Personal
The audience’s own connection with the fears or terrors of the story.
Fear of things other than human, (monsters) in the darkness.
Fear of the body being disfigured or harmed.
Fear of our personal boundaries and lines being invaded and too close.
Watching terror from a safe distance.
Ideological
Has hidden or obvious messages rooted within the story.
The themes include punishment, rejection and repulsion of subjects which deviate from ‘right’ thinking.
From simplistic or basic messages, i.e. the innocent virgin girl survives at the end, rather than her naughty slutty friend, to the more nuanced or subtle fears of strangers/hitchhikers breaking our boundaries. Or the condemnation of any deviant religions.
Our perception that the power of science can defeat the darkness at the expense of older beliefs in religion and superstition.
So, In our modern understanding of fear we rationalise the supernatural and defeat it with the psychology rather than Latin chants.
Modern media creates ‘demons; by crusading against sections of society and labelling them.
Are there really so many more paedophiles today than in the past?
How many escaped mental patients have actually stalked and killed innocent people.
Industrial and financial
Perhaps the most lucrative genre in the film industry, horror draws in huge audiences justifying the continual re-invention, re-making and franchising of every successful horror product.
We wonder at whether there should be an ‘Indiana Jones 4’ or a ‘Lethal Weapon 5’. But no question is raised over the production of ‘Saw 6’ or re making ‘A nightmare on Elm street’ after 9 previous incarnations.
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