Why Scary is Fun

by Kfir Luzzatto

Isn’t it a bit masochistic, that we spend good money on buying a scary book, or going to a scary movie? Many in the publishing and movie industries have built fortunes by delivering fear, and since we cannot all be masochists, there has to be a good explanation for it, right? Well, in fact, there is more than one. Some experts attribute this strange behavior of ours to our attraction to novelty, something that departs from our everyday experience. We see or read about a scary experience, but we don’t have to actually worry because we know that we are safe. It’s a surrogate experience, and not quite as good as the real thing, but much safer.

We Need the Thrill

I can compare the thrill of watching a documentary about a dangerous mountain climb, to actually doing the climb (which I have done in my days.) I can still feel a rush of adrenaline during the documentary, but in the end, I realize that it was quite a pathetic experience—not comparable to actually being up there with the wind on my face. Luckily, when I watch a good zombie or ghost movie (“Dawn of the Dead”, or “The Sixth Sense”, to mention but two) I don’t have first-hand experience to ruin the thrill for me, and I can still enjoy it fully, as the closest thing to a real zombie or real ghost experience. The flood of fear it gives, paired with the relief of safety, can release naturally occurring opioids like endorphins that signal pleasure, along with a hit of dopamine, a chemical that works on the brain’s reward center.

But scary tales have a much more important role: we need them to conquer the fear of death. Death is something that looms in everybody’s future, and although we’d rather not think about it, we are constantly reminded of death by events around us. As a result, we need to confront it, as if we were picking scabs off a wound that will never heal.

Laughing Heals

When, years ago, I started writing stories with a horror theme, I had to confront those issues. I realized that I wanted my “scary” story to be comforting, to “normalize” death. That understanding led me to write my award-winning novel, “Crossing the Meadow”. But that was not enough, because although that novel accomplished my goal, I only dared to introduce a small amount of humor into it. Humor, to me, is an essential ingredient of every situation, no matter how bad and potentially conducive to dire consequences, simply because humor is what helps us to deal with it.

It took me a few years to find the time to write my “DEAD & BUSY” four-book series, which I wanted to tell scary stories that make you laugh. I believe that uncomfortable thoughts become much less frightening if we can see their funny side, and that we can stop repressing thoughts about our expected end if, every now and then, we can smile about it. So from now on, make sure that your ghosts have a sense of humor.

The Gory Angle

The remaining question is what the role of gory stuff is in all this. A little, tastefully described blood is fine by me, and so are hints that something much worse may be coming. It’s like nudity: a bare body is much less interesting than a scantly clothed one. So, gore is okay when it is really needed to help the story, but anything beyond that I count as a cheap fear-inducing device. I don’t give that to my readers, because it doesn’t do it for me. I actually fell asleep watching “Kill Bill”, and that shows you.