Mathias Clasen

Why your worst nightmares about watching horror movies are unfounded Films about chainsaw killers, demonic possession, and ghostly intruders make some of us scream with joy. But while horror fans are attracted to movies designed to scare us, others shudder already at the thought of the sweat-drenched nightmares that terrifying movies often trigger. The fear of sleepless nights and the widespread beliefs that horror movies can have negative psychological effects and display immorality make some of us very, very nervous about them. But should we be concerned? In this book, horror-expert Mathias Clasen delves into the psychological science of horror cinema to bust some of the worst myths and correct the biggest misunderstandings surrounding the genre. In short and highly readable chapters peppered with vivid anecdotes and examples, he addresses the nervous person's most pressing questions: What are the effects of horror films on our mental and physical health? Why do they often cause nightmares? Aren't horror movies immoral and a bad influence on children and adolescents? Shouldn't we be concerned about what the current popularity of horror movies says about society and its values? While media psychologists have demonstrated that horror films indeed have the potential to harm us, Clasen reveals that the scientific evidence also contains a second story that is often overlooked: horror movies can also help us confront and manage fear and often foster prosocial values.

A Very Nervous Person's Guide to Horror Movies

Joseph Carroll

Emelie Jonsson

This pioneering volume offers an expansive introduction to the relatively new field of evolutionary studies in imaginative culture. Contributors from psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, and the humanities probe the evolved human imagination and its artefacts. The book forcefully demonstrates that imagination is part of human nature. Contributors explore imaginative culture in seven main areas: Imagination: Evolution, Mechanisms and Functions Myth and Religion Aesthetic Theory Music Visual and Plastic Arts Video Games and Films Oral Narratives and Literature Evolutionary Perspectives on Imaginative Culture widens the scope of evolutionary cultural theory to include much of what “culture” means in common usage. The contributors aim to convince scholars in both the humanities and the evolutionary human sciences that biology and imaginative culture are intimately intertwined. The contributors illuminate this broad theoretical argument with comprehensive insights into religion, ideology, personal identity, and many particular works of art, music, literature, film, and digital media. The chapters “Imagination, the Brain’s Default Mode Network, and Imaginative Verbal Artifacts” and “The Role of Aesthetic Style in Alleviating Anxiety About the Future” are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Evolutionary Perspectives on Imaginative Culture

Victoria McCollum

Todd K. Platts

Blumhouse Productions is the first book that systematically examines the corpus of Blumhouses cinematic output. Individual chapters written by emerging and established scholars consider thematic trends across Blumhouse films, such as the use of found footage, haunted bodies/haunted houses, and toxic masculinity. Blumhouses business strategies and funding model are considered including the comp

The New House of Horror

Blumhouse Productions

Blumhouse Productions is the first book that systematically examines the corpus of Blumhouse’s cinematic output. Individual chapters written by emerging and established scholars consider thematic trends across Blumhouse films, such as the use of found footage, haunted bodies/haunted houses, and toxic masculinity. Blumhouse’s business strategies and funding model are considered – including the company’s high-profile franchises Paranormal Activity, Insidious, The Purge, Happy Death Day, and Halloween – alongside such key standalone films as Get Out and Black Christmas, and nonhorror films like BlackKklansman. Taken together, the chapters provide a thorough primer for one of the most significant drivers behind the contemporary resurgence of horror cinema.

Paradoksalt nok elsker vi fiktionens gys og den pirrende skrAek, den udloser i os, uanset om det er i form af boger om forforeriske vampyrer eller film om morderiske aliens. Det mest slaende ved overnaturlige monstre er selvfolgelig, at de ikke findes i virkeligheden. Ikke desto mindre bliver vi ved med at fortAelle hinanden historier om spogelser og uhyrer. Faktisk reagerer vi ens pa tvAers af kulturer, nar vi ser en gyserfilm. Denne ens reaktion pa gru er der en god forklaring pa, som man finder ved at kigge pa vores evolutionshistorie.Gru-forsker Mathias Clasen viser i bogen Monstre, at vi faktisk har brug for de opdigtede rAedselshistorier, fordi de er et resultat af evolutionen. I millioner af ar levede vi nemlig side om side med virkelige, sultne monstre, som havde menneske pa menuen. Derfor har vores forhistoriske tilvAerelse som jaget vildt sat sig dybe spor i vores dna. Vores evne til at vagne pa et splitsekund med alle sanser skAerpet har udgjort forskellen pa liv og dod for vores forfAedre. Sa bag vores rationelle, moderne hjerner gemmer der sig en forskrAekket primat, som gyser ved synet af lysende ojne og glinsende hugtAender i tusmorket - prAecis som vi gor i biografens morke, nar monstret maser sig ind pa helten.Monstre en er del af serien 'TAenkepauser', der lanceres i samarbejde med DR, Jyllands-Posten, Litteratursiden.dk og bibliotekerne.

Monstre

From vampire apocalypses, shark attacks, witches, and ghosts, to murderous dolls bent on revenge, horror has been part of the American cinematic imagination for almost as long as pictures have moved on screens. But why do they captivate us so? What is the drive to be frightened, and why is it so perennially popular? Why Horror Seduces addresses these questions through evolutionary social sciences. Explaining the functional seduction of horror entertainment, this book draws on cutting-edge findings in the evolutionary social sciences, showing how the horror genre is a product of human nature. Integrating the study of horror with the sciences of human nature, the book claims that horror entertainment works by targeting humans' adaptive tendency to find pleasure in make-believe, allowing a high intensity experience within a safe context. Through analyses of well-known and popular modern American works of horror--Rosemary's Baby; The Shining; I Am Legend; Jaws; and several others--author Mathias Clasen illustrates how these works target evolved cognitive and emotional mechanisms; we are attracted to horrifying entertainment because we have an adaptive tendency to find pleasure in make-believe that allows us to experience negative emotions at high levels of intensity within a safe context. Organized into three parts identifying fictional works by evolutionary mode--the evolution of horror; evolutionary interpretations of horror; the future of horror--Why Horror Seduces succinctly explores the cognitive processes behind spectators' need to scream.

Why Horror Seduces

Casper Andersen

Alexandra R. Kratschmer

Trine Kellberg Nielsen

Vi kan lige sa godt indromme det. Hver isAer finder vi os selv dybt interessante. Det er kun naturligt. Alle dyr er optagede af deres eget ve og vel. Men modsat alle andre dyr har vi mennesker udviklet sa stor en hjerne, at vi kan reflektere over ikke bare vores egen adfAerd, men hele den menneskelige evolution og kultur og deres indbyrdes sammenhAenge. Vi kan faktisk lAere en hel del om os selv ved at studere vores biokulturelle arv. Bade hvorfor vi pa relativt kort tid er endt med at dominere kloden, og hvorfor vi i alverden finder alt fra politik til gyserfilm og korsetter sa utroligt ophidsende. Menneske, kultur, evolution - et biokulturelt perspektiv undersoger de biologiske og kulturelle trAek, der bade forbinder os med og adskiller os fra resten af Jordens dyrebestand og knytter os intimt til de menneskearter, der tidligere har levet og sat spor i vores DNA. Arven fra vores fjerne forfAedre og formodre bAerer vi med os hele tiden, selv nar vi foretager noget sa nyt og moderne som at lytte til musik og se tegnefilm. Eller bliver forelskede i andre end os selv.

Mathias Clasen

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