I am not a fan of horror books or movies. I’d go as far as to say I detest them. The Hub, on the other hand, is very much a fan. When he’s watching something scary I lock myself in the office and let him know if I am coming out so he can pause the show.
I don’t understand why people like to be scared because of how much I dislike it, but logically I know, like many things, it all comes down to our brain wiring. In the case of horror, it’s how it processes the elements of fear: sensory arousal, physical stress and emotional safety.
When I am writing and something happens to my characters the first action to happen immediately after the incident is a visceral, involuntary response. When someone gets a fright the response might be an accelerated heart rate, churning stomach, suddenly feeling cold, hyperventilating or muscles freezing to name some. When you are exposed to something scary, people experience these reactions, but how they respond to them can differ. Some people enjoy feeling like that and others (like me) don’t.
The build-up over the story of the negative emotions that horror provides can have a big pay-off at the end when there is the relief of the situation being safe. For some people, that pay-off is deeply satisfying. I get that, because I love mysteries and the satisfaction of the murderer being caught at the end is very satisfying. But I have never thought that when it comes to horror.
Childhood experiences can be a big factor as well. If you were exposed to “fun” scary when you were young, where something startles but isn’t a real fear, you might already be wired to experience scary in a different light to someone who didn’t have that childhood experience, or even had the opposite.
Of course there are people who are highly sensitive/empathetic compared to the average person. They might feel the emotion of the person in the scary situation or deeply internalise what’s happening. Even to the point where it can affect sleep.
This last one is definitely me. I like the increased tension in a thriller or mystery but throw in horror elements and my reaction is very different.
Are you a horror fan or a horror hater? Do any of these points resonate with you?
October 27, 2026 at 11:44 am
I’m not a horror fan, but I can take shows or movies that are considered horror sometimes. I resonate with people on screen, so I don’t like too much anxiety. I don’t like being scared. Not a pleasant feeling. But if the show isn’t so much about the scares, I can take it sometimes.
October 29, 2026 at 4:28 pm
It’s the resonating with the characters on screen that I struggle with too. I have yet to finish watching the 3rd of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie trilogy (I *loved* 1 and 2) for that exact reason. My family can’t understand but it was too much for me (and they weren’t even human characters, lol).