuckle” means “causing or experiencing fear or anxiety，” similar to the Chinese saying “causing sweaty palms.”

white-knuckle（字面意思为“泛白的指关节”）表示“引起或感到恐惧或焦虑”，它与汉语中“捏一把汗”颇为相似。

“This matches up with data which shows that kids who engage in thrilling or scary play might be at a lower risk for things like anxiety later in life， because they’re learning how to navigate negative emotions， high arousal， and learning that they can get through those situations.”

“这与研究数据不谋而合：据统计，参与惊悚或恐怖游戏的儿童，在未来生活中患焦虑等心理疾病的风险相对较低。这是因为他们在游戏中学会了如何驾驭负面情绪和高度兴奋，学到了这类情况是可以克服的。”

This leads into one of the more popular theories in the field， which is that horror allows us to rehearse scary and dangerous situations in a safe space. “Anxiety and fear are feelings that people tend to avoid in everyday life，” says Scrivner， “so we don’t have a lot of practice at it. But experiencing those emotions in a playful way allows you to feel in control. It’s like a flight simulator.”

这引出了一个在心理学界颇为流行的理论：通过观看恐怖电影，我们得以在安全的环境中演练那些危险恐怖的情境。斯克里夫纳解释道：“在日常生活中，人们往往倾向于回避焦虑、恐惧等情绪，因此在这方面少有练习。然而，借助看恐怖电影这种有趣味的方式体验这些情绪，我们能够感受到自己的控制感，就像是操纵飞行模拟器一样。”

Some of the dangers and fears that we rehearse in horror have their roots in primal fear. A popular horror film technique， for example， is to mimic dangerous， natural sounds that instinctively signify danger—like The Exorcist， which mixed recordings of angry bees and people screaming.

我们在恐怖片中体验到的某些危险和恐惧，根植于人类的原始恐惧。比如一种常见的恐怖片拍摄技巧是模仿那些令人本能感到危险的自然声响，像电影《驱魔人》就将愤怒的蜂群嗡鸣与人群尖叫这两种录音融为一体。

“There are a lot of studies showing that people are able to， without any experience， pay attention to snakes more than other kinds of dangers，” says Scrivner， who again compares horror to the games we played as children. “A game like tag seems fairly benign，” he says， “but if you think about it， it’s really just predator-chase play. It’s the same with hide-and-seek， where you’re essentially hiding from someone out to get you.”

“大量研究表明，与其他危险相比，人们能够对蛇类保持更高警觉，即便他们没有与蛇类接触的经历。”斯克里夫纳说道，并且再度将童年游戏与恐怖联系在一起。“捉人之类的游戏看似无害，”他说，“但深入思考后，你会发现它其实是一种被捕食者追逐的游戏。这和捉迷藏一样，你本质上是在躲避那些想要抓住你的人。”

However， sometimes the fears that scary movies tap into are more literal and relevant. Scrivner notes that in if you look at the Google trend map for American searches and type in coronavirus， “you will see a small bump in January 2020 and then a large peak in mid-March”. The peaks correspond with early information about the virus and then the announcement of restrictions a few months later.

然而，有时恐怖电影所描绘的恐惧是更加真正意义上的，也更切中现实。斯克里夫纳提到，通过谷歌趋势图查看美国民众对“冠状病毒”的搜索数据，可以发现2020年1月有一次小幅度上升，而到了3月中旬则出现了明显的搜索高峰。这些搜索峰值的出现恰好与早期的病毒信息以及数月后宣布的限制措施时间相合。

“But if you also search for horror movies you’ll see the same trend—a bump in early January， a larger peak in March，” he says. Does this suggest that people were using the safe space of horror to process scary real-life events？ “The big example is [pandemic thriller] Contagion becoming super popular in March and April of 2020，” he says. “It showed what a pandemic might look like， but in a safe way.”

斯克里夫纳指出：“但如果你再查看恐怖电影的搜索数据，你会发现一个同样的趋势——1月初有一个小高峰，而到了3月份则出现了一个更大的高峰。”这是否意味着人们正借助安全环境中的恐怖体验，来应对现实生活中的可怕事件？他继续说道：“一个典型的例子是，2020年的3月和4月，（流行病题材的惊悚片）《传染病》变得异常热门。它让人看到疫情可能的样子，但却是以一种安全的方式来呈现的。”

But of course， people don’t just watch horror movies for educational purposes. They watch them because they are enjoyable. Scrivner suggests that this has a lot to do with our sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems， which regulate bodily functions such as heart rate and arousal.

当然，人们看恐怖电影并非仅仅为了接受教育，更多的是因为它们的趣味性。斯克里夫纳指出，这背后其实有我们的交感神经系统和副交感神经系统在起作用，这两个系统共同调节着我们的心率和兴奋等生理反应。

“Think of them like two gas pedals，” he explains. “When you’re getting ramped up and anxious， your sympathetic nervous system increases things like heart rate and adrenaline output. And then once you overcome a dangerous situation， the sympathetic nervous system calms down just a little bit and the parasympathetic ramps up.

他解释说：“可以把这两个系统想象成两个油门踏板。当你感到紧张不安时，交感神经系统会加快心率和肾上腺素分泌等生理过程。而当你克服了某种危险情况后，交感神经系统会稍有平静，此时副交感神经系统则开始发挥主导作用。

“The parasympathetic is more of your rest and relaxation. It increases digestion. It releases those feel-good hormones; basically， the same things that drugs do to make you feel good.”

“副交感神经系统主要负责休息和放松。它促进消化，释放那些让人感觉愉悦的激素。基本上，它与药物令人产生的愉悦效果有着异曲同工之妙。”

So， by simulating the experience of overcoming something dangerous—like surviving a jump-scare or finishing a horror movie – you can essentially trick the parasympathetic nervous system into spiking and giving you a rush of pleasure and relief. Who needs rollercoasters when you have a knife emerging from the dark？

因此，通过模拟克服危险的经历，不论经历了突发惊吓的紧张，还是完成了一部恐怖电影的观赏，实际上都是在欺骗我们的副交感神经系统，使其产生兴奋，从而带给我们一阵愉悦和放松的感觉。当看见黑暗中冒出一把刀子，谁还会想坐过山车来寻求刺激呢？