Fright Night: why we like doing scary things for Halloween

We spend 11 months of the year avoiding things that scare us, but as soon as October comes around everyone wants to get out of their comfort zone. People watch scary movies, read horror books, go to haunted houses or corn mazes, and a lot more just to get their heart racing. Most aren’t facing their inner demons or anything like that, but still, there’s this desire to do things that feel uncomfortable. Even though there are varying degrees to how hard people go, with some on more of a Scooby Doo vibe than a Hereditary one, most people do try to take part in it all. For such an odd holiday, Halloween and all of the creepy things that go with it are something that we all look forward to. Part of it is obviously the parties and the accompanying binge drinking, but there are also these other things outside of that where people want to get close to fear. So what is it about these scary experiences that we crave? What we crave is to feel alive, and weirdly enough October helps us do that.  

Horror movies aren’t just reserved for the month of October. They’re a staple of Halloween tradition but also one of the more consistent sources of revenue for movie studios. Freaking out for two hours in a dark room is something we’re all willing to pay for. We like it foremost because it’s a bonding experience. You can really connect with someone by sitting through all of the twists and turns of a horror movie together and then leaving the theater going “What the fuck did we just watch”. There’s more to it though, these movies also jolt us out of our day-to-day lives. Being scared and uncomfortable makes it hard to think about all of the other things going on in our lives. Our minds aren’t wandering as much because we’re trying to figure out who the killer is or anticipate when the monster will show up next. We’re in the main character’s shoes trying to figure out how they, and by extension us, are going to make it out alive. Fear makes us feel alive, and ready to act. Scary movies take advantage of that to make us active participants in the movie. Amidst a sea of distractions, a good scary movie really can wake us up and take us back to the present moment. In a rare occurrence in the modern world, we actually get curious about something we’re engaging with. 

Halloween really leans on this morbid sense of curiosity. We’re willing to subject ourselves to things we wouldn’t normally do just for the sake of getting in the spirit. Near my hometown, we have a theme park that becomes “haunted” every October. What is a fairly benign local park with a mining aesthetic becomes genuinely scary. They go the full nine yards with it. The whole park gets a makeover and scores of actors get hired. Actors who take their jobs way too seriously and may or may not have boundary issues. Killer clowns will jump out and grab you. Groups of zombies will chase you. Demonic hillbillies will do their best to fuck with you. It can get pretty wild, yet everyone goes. The experience is almost like a rite of passage when you’re a teenager. Why do people do it though? The same reason we watch scary movies, it’s this novel experience where you’re feeling something different. You’re on your toes the whole time. Adrenaline is pumping as you walk through the park and ride rollercoasters, not knowing who or what you’re going to see next. Again that fear makes you come alive and grounded in what you’re doing. There are definitely uncomfortable moments but afterward, you’re always happy you went. Feeling the fear and then getting through it really can be cathartic.

Stephen King is one of the best-selling authors of all time because of how he makes you feel. Sure he’s a decent writer but that’s not why his books get read. People turn to his books because they’re scary as hell. You don’t know how unsettling reading can be until you open up something like one of King’s darker stories. It’s almost more intense than a movie because your brain is what’s conjuring up the images. In that way, the horror becomes personalized to you. Some of the worst feelings of having my skin crawl have come from books. Books are already immersive enough but horror stories take it up a level. Your nervous system is actively engaged with every sentence you read because you’re scared. Like with horror movies, you’re on the lookout for danger, danger that isn’t really there, but your body doesn’t know that. Yet, you keep turning the page, because you can’t help it. The fear becomes addicting because it’s a real and intense emotion that stands out from our status quo. 

The link between all of these mediums whether it be horror movies, IRL “haunted” events, or books is that they’re thrilling experiences. It’s all about immersing yourself so that you can truly be frightened and feel something. To be really scared takes time, you have to be emotionally bought into an experience as all of the pieces build on each other. It’s why horror hasn’t totally translated to social media. YouTube has some great horror content, in fact, the creators of the recent hit “Talk to Me” got their start there. A 5 or 15-minute video with a decent plot is a lot different from a 15-second one though. You can tell an okay joke in 15 seconds but it’s a lot harder to be truly frightened in that amount of time. Cheap jump scares can cause some surprise but it’s not the emotionally fraught experience of watching a good horror movie or being chased by a killer clown in a theme park. These experiences can create genuine terror. Genuine emotion like that causes us to truly engage with them. Even if it’s just for a few minutes we can feel something different. Another key element is that with these experiences we’re choosing to feel that way. We have negative emotions all the time from the things going on in our lives, but they’re out of our control. Going to a scary movie, picking up a horror novel, or pulling up to a haunted theme park is an intentional choice to get outside our comfort zone. We know we’re going to be uncomfortable yet we do it anyway. 

October has more going on than just horror. We all enjoy the signs of fall like apple orchards, pumpkin patches, and seasonally-themed drinks. All of these are reminiscent of the end-of-harvest celebrations from the past century. As the seasons change and the holidays get closer, it can be a time to get comfortable. Yet, it’s also a time to get uncomfortable. For many, the invitation of fear into our lives is what the month is about. We’re all so busy and caught up in the motions of life, that it can be hard for us to feel things at times. During Halloween though we choose to feel something different by engaging with fear. This type of recreational fear grounds us in moments that would otherwise pass us by. There’s a lot we can learn from facing our own fears, but these more “fun” types of fear can be just what we need to feel alive. I love October for that reason, it’s a reminder of the power of fear, where having your heart race and palms sweat actually can lead to some great times.