What the critics of graphic horror movies or so called “torture porn” don’t understand.

Question: Why do most people watch horror movies? Answer: They like to get scared. Now getting scared is too broad an answer and not directly measurable, so I'm going to narrow it down a bit. What happens when you're scared or your body senses a threat? It produces adrenaline, heightens your senses and increases your heartbeat. Many people believe they no longer get scared by horror movies; however, though they may not jump or scream or have nightmares, their body does react. It increases heart rate, blood flow and creates a whole host of emotions. The "scarier" the horror movie, the greater the effect it has on your senses.

It's simple: the horror movies that "scare" some people or produce adrenaline for them and increase their heart beats, creating an intense experience, do nothing for me. They're like watching a kid's movie. For me, and many other genre fans like me, horror movies on the light side (PG 13, non-graphic R) don't produce any adrenaline because they simply aren't scary enough. In fact, they're often laughable. If I want to get "scared" or have an adrenaline rush that is intense and sucks me into the movie and characters, I need scarier nightmares. I need to feel the pain and see the threat (not just imagine it with spooky shadows).

It's easy for me to imagine how offensive or repulsive graphically violent horror films could appear to a critic who finds milder movies (e.g. ghost or suspense films with shadowy figures) scary enough to stimulate their adrenaline glands. You don't need to see graphic pain and violence to get the "scare" or body response you're looking for. Instead, looking at those types of images goes over your "comfort threshold" and fills you with nothing but disgust at the film. Imagine if the PG 13 and light R rated horror films you like did absolutely nothing for you. Didn't even raise your heart beat a little. Were laughable instead of scary. Now you can imagine how hardcore horror fans feel. People have liked being scared for centuries (possibly since the beginning of human existence).

It's not weird or strange that I like to watch or see a movie that 'scares' me (e.g. adrenaline, increased heart beat). The 'regular' horror films with stupid sounds in the distance, cutaways, or "oh look it's there and now it's not" antics just don't cut it. I need something dark and visceral, something that could actually happen, something that defies reason and gives me a visual sense of pain. That's frightening, it's horrific, it makes my heart race faster and sucks me into the characters on the screen. It makes me want them to escape or kill their tormentors. It gives me the feelings I want when I watch a horror film. The SAME feeling you want when you watch a horror film, I just have to go a lot more graphic and bloody to get the same reaction. If you watched the old 1940's Frankenstein and Dracula movies, I doubt you'd be very scared of them or be full of anything other than historical admiration or laughter at how silly the movie is by today's standards and absolutely unable to inspire anything resembling the symptoms of fear.

So to your 1940's counterpart, even our most mild horror films would appear like torture porn does now. E.g. horrifying and disgusting. It's simple - the old Frankenstein and Dracula movies don't scare your anymore because you need scarier nightmares; you've gradually become desensitized. Graphic horror films which depict sadistic violence provide a much darker, sicker, scarier nightmare than anything currently out there. Many critics say real horror comes from what you don't see, but I beg to differ. Let's hook them up and measure their heart beat and adrenaline as they watch some of the sadistic torture scenes in Saw 3, or Hostel 2, or the Masters of Horror Imprint. I guarantee their vital signs will be off the chart, with increased heart beat and heightened senses, meaning they're "scared." And this is exactly what a horror movie is for, right? I still need decent character development and a good plot.

I watch horror movies to be immersed in a dark world that provides me with scary nightmares and makes me feel for the characters and become attached to their fates. I watch it for the experience. I LOVE horror movies. Ever since I was little kid I liked to be scared, to dream of monsters and to have my heart beat raise as I got sucked into a life and death story involving the darker elements of being human. I understand that to critics and people that never watch horror movies, they appear repulsive, but please understand that many of the films that seem intense and fill you with adrenaline can't satisfy what I watch horror movies for. The new style of bloodier, gorier, more intense films is not going away. It's created from a generation that grew up on horror movies and fell in love with being scared. It's the natural progression of the genre and it's only going to get "worse."