Anyone who likes going to the cinema but doesn’t like horror films or blood will have to overcome this summer’s fear. “Longlegs”, “Deadpool & Wolverine”, “Love Lies Bleeding” – brutal films dominate this year’s film program. And they’re doing great at the box office, and not just with diehard horror fans. Here are three possible explanations for this trend.
Violent scenes in films are nothing new, but they are currently projected onto the big screen with a striking frequency and surprising bloodiness. This is a trend. Filmmakers are increasingly experimenting with excessive images. In the jungle of streaming providers and the oversupply of films and series, resorting to particularly extreme depictions is also an attempt to stand out from the mass of media.
The years of the pandemic have put cinemas in an economically precarious situation. Interest in cinema has plummeted. This is one of the reasons why cinemas are trying to diversify their programs more in order to appeal to different audience groups. Genre films, such as horror, often have their own fan base. Horror elements are intended to win over these fan bases to the mainstream.
One example is the production company A24, which has become world-famous since its Oscar success with “Everything, Everywhere all at once”. The independent studio has been focusing on films that draw on all kinds of genres, including horror, for years.
The studio’s latest film, “Love Lies Bleeding,” appears to be a love story between two women. Sudden outbreaks of violence shatter this expectation and may even draw viewers to the cinema who are not interested in pure drama.
The fact that media violence has a fascinating effect on us humans is studied in media psychology. In film, the rule of thumb is: the more violent the scene, the stronger the pull on the viewer. From a purely biological point of view, we pay particular attention to potential dangers. Violence in film can be compared to an accident on the side of the road: we simply cannot look away.
A superhero in a red and black rubber suit massacres his enemies with the bones of a dead man while dancing to the 2000 boy band hit “Bye, Bye, Bye” by NSYNC. That sounds completely absurd at first, but it is the intro to the second most successful film of the year: Deadpool & Wolverine.
In contrast to real accidents, however, fictional violence can actually be fun and ultimately have a relaxing effect. According to media and communication scientist Anne Bartsch, extreme scenes of violence initially release adrenaline, but they make us forget our everyday worries for a short time.
But how can the trend towards violent films be explained, especially in extremely violent times? Climate change and inflation are causing many people to feel overwhelmed and insecure. Thanks to social media, wars are more accessible and present in the media than ever before, even in non-war zones. Brutal images and videos from Ukraine or Gaza are just a click away. This is stressful for many media users. Horror films can help here.
According to Mathias Clasen, founder of the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University in Denmark, frightening yourself with fictional stories can have a positive effect on your psyche. This not only relaxes you, but also increases your resilience.
That is why, according to Mathias Clasen, horror films were particularly popular during the corona pandemic, for example. According to a study by the Recreational Fear Labs, people who had watched a lot of such films were more psychologically resilient during lockdown phases than others.
Daring to include more violence and horror in films is not just an attempt to fill the box office. It can also have a positive effect on viewers. Be it through relaxation from everyday life or increased stress resistance in a crisis.
