Recent studies have shown that films watched as children may have a lingering effect, even to the point of causing a long-lasting anxiety or phobia.
Many people who watched certain films as children can trace their fear of sharks, insects, and blood back to specific movies and scenes, which may have left a lasting impression. A study “Tales from the Screen: Enduring Fright Reactions to Scary Media” by University of Michigan researcher Kristen Harrison and University of Wisconsin researcher Joanne Cantor found that 90% of the 150 college students interviewed reported some kind of fright reaction from a movie seen in childhood or adolescence. Around 26% still experienced some kind of “residual anxiety.”
Harrison and Cantor categorized the phobia-producing stimuli into five areas:
- animal --insects, reptile and aliens
- environmental-- floods, storms, nuclear holocausts
- blood/injection/injury-- wounds, needles, physical threats
- situational-- heights and enclosed spaces
- disturbing sounds/distorted images-- loud noises, scary faces
Classic Films Known to Cause Nightmares and Lingering Fears
The below-mentioned movies are ones notorious for having a long-lasting psychological effect on the viewer, regardless of the amount of actual gore. These films were the first of their time to have certain elements of realism which are common in horror films today.
Jaws
Is it safe to go into the water yet? The 1975 movie Jaws, more a thriller than horror film, spawned a whole generation of people who may never feel quite as comfortable in the water again. The idea of something beneath the waves, a “mindless eating machine” chomping at unprotected legs thrashing in the water caused some viewers to keep watching for fins, even in the swimming pool, for years to come. One participant of the above-mentioned study claimed to have nightmares about blood for months after watching the film. In truth, shark attacks are rare, especially on well-known tourist beaches. However, the movie sparked an irrational fear in many viewers that kept them away from the beach for years to come.
Alien
Alien, which came out in 1979, has been called one of the scariest science fiction movies of all time. The movie takes place aboard the spaceship Nostromo, where a virtually indestructible alien life form hatches and begins to terrorize the crew. The scene in Alien where the tiny creature bursts from the guy’s stomach is a classic nightmare-inducer, as well as the face-huggers. The full-grown alien eventually hunts down the single crew member left aboard. H. R Giger’s alien originated from one of his own nightmares. He designed the lizard-like alien in the film to appear organic, which gave it a realism never before seen in science fiction movies. This film changed forever the tone of monster movies by giving the aliens and monsters a more real and disturbing appearance.
Night of the Living Dead
Filmed in black and white and shot on a low budget, this George Romero shocker may seem mild in contemporary times. But when it first came out in 1968, people were shocked and outraged by the graphic violence. Many people complained of having lasting nightmares after viewing this film about the walking dead who attack a rural farmhouse and the people hiding within. Since the MPAA rating system was not yet in place, young children and adolescents viewed the film. Many were terrified by the unexpected realism and excessively gory scenes, such family members turning on other family members and graphic scenes of cannibalism.
Newer Films May Cause Even More Anxiety
These groundbreaking films created a host of clones, remakes and new horror movies. Modern technology has made it possible to produce even more graphic images and disturbing effects, which may have even longer lasting effects on the viewer.
A small sampling of new films with graphic, disturbing content or subject matter are listed below :
- The Ring (distorted images and eerie sounds)
- The Blair Witch Project (eerie sounds and prolonged tension)
- Dawn of the Dead (zombies, gore)
- 28 Days Later (zombies)
- Resident Evil (zombies, gore)
- I am Legend (nuclear holocaust)
- Descent (scary images)
Statistics derived from :
Harrison, Kristen and Cantor, Joanne. “Tales from the Screen: Enduring Fright Reactions to Scary Media”. Psychology Volume 1, Issue 2 June 1999 : pages 97 – 116
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