essay for horror movie

Best Essays and Books About Horror Movies

Learn more about your favorite frightening films, or film theories of horror itself, with this list of creepy books and essays.

You’ve probably wondered about the inspiration behind your favorite scary movies and the background of some of those horrifying stories. Sometimes the origins of a horror movie are as simple as an author telling a scary story, and at other times films are based on more sinister, true events . You might also be interested in the making of certain horror movies or the impact they have on the audience or the cast. Maybe you're into film theory and want to study the gender dynamics, cultural and political significance, and philosophy of horror, like in Carol Clover's seminal book Men, Women, and Chainsaws . Luckily, there are plenty of resources that explore these exact topics and the development of horror movies in general.

You might be interested in why people are attracted to horror movies and the act of feeling fear. In which case, you might want to read Stephen King’s essay Why We Crave Horror Movies . Digging even deeper, you might notice horror films can help us examine fears around eating, sexuality, religion, and more. You might even wonder about the characters that often die first and why, which is explained by Lindsay King-Miller in her essay A Love Letter to the Girls Who Die First in Horror Movies . Whatever it may be, in addition to the aforementioned texts, here are the best essays and books about horror movies.

Monsters in the Movies: 100 Years of Cinematic Nightmares

Director John Landis ( American Werewolf in London, Twilight Zone: The Movie ) wrote a book on movie monsters covers some of cinema’s most terrifying creatures and their development. Landis explores the design of movie monsters and special effects, both in high and low-budget films. Monsters in the Movies includes interviews with the minds behind the monsters, their historical origins, and tricks behind bringing these ghouls to life.

Nothing Has Prepared Me for Womanhood Better than Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

Sarah Kurchak’s essay examines a subject people might not consider in horror movies. The truth is that many scary films express beliefs about women and their experiences via horror and gore. Kurchak dissects how Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 features female stereotypes in hot pants but also explores women facing the threats of men and emerging from adolescence completely altered. Kurchak argues that this horror comedy can teach female viewers about what to expect from the world and adolescence.

Stephen King At the Movies: A Complete History of Film and Television Adaptations from the Master of Horror

The chilling stories of author Stephen King have made both startling reads and frightening films. King’s works have established more than 60 horror movies and 30 television series. This book covers the making of all of them, including behind-the-scenes material and King’s opinion on some adaptations. If you’re looking to dive deeper into some iconic films based on King’s stories , consider picking up Stephen King at the Movies .

There’s Nothing Scarier than a Hungry Woman

Remember how we said that horror movies can contain messages that don’t appear obvious on the surface? Laura Maw notices how in many horror movies there is always a scene of a ravenous woman eating, and her fascinating essay considers the meaning behind that.

Related: Best Performances in Horror Films of All Time, Ranked

Maw writes that “horror invites us to sit with this disgust, this anxiety, and to acknowledge our appetite and refuse to suppress it.” Maw presents a feminist analysis of hungry women in well-known horror movies in a way which both explores and challenges preconceptions about women.

Behind the Horror: True Stories that Inspired Horror Movies

Dr. Lee Miller’s research into the origin stories of movies like The Exorcist and A Nightmare on Elm Street are compiled in this handy book. Miller details the true accounts of disappearances, murders, and hauntings that inspired these hit movies.

Behind the Horror explains the history of the serial killers featured in Silence of the Lambs and takes a good look at the possessions that motivated the making of The Exorcist and The Conjuring 2 .

My Favorite Horror Movie: 48 Essays by Horror Creators on the Film that Shaped Them

Arguably one of the best books to read if you are curious about the makers behind famous horror movies. My Favorite Horror Movie features over 20 essays from filmmakers, actors, set designers, musicians, and more about the dark works that solidified their careers.

The films discussed include It , Halloween , The Shining , and others. It’s a good book for looking at horror movies from different angles and recognizing the many minds that contributed to these iconic works.

The Art of Horror: An Illustrated History

Yet another great book for establishing a rounded perspective of horror movies, this time in a much more visual way. The Art of Horror sorts through famous illustrations, movie posters, cover art, comics, paintings, photos, and filmmakers since the beginning of horror with Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s infamous Frankenstein . Learn about these talented artists, their chilling work, and their impact on the direction of horror.

Wes Craven: Interviews

If you’re trying to hear from the best horror directors themselves, the Wes Craven interviews are a great place to start. Craven is responsible for films like Scream , The Hills Have Eyes , A Nightmare on Elm Street , and The Last House on the Left , and is often considered one of the greatest horror filmmakers of all time.

Related: The Best Scream Queens of All Time, Ranked

Craven established a particular style in his films that changed the way horror movies are made, and this book pulls information from the master himself. Wes Craven: Interviews includes almost 30 interviews with the director ranging from the 1980s until Craven passed away in 2015.

101 Horror Movies You Should See Before You Die

Ever wonder if you’re missing a great horror film from your spooky collection? This is the book for you. 101 Horror Movies You Should See Before You Die covers the absolute essentials of every kind of horror film, from gothic to slasher and international horror classics as well. Horror can take on so many different forms and this book is one of the best for finding horror films you might have missed.

The Science of Women in Horror: The Special Effects Stunts, and Stories Behind Your Every Fright

Authors Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence examine women in horror movies in this book that explores feminist horror films , and more misogynistic ones from the standpoint of feminist film theory. The Science of Women in Horror recalls the history of women in horror movies and goes on to analyze more recent, women-centered horror flicks and series such as The Haunting of Hill House and Buffy the Vampire Slayer . If you want to know more about the women on and off-screen in horror movies, check out this book!

Why We Crave Horror Movies

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Analysis: “Why We Crave Horror Movies”

The essay “Why We Crave Horror Movies” interweaves point of view , structure, and tone to address the foundational themes of fear, emotions, and “insanity” in relation to horror movies. It examines why horror films allow the expression of fearful emotions linked to irrationality. The essay integrates literary techniques and pop culture references to form a cohesive whole, and it highlights several key themes: Good Versus Bad Emotions , The Expression of Fear Through Horror Movies , and “Insanity” and Normality in Society and Horror Film .

King argues that fear and other negative emotions are universal and that horror movies are a key art form for expressing these emotions. The essay gives audiences permission to experience and enjoy these films as a vehicle for fears.

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According to Stephen King, This Is Why We Crave Horror Movies

The horror king breaks down our obsession with the macabre.

Stephen King and horror are synonymous. Are you really able to call yourself a fan of horror if one of his novels or film adaptations isn't among your top favorites? The Maine-born writer is hands down the most successful horror writer and one of the most beloved and prolific writers ever whose legacy spans generations. Without King, we might not be as terrified of clowns and or think twice about bullying the shy girl in school. One could say that King has earned the moniker, "the King of Horror." In addition to all he's written, King has also had over 60 adaptations of his work for television and the big screen and has written, produced, and starred in films and shows as well. He has fully immersed himself in the genre of horror from all sides, and it's unlikely that we will ever have anyone else like Stephen King. But did you know that King wrote an essay that was published in Playboy magazine about horror movies?

In 1981, King's essay titled " Why We Crave Horror Movies " was published in Playboy magazine as a variation of the chapter " The Horror Movie As Junk Food" in Danse Macabre . Danse Macabre was published in 1981 and is one of the non-fiction books in which that wrote about horror in media and how our fears and anxieties have been influencing the horror genre. The full article that was published is no longer online, but there is a shortened four-page version of it that can be found.

RELATED: The Iconic Horror Movie You Won't Believe Premiered at Cannes

Stephen King Believes We Are All Mentally Ill

The essay starts out guns blazing, the first line reading "I think that we're all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it a little bit better." From here, he describes the general behaviors of people we know and how mannerisms and irrational fears are not different between the public and those in asylums. He points out that we pay money to sit in a theater and be scared to prove a point that we can and to show that we do not shy away from fear. Some of us, he states, even go watch horror movies for fun, which closes the gap between normalcy and insanity. A patron can go to the movies, and watch someone get mutilated and killed, and it's considered normal, everyday behavior. This, as a horror lover, feels very targeted. I absolutely watch horror movies for fun and I will do so with my bucket of heart-attack-buttered popcorn and sip on my Coke Zero. The most insane thing about all of that? The massive debt accumulated from one simple movie date.

Watching Horror Movies Allows Us to Release Our Insanity

King states that we use horror movies as a catharsis to act out our nightmares and the worst parts of us. Getting to watch the insanity and depravity on the movie screen allows us to release our inner insanity, which in turn, keeps us sane. He writes that watching horror movies allows us to let our emotions have little to no rein at all, and that is something that we don't always get to do in everyday life. Society has a set of parameters that we must follow with regard to expressing ourselves to maintain the air of normalcy and not be seen as a weirdo. When watching horror movies, we see incredibly visceral reactions in the most extreme of situations. This can cause the viewer to reflect on how they would react or respond to being in the same type of situation. Do we identify more with the victim or the villain? This poses an interesting thought for horror lovers because sometimes the villain is justified. Are we wrong for empathizing with them instead?

Let's take a look at one of the more popular horror movies of recent years. Mandy is about a woman who is murdered by a crazed cult because she is the object of the leader's obsession. This causes Red ( Nicolas Cage ) to ride off seeking revenge for the love of his life being murdered. There are also movies like I Spit On Your Grave and The Last House On The Left where the protagonist becomes the murderer in these instances because of the trauma they experienced from sexual assault. Their revenge makes audiences a little more willing to side with the murderer because they took back their power and those they killed got what was deserved. This is where that Lucille Bluth meme that says "good for her" is used. I'll die on the hill that those characters were justified and if that makes me mentally ill then King might be right!

What Does Stephen King Mean When He Tells Us to "Keep the Gators" Fed?

At the end of the essay, King mentions he likes to watch the most extreme horror movies because it releases a trap door where he can feed the alligators. The alligators he is referring to are a metaphor for the worst in all humans and the morbid fantasies that lie within each of us. The essay concludes with "It was Lennon and McCartney who said that all you need is love, and I would agree with that. As long as you keep the gators fed." From this, we can deduce that King feels we all have the ability to be institutionalized, but those of us that watch horror movies are less likely because the sick fantasies can be released from our brains.

With that release, we can walk down the street normally without the bat of an eye from walkers-by. Perhaps this is why the premise for movies like The Purge came to fruition. A movie where for 24 hours all crime, including murder, is decriminalized couldn't have been made by someone who doesn't get road rage or scream into the void. It was absolutely made by someone who waited at the DMV for too long or has had experience working in retail around Black Friday. With what King is saying, The Purge is a direct reflection of that catharsis. Not only are you getting to watch a crazy horror movie where everyone is shooting everyone and everything is on fire, but it's likely something you've had a thought or two about. You can consider those gators fed for sure.

Do Horror Movies Offer Us True Catharsis or Persuasive Perspective?

Catharsis as a concept was coined by the philosopher Aristotle . He explained that the performing arts are a way to purge negative types of emotions from our subconscious, so we don't have to hold onto them anymore. This viewpoint further perpetuates what King is trying to explain. With that cathartic relief, the urgency to act on negative emotion is less likely to happen because there is no build-up of negativity circling the drain from our subconscious to our reality. However, some who read the essay felt like King was just being persuasive and using fancy imagery rather than identifying an actual reason why horror is popular. Some claim the shock and awe factor of his words and his influence on horror would cause some readers to believe they are mentally ill deep down. I have to say, as a millennial who rummages through the ends of social media multiple times a day, everyone on the internet thinks they're mentally ill, and we all have the memes to prove it. It is exciting and fascinating to watch a horror movie after working a 9-5 job where the excitement is low. Watching Ghostface stalk Sidney Prescott ( Neve Campbell ) in Scream isn't everyone's idea of winding down, but for the last 20-something years, it has been my comfort movie when I'm feeling sad or down. The nostalgia of Scream is what makes it feel cathartic to me and that's free therapy!

What is the Science Behind Loving Horror Movies?

Psychology studies will tell us that individuals who crave and love horror are interested in it because they have a higher sensation-seeking trait . This means they have a higher penchant for wanting to experience thrilling and exciting situations. Those with a lower level of empathy are also more likely to enjoy horror movies as they will have a less innate response to a traumatic scene on screen. According to the DSM-V , a severe lack of empathy could potentially be a sign of a more serious psychological issue, however, the degree of severity will vary. I do love rollercoasters, but I also cry when I see a dog that is just too cute, so horror lovers aren't necessarily the unsympathetic robots that studies want us to be. Watching horror films can also trigger a fight-or-flight sensation , which will boost adrenaline and release endorphins and dopamine in the brain. Those chemicals being released make the viewers feel accomplished and positive, relating back to the idea that watching horror movies is cathartic for viewers.

Anyone who reads and studies research knows that correlation does not imply causation, but whether King's perspective is influenced by his position in the horror genre or not, psychology and science can back up the real reasons why audiences love horror movies. As a longtime horror lover and a pretty above-average horror trivia nerd, I have to wonder if saying we are mentally ill is an overstatement and could maybe be identified more as horror lovers seeking extreme stimulus. Granted, this essay was written over 40 years ago, so back then liking horror wasn't as widely accepted as it is today. It's possible that King felt more out of place for his horror love back then and the alienation of a fringe niche made him feel mentally ill. Is King onto something by assuming that everyone has mental illness deep down, or is this a gross overestimation of the human psyche? The answer likely falls somewhere in between, but those that love horror will continue to release that catharsis through the terrifying and the unknown because it's a scream, baby!

The Exorcist (1973) directed by William Friedkin. Photo by Warner Bros. Pictures/Getty Images

You might think that horror movies are a delicious, trashy pleasure. But watching them has surprisingly wholesome effects

by Mathias Clasen   + BIO

I’m a full-time horror researcher with my own lab. I read Stephen King novels at bedtime, watch slasher movies on the weekends, and play survival horror video games whenever I have a spare moment.

But it wasn’t always like that. The first time I saw a horror film at the movie theatre, I left halfway through. It was too much for 14-year-old me. There I was, in the darkness of the cinema, staring at monsters cavorting on the screen and listening to the other teenagers screaming in delight around me. Anxious excitement had turned to heart-stopping horror as those on-screen monsters unfolded their full potential for death and grisly dismemberment.

It was a loss of face from which I have never fully recovered. The burning shame of leaving early is about as vivid in my memory as the metallic terror of witnessing the gory acts of those homicidal monsters.

One particular scene is etched in my mind. Just as the main character – a sympathetic and attractive young woman – is about to kiss her charming date, his handsome face contorts and transforms into the visage of a cat-like monstrosity, with a mouth full of sharp fangs. She manages to fight him off and runs into the arms of a policeman, who helps the sobbing woman into his patrol car. Phew! But then, the cat-man-monster shows up behind the cop with a pencil in his hand. He slams it, pointy end first, into the unfortunate lawman’s ear with a squishy-crunchy sound. The cop then falls over, landing on the side of his head from which the pencil protrudes… with another squishy-crunchy sound to follow.

For all its visceral and violent unpleasantness, the experience of watching this movie – some of it, anyway – ignited a curiosity in me. Why did all the other teenagers around me seem to enjoy this grotesque flick – Sleepwalkers (1992), if you’d been wondering. Indeed, why do so many people voluntarily seek out entertainment that is designed to shock and scare them? What do they get out of it? A thrill, a jolt to the nervous system – or is there something deeper going on?

Horror movies come in various forms, which can be divided into two main subgenres: supernatural ones (think of wailing ghosts, rotting zombies or mind-shattering abominations from forbidden dimensions), and the more psychological (your masked-serial-killers and giant-reptiles varieties). Common to them all is that they aim to evoke negative emotions, such as fear, anxiety, disgust and dread. They also tend to be enormously popular. According to a survey my colleagues and I conducted a few years ago, more than half of US respondents – about 55 per cent – say they enjoy ‘scary media’, including movies such as The Exorcist (1973), books such as King’s Salem’s Lot (1975) and video games such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent (2010) .

What’s more, people who say they enjoy scary media really mean it. We also asked our respondents how frightening they wanted their horror to be. It might sound like a weird thing to ask – like asking how funny they want their comedies to be – but we wanted to test an old Freudian idea that the negative emotions elicited by the genre are unfortunate byproducts; a price that audiences are willing to pay in order to watch movies that allow them to confront their own repressed desires in monstrous disguise. But that’s not what we found. About 80 per cent of our respondents said they wanted their horror entertainment to be in the moderate-to-highly frightening range. By contrast, a measly 3.9 per cent said that they prefer horror that’s not scary at all.

So, fear and the other negative emotions are central to the appeal of horror, a fact not lost on the creators of horror entertainment. Surely you’ve seen movie trailers claiming to be ‘The scariest movie of all time!’ or promising to make you sleep with the lights on for weeks afterwards. More inventively, the US filmmaker William Castle once took out life insurance on his audience. If any audience member died from fear as they watched his movie Macabre (1958), their bereaved ones would receive $1,000 from Lloyd’s of London. (Nobody did die. But the gimmick surely drew more horror hounds to the picture.)

Unsurprisingly, given their appeal, horror movies are big business. In 2019, 40 new horror movies were released in North America, grossing more than $800 million in the domestic theatrical market alone. Likewise, the US haunted attractions industry is growing steadily, in 2019 generating up to $500 million in ticket sales. The following year, 2020, naturally saw lower numbers, but even in that year of COVID-19 lockdowns and empty movie theatres, horror movies broke all previous records in terms of market share. That development continued into 2021, with the horror genre now accounting for almost 20 per cent of the market share at the US box office. Evidently, people want scary entertainment, even when you’d think the real world was scary enough.

D espite the broad appeal of the horror genre, it is haunted by bias and prejudice. Many people, apparently, think that horror movies are dumb, dangerous or both – artistically unsophisticated, morally corrosive, and psychologically harmful, with a dubious appeal primarily for maladjusted teenage boys. But what does the science say?

Firstly, horror is not a particularly male genre. While boys and men are slightly more likely than girls and women to say that they enjoy horror, the difference is much smaller than many people seem to think. In our aforementioned survey, when we asked to what extent respondents agree with the statement ‘I tend to enjoy horror media’, on a scale from 1 to 5, men averaged at 3.50, whereas women averaged at 3.29.

Secondly, horror movies are not only watched by teenagers. Yes, the movies are often marketed to that audience, and the appetite for horror does seem to peak in late adolescence, but it doesn’t emerge out of the blue the day that kids turn 13, and it doesn’t disappear in older people either. An ongoing research project of ours is finding that the desire to derive pleasure from fear is evident even in toddlers, who universally enjoy mildly scary activities, such as chase play and hide-and-seek. Even old folks seem to enjoy the occasional thrill provided by mildly frightening media such as crime shows. The British crime drama Midsomer Murders (1997-) always seemed to me like light horror for seniors, with its eerie theremin theme tune and the inexplicably abundant, often startlingly grisly murders in the otherwise peaceful fictional Midsomer County.

The ‘monkey see, monkey do’ model of media psychology now seems to have been abandoned by most experts

Thirdly, there is no evidence that horror fans are particularly maladjusted, depraved or unempathetic. When my colleagues and I looked into the personality profile of horror fans, we found that they are about as conscientious, agreeable and emotionally stable as the average person, while also scoring higher than average on openness to experience (meaning that they enjoy intellectual stimulation and adventure). It’s true they do tend to score fairly highly on sensation seeking , which suggests that they tend to be easily bored and on the lookout for excitement. Maladjusted or depraved, though? Nope, no evidence.

If horror movies do not attract the maladjusted and the depraved, do they then create psychotic monsters? One might think so, judging from the moral panics that have surrounded the horror genre throughout its recent history, from Victorian-era concern over ‘penny dreadfuls’ – sensationalist, often spooky or grisly stories sold in cheap (one-penny) instalments – to modern-day media meltdowns over slasher movies.

Most recently, pundits have worried about the effects of so-called ‘torture porn’ movies; films such as Eli Roth’s Hostel franchise (2005-11), about a shadowy organisation that charges people for the opportunity to torture and murder innocents. In the first Hostel movie, we follow a trio of backpackers who are captured by the organisation and sold for torture. The limbs of one backpacker are subjected to a chainsaw; the torso of another to a power drill. Only one of the backpackers makes it out alive (if not completely whole). The film depicts these insidious assaults in all their bloody nastiness, prompting media commentators to rally against the film and its ilk, arguing that their focus on torture and gore stoke unhealthy, sadistic drives in the audience.

There is no substantial evidence to support that concern – audiences know that what they are watching is fiction. The psychological effects of violent media are still discussed by scholars and scientists, but the ‘monkey see, monkey do’ model of media psychology has been severely criticised on methodological and empirical grounds, and now seems to have been abandoned by most experts. In fact, one recent study covering the period 1960-2012 in the US found that, as movie violence went up, real-world violence actually went down.

T his is not to say that horror movies cannot have negative effects. Indeed, media psychologists have documented that most people have some kind of ‘traumatic’ experience with horror movies. I use the quotation marks because we are not really talking about clinical trauma here. For the vast majority of people, such experiences consist of mild behavioural disturbances – nightmares, or sleeping with the lights on, or increased vigilance for a few days. For instance, one study found that around 90 per cent of US college students had had such experiences, including some who had refused to go camping after watching The Blair Witch Project (1999), a movie about three young people getting lost and dying horribly in the woods.

These mild and temporary hangover effects are just one side of the coin. Long ignored by the scientific world, it’s now clear that horror consumption has many positive effects. Moreover, a taste for horror is natural and should not be seen as pathological. Kids who are attracted to monster comics such as Tales from the Crypt (1950-55) and The Walking Dead (2003-19) are perfectly normal, as are teenagers who love slasher movies or adults who enjoy haunted attractions. That taste makes good sense from an evolutionary perspective. People evolved to be curious about danger, and they use stories to learn about the world and themselves. Horror stories specifically allow them to imaginatively simulate worst-case scenarios and teach them about the dark sides of the world, and about the dark spectrum of their own emotional lives.

This morbid curiosity has helped our ancestors stay alive in a dangerous world by learning about it

The behavioural scientist Coltan Scrivner at the University of Chicago calls this appetite ‘morbid curiosity’. Some people have lots of it, and some very little, but most of us are fairly morbidly curious – we have a hard time looking away from an accident, and we occasionally feel the pull of a true crime show, a horror movie or a documentary about the paranormal.

This fascination with the gruesome is adaptive, says Scrivner; it is a learning mechanism that allows us to collect information about the Grim Reaper and his modes of operation, and it underpins the widespread interest in horror. Stephen King tells the story of how, when he was 10 years old, his mother discovered a scrapbook he had been keeping on the spree killer Charles Starkweather, who was at that time at large. ‘Why?’ asked his mother, concerned. King’s answer: ‘I need to look out for this guy. I need to know everything about him, so that if I ever meet him or anybody like him, I can go around.’

So, when we are drawn to horror movies, we are basically giving in to a deep-seated instinct, a morbid curiosity that has helped our ancestors stay alive in a dangerous world by learning about it at a distance, or even vicariously. Horror satisfies this instinct and allows us to engage playfully with made-up worlds that brim with danger, but at no real risk.

T o test this hypothesis, my lab conducted an empirical study , led by my colleague Marc Malmdorf Andersen, at a Danish commercial visitor attraction, Dystopia Haunted House, that’s located in an abandoned factory out in the woods. Every October, the factory comes alive with the groans of zombies and the roar of chainsaws, punctuated every few minutes by screams of joyful terror. We recruited more than 100 paying guests, fitted them with lightweight heartrate monitors and asked them to fill out several questionnaires. We also recorded their behaviour with surveillance cameras at key points inside the haunt, such as the moment when an actor in a lab coat distracted the guests with a crazy-scientist rant, setting up another actor in zombie make-up to jump out from under a table, scaring the guests witless and providing us with wonderful data on behavioural and physiological responses to acute threat events.

Supporting the evolutionary function of horror, we found that there is a sweet spot between fear and enjoyment. People who seek out horror want just the right amount of it. Too scary, and it is unpleasantly overwhelming; not scary enough, and it is boring. But just the right amount of fear, and you are in the zone of recreational horror – a zone in which you are enjoying yourself and might just be learning important things in the process, such as how to regulate your negative emotions.

Emotional regulation is key to recreational horror because we all differ in the intensity of fear that we find tolerable or even pleasurable. As horror researchers have known for a while, not every horror fan is an adrenaline junkie. We explored these emotional dynamics in another study we conducted at Dystopia Haunted House. This time, we recruited several hundred guests and gave them a choice of challenges: either try to become as scared as possible, or try to keep your fear at an absolute minimum as you go through the haunted attraction. As it happened, half the guests chose the maximum-fear challenge and the other half chose the minimum-fear challenge.

People actively use a range of psychological, behavioural and social strategies to achieve their optimum fear level

Our participants reported remarkably different fear levels. Those guests who had chosen to minimise their fear reported, on average, a fear level of 4.3 on a scale from 0 to 9. Those who chose to maximise their fear, on the other hand, reported an average fear level of 7.6. Strikingly, though, both groups reported similar (and very high) levels of satisfaction.

In other words: there are several ways in which people can derive pleasure from recreational horror, whether in a haunted attraction or in front of the screen. For some, it is about maximum stimulation; those people are the adrenaline junkies. But for others, it is about keeping fear at a tolerable level – a challenge in self-control; they have been called ‘white-knucklers’. Common to both groups is that they actively use a range of psychological, behavioural and social strategies to achieve the optimum fear level.

In another recent study , we shed more light on the possible benefits and appeal of horror entertainment and made a surprising discovery in the process: there are three categories of horror fan. Alongside the adrenaline junkies and white-knucklers are what we called the ‘dark copers’. We discovered that the adrenaline junkies experience a mood boost when they seek out horror; the intense stimulation puts them in a better mood. The white-knucklers do not experience that mood boost in response to horror, but they do feel that they learn something about themselves and that they develop as a person. They might discover how much fear they can take, what dread feels like, how they respond to intense stress, and how to regulate their own anxiety – all vital survival skills.

The third kind, the dark copers, had not been previously identified in the scientific literature, and they are intriguing. They reap all the benefits: a mood boost, as well as feeling that they learn something about themselves and how to confront the real scary world, perhaps by simulating frightening encounters – for them, it’s a kind of practice. Maybe the dark copers are the ones that the horror movie industry should be targeting, and not just the adrenaline junkies, who seem to be the intended audience of those ‘Scariest movie ever!’ taglines.

S ceptics might remain unconvinced by the idea that people could learn anything of value from movies about demonic possession, deranged chainsaw killers and homicidal puppets. It might seem outrageous. Well, in the early months of the pandemic, we decided to investigate whether horror fans had any edge over non-fans in terms of psychological resilience. Our thinking was that, if people do indeed practise emotional regulation skills when they watch horror movies, they might be able to use those skills in real-world situations.

That is indeed what we found. People who watched many horror movies reported less psychological distress in response to COVID-19 lockdowns than those who avoid horror movies. Moreover, fans of ‘prepper movies’ – zombie-apocalypse movies, alien-invasion movies, that sort of thing – felt more prepared for the consequences of the pandemic. They had seen similar things in the movies. They had imaginatively rehearsed for such scenarios, and were less overwhelmed by the repercussions of the crisis. A fictional scenario about the undead overturning the social order – with healthcare systems collapsing, law and order deteriorating, and infrastructure toppling – might not be that different from a real-world situation of great social and institutional turmoil.

Horror movies, then, can function as inoculation against the stresses and terrors of the world. They help us improve our coping skills, and they might function as a kind of enjoyable exposure therapy. There is also some preliminary evidence to suggest that people who suffer from anxiety disorders can find comfort in horror movies, presumably because these movies allow them to experience negative emotions in controlled and controllable doses, practise regulation strategies, and ultimately build resilience.

People go in with strangers; 50 minutes later, they stumble out, chatting and laughing like old friends

In addition to those psychological benefits, there might be social benefits of watching horror movies. Consider how scientists of religion have puzzled over the prevalence of painful religious rituals. Why do people fire-walk and pierce themselves with sharp objects in religious contexts? Apparently, one major function is that such psychologically and/or physically painful behaviours strengthen group identity and make group members more altruistic toward each other. You go through a painful experience together , which reinforces group bonds. It’s a similar story for horror entertainment.

Even some non-fans let themselves be talked into watching a horror movie with friends, presumably because watching horror films together can be a lot of fun, whether you enjoy the movies themselves or not. Recall that about 55 per cent of Americans in our survey said that they enjoy horror. Well, almost 90 per cent of the individuals sampled in our more recent study had sought out horror at least once in the prior year. Evidently, it is not just horror fans who watch horror movies.

When you face a frightening situation together, and make it through that situation together, you feel that you have mastered it, not unlike the dysphoric religious rituals observed around the world. My colleagues and I see this all the time in our haunted house research. People go through the attraction with strangers. They seem nervous and fidgety before they enter; 50 minutes later, they come stumbling out of the haunted house, sweating, chatting and laughing like old friends.

For many viewers, perhaps most, horror movies provide meaningful entertainment that can have positive psychological and social effects. The genre is still steeped in stigma, maybe because it seems to appeal to ‘primitive’ emotions such as fear, anxiety and disgust. Horror movies rarely receive prestigious accolades, such as Academy Awards, and horror writers, such as Stephen King, have struggled to gain critical recognition. This prejudice is silly. The literary canon brims with frightening material – check your Shakespeare, or your Melville – and besides, horror movies do not appeal just to emotions. Many of them also appeal to the intellect, and prompt reflection and maybe even introspection.

If you don’t believe me, find a horror movie to watch tonight, and see for yourself. The trick will be to chose a movie that hits your sweet spot. You don’t want something that overwhelms you with horror, as happened to me in 1992, but you also don’t want something too tame. Once you have found something that seems to fit the bill, invite a couple of friends over so you also reap the social benefits of collective horror-movie watching. And rest assured that, while you might suffer a few mild side-effects, such as a nightmare or a compulsion to sweep the bedroom for monsters before bedtime, there is a real chance that you will feel closer to your friends, learn something about yourself, and perhaps even emerge more resilient than before.

To read more about emotional regulation, visit Psyche , a digital magazine from Aeon that illuminates the human condition through psychology, philosophy and the arts.

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Our Favorite Essays and Stories About Horror Films

Reading Lists

Make tonight's evil dead marathon more literary with our best writing about the genre.

It’s the spookiest day of the spookiest season, but you already had your party last weekend, and now you have to stay home and either hand out candy to grabby children or turn out all lights visible from the street and pretend you’re not home. What makes a night in both fun and seasonally appropriate? Horror movies, of course! So while you’re waiting for, or hiding from, trick-or-treaters tonight, put on a Nightmare on Elm Street marathon and make your way through some of the best stuff we’ve published about scary films.

“ There’s Nothing Scarier Than a Hungry Woman ” by Laura Maw

Maybe you haven’t noticed this, but horror movies contain a lot of scenes of women eating—and not only eating, but eating voraciously. Laura Maw has noticed, and she thinks she understands. This essay is both a sensitive cultural analysis of a horror movie trope and a beautiful personal narrative of coming to terms with both the threat and the banality of hunger.

As a woman, to say that you have found eating uncomfortable at times is not particularly groundbreaking. The anxiety has become mundane because it is so common for women, but isn’t that in itself noteworthy? Horror invites us to sit with this disgust, this anxiety, to acknowledge our appetite, to refuse to let us suppress it. There is something uncomfortable and enthralling about watching a woman devour what she likes with intent.

“ Horror Lives in the Body ” by Meg Pillow Davis

This Best American Essays notable is about the physical experience of horror—both horror films, and the familiar horrors we encounter in our normal lives, the ways we brush up against mortality and violation and fear. Why do we seek out this physical experience—”the pupil dilation, the quickening heart, the sweat forming on your upper lip and the surface of your palms, and the nearly overwhelming urge to cover your eyes or run from the room”?

If those other viewers are anything like me, they watch horror movies because they recognize the horror, because its familiarity is strange and terrifying and unavoidable. It is the lure of the uncanny filtering into the cracks and crevices of the cinematic landscape and drawing us in.

“ What ‘Halloween’ Taught Me About Queerness ” by Richard Scott Larson

Michael Myers wears a mask to hide his face while he kills—but is that the only mask he wears? Richard Scott Larson talks about watching Halloween obsessively as an adolescent, while he was starting to understand that his own desires were also considered monstrous.

The experience of adolescence as a closeted queer boy is one of constantly attempting to imitate the expression of a desire that you do not feel. Identification with a bogeyman, then, shouldn’t be so surprising when you imagine the bogeyman as unfit for society, his true nature having been rejected and deemed horrific.

“ If My Mother Was the Final Girl ” by Michelle Ross

The “final girl” is the one who’s left standing at the end of the film, the one who survives the carnage. But what do you call someone who’s still standing after childhood trauma? This short story is about horror films, but more than that, it’s about mother-daughter relationships—a deeper and more mundane form of horror than the kind in slasher flicks.

The one thing my mother and I share is a love for slasher films. When the first girl gets hacked up or sawed in half or stabbed in the breast, my mother says, “Now there’s real life for you.” And I glance at her sideways and think, you can say that again.

“ A Love Letter to the Girls Who Die First in Horror Films ” by Lindsay King-Miller

Unlike the “final girl,” the girl who dies first doesn’t have a catchy title. Lindsay King-Miller writes about the lost friend who taught her that we don’t all have it in us to be a final girl—and that we should celebrate the girl who dies first, because she’s not living in fear.

To survive a horror story you have to realize you’re in one. The girl who dies thinks she’s in a different kind of story, one that’s about her and what she wants: to dance, to party, to fuck, to feel good. She thinks she is the subject of this story, the one who watches, desires, sees, the one who acts upon the world. She does not feel the eyes on her, does not know she is being observed, that her fate is not to reshape the world but to be reshaped by it.

“ Nothing Has Prepared Me For The Reality of Womanhood Better Than ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2’ ” by Sarah Kurchak

Yes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is a cheesy horror-comedy hybrid in which women are menaced and their bodies are treated as set dressing. But so is adolescence. Sarah Kurchak writes about the many ways in which this movie taught her what to expect from the world.

Sure, this was, on many levels, a schlocky B-movie with so many of the expected hallmarks of the time — women in hot pants and peril, over-the-top gore. But it was a schlocky B-movie in which a woman faced men’s threats, both implicit and explicit, and was left breathing but almost unrecognizable at the end of it. That felt familiar.

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Why We Enjoy Horror Films Essay

Horror movie critics have asserted that there is a growing tendency in making much more violent and bloody movies. At a glance, it is difficult to understand why people pay money for the ticket to watch the most horrible, thrilling, and creepy scenes at the cinema. However, deeper examination explores much more sophisticated reasons for the public’s immense interest in horror movies.

King’s statement that horror movies “have a dirty job to do” (3) can be reinterpreted to stress that contemporary production or horror films premises on people’s desire to distract themselves from the monotonous routines and realities of grim daily activities by depicting ugliness and fear.

While deliberating on the essence and purpose of horror movies, Kinds notes, “[horror film] urges us to put away our more civilized and adult penchant for analysis and to become children again, seeing things in pure blacks and whites” (2). Therefore, most individuals interested in this genre search for psychic relief because most of such pictures are premised on the simple, primitive representation of the evil and the good.

Also, the illustration of unreasonableness and outright madness is rarely observed in real life. Even though such emotions as love, compassion, sympathy, kindness, or commitment are celebrated in society, the depiction of the opposite emotions in horror movie can only enhance individual’s awareness of the significance of these aspects. Society is too bored with constant practicing of politeness and attentiveness, love and friendships.

Under these circumstances, horror movies demonstrate what could happen in case social sanity will be distorted. Human perception of insanity is relative because its normality is usually accepted by the majority. Existence of social norms allows us to be distinct between the action that makes sense and unreasonable and irrational actions.

All these dilemmas could be solved as soon as people start watching thrillers and horror films. At this point, King emphasizes, “it is morbidity unchained, our most base instincts let free, our nastiest fantasies realized…and it all happens, fittingly enough in the dark” (3). In this context, supporters of just and good lifestyle will not be able to adhere to the concepts as soon as they realize the main purpose of horror movies, as well as the techniques directors, employ to achieve this purpose.

Modern horror movies often depict monsters, psycho, or zombies chasing their victims. The viewers realize what is going on, and they often strive to help the hero to escape death. While using these techniques, horror movie directors emphasize the helplessness of a person in front of the danger, which makes all people be frightened.

The feeling of unexpected capture makes people attend such pictures frequently because they lack such emotions in life. In such a way, they also entertain themselves and even have fun when watching creepy scenes. In conclusion, the admirers of horror movie genre attend such pictures to grasp the main attributes of a new reality in which irrationality and simplicity provide them with new emotions and experiences that are impossible to perceive in real life.

By employing unexpected appearance, depicting ugliness and monsters, and revealing the scene of violence, the directors expect to frighten people who are in search of new impressions and risky situations. Although modern movies have become more bloody, the idea of this genre remains unchanged to approve such emotions as love, compassion, and kindness.

Works Cited

King, Stephen. “ Why We Crave Horror Movies ”. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2022, April 28). Why We Enjoy Horror Films. https://ivypanda.com/essays/horror-movies-art/

"Why We Enjoy Horror Films." IvyPanda , 28 Apr. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/horror-movies-art/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Why We Enjoy Horror Films'. 28 April.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Why We Enjoy Horror Films." April 28, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/horror-movies-art/.

1. IvyPanda . "Why We Enjoy Horror Films." April 28, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/horror-movies-art/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Why We Enjoy Horror Films." April 28, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/horror-movies-art/.

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The Psychology Behind Why We Love (or Hate) Horror

• Haiyang Yang
• Kuangjie Zhang

Some people spend $$$ to experience the thrill of a scare.

Fear isn’t everyone’s cup of tea (or coffee). While some people would spend money for the love of a scare, many would run in the opposite direction. So why is it that some crave all kinds of frightening experiences?

• One reason we consume horror is to experience stimulation. Exposure to terrifying acts, or even the anticipation of those acts, can stimulate us — both mentally and physically — in opposing ways: negatively (in the form of fear or anxiety) or positively (in the form of excitement or joy).
• Another reason we seek horror is to gain novel experiences. Apocalypse horror films, for example, allow us to live out alternative realities — from zombie outbreaks to alien infestations.
• Lastly, horror entrainment may help us (safely) satisfy our curiosity about the dark side of human psyche. Observing storylines in which actors must confront the worst parts of themselves serves as a pseudo character study of the darkest parts of the human condition.  

Where your work meets your life. See more from Ascend here .

Some people LOVE to consume horror. From popular shows like American Horror Story and The Walking Dead to haunted theme parks and scary Steven King novels, we crave all kinds of frightening experiences.

• Haiyang Yang is an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Johns Hopkins University. His research focuses on decision-making. His work has appeared in premier journals such as the J ournal of Marketing Research , Journal of Consumer Research , Journal of Consumer Psychology , and Psychological Science.
• Kuangjie Zhang is an assistant professor at Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research focuses on marketing. His work has appeared in premier journals such as the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, and Journal of Experimental Psychology: General .

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How to Write a Great Horror Movie

There's only one genre out there that everyone is buying. so in honor of halloween, i want to walk you through how to write a horror movie. get your knives ready. .

The horror genre is tried and true. It's the one genre every studio and streamer is buying. Why? 

Because it's the one that usually delivers the most profitable movies. Horror films come with a huge audience, and the nature of the stories usually keep them pretty cheap. 

But are there tricks to writing a horror screenplay that makes the process different?

I don't know about any tricks.... but I can assure you this post is a real treat! 

Okay, if that didn't chase you away or horrify you enough to stop reading, let's forge ahead into the unknown...

What's the worst that could happen? 

Table of Contents

Horror movie definition .

What is a horror movie?  

A horror movie is a film whose plot is  designed to frighten the viewer. The story must cause some sort of existential dread and invoke our very worst fears. Horror films are roller coasters for viewers often climaxing in a shocking finale. They can be cathartic or just plain fun. 

What kinds of horror movies are out there? 

There are so many different kinds of horror movies in the world. This genre contains a bunch of subgenres. Before you start writing, you should pick one, or mash a few up.

I want to address something that comes up in the comments a lot. I often get people replying "This is fine, but what actually sold with this stuff?"

I know we aren't supposed to read the comments, but the comments section is my horror movie. 

I usually don't address this stuff but I want to this time. 

Mostly because as a professional writer, horror is where I've found most of my recent work. 

Last year I wrote on a horror anthology series that was on Netflix called Don't Watch This . My episode was called Keep Out.  I've done extensive work for CryptTV .  Keep your eyes out for it. 

My point is: I have worked in this space and I want to help. 

I'm not calling myself "the authority" but I'm only going to give you the things I've used for my screenplay work. 

So let's look at some of the horror sub-genres and see what each entails. 

Horror movie sub-genres 

Slasher movies usually have killers who use knives or hooks or machetes to hack up their victims. They can be like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Scream in tone. There can be one or multiple killers. They have a lot in common with the mystery genre and thrillers. 

From Godzilla to The   Fly , monster movies come in all shapes and sizes. Usually, these monsters terrorize a small community, like in Jaws , but they can also be a global threat, like in Cloverfield . We don't always need a direct scientific explanation for why or how the monster exists, but that might clue everyone in on how you can defeat them. 

Supernatural  

Ghosts, demons, and Satan all exist within these worlds. Your demons can be like Freddy Kreuger or they can be like the possessor in The Exorcist . They can be spirits like in The Others or a riff like in Ghost . Or just straight-up horrific like in Poltergeist . 

Inanimate Objects 

A few years ago it felt like every movie had a scary doll in it. Now, with the Chucky reboot and Anabelle , these dolls don't seem like they're going away. But what about something like The Fog or Christine ? They also fall into these types. 

Found Footage 

I know this is technically a WAY to make a movie, but I wanted to address it last. While these movies are not as popular as they once were, the staples are still the most famous. The Blair Witch, The Visit, and Paranormal Activity  changed the way we viewed cinema. You have to write for found footage for it to be found footage. 

How to Write a Horror Movie (Free Outline)

Before you sit down to write or outline, I wanted to go over some of the tropes within these kinds of films. These tropes can be things you subvert or lean into depending on the situation. You can learn about them here or see them in action by d ownloading 80 Horror Screenplays for inspiration ! 

So let's ask the question...

What are some horror screenplay tropes? 

Guys, I love a great horror screenplay. They make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and make you shake with excitement. 

Common tropes of horror screenplays include:

• Action : People often creep around with little dialogue. 
• Suspense: Pacing in horror is a must. Think Hitchcock ! 
• Jumpscares : Sudden noises or reveals should POP off the page. 
• Gore : Gruesome death or torture scenes are commonplace in these movies. 
• A memorable villain: Create someone who will haunt dreams for years to come. 

Okay, you picked your horror subgenre and found our logline and treatment pages so you did your prep work. Now it's time to jump into the outline and then in your screenwriting software to type some pages. 

So what does a horror screenplay outline look like? 

The horror screenplay outline:, 1. unraveling the terror  - do you have an opening scare that defines the movie.

Do you like  Scream ? The opening scene of the  screenplay  sets the tone for the entire story. 

2. The Entry Point  - Who will be involved in these terrifying escapades and what are they dealing with? 

In a movie like  Dawn of the Dead , it's the series of scenes where we meet who will inhabit the mall. 

3. Before It Goes to Shit  - What’s a normal day look like in this world?

Think about the way the family gets by in  Poltergiest  before the ghosts show up. 

4. The Horror Sets In  - What horrific thing sets our characters off on their journey?

Nothing is worse than realizing your daughter is possessed as the characters do in  The Exorcist .   

5. The Uneasy Path - Everyone is together, what keeps them moving this way?

In something like  Godzilla , it's the reason why they deal with the monster at hand? What do they have to gain? 

6. Walking Over Broken Glass - How do our heroes deal with the problems as they go?

In the  Saw  franchise, this is how people try to get out of the sick traps and hunt Jigsaw. 

7. Through The Dark Cave  - Do you have a B story? Set that story off on its own now too.

B-stories, like the marital tension in  Rosemary's Baby , are great scenes to juxtapose against the horror at hand. 

8. Reassess the Terror  - You’re in the middle. Is there another way to get out alive?

In  Shaun of the Dead  its when they decide to go to the Winchester. 

9. People are Going to Die  - Things begin to fall apart, let the body count rise and show how they deal with it. 

In  The Descent , this is when the people in the group begin to be picked off one by one. 

10. The Fall  - The worst thing happens, something so bad you don’t think you can get up.

I n a horror movie like  The Mist , it's when they are forced outside and surrounded by the actual mist. 

11. The Hidden Clue  - What do your characters discover that they never saw before?

Is there a way out? Something they never realized, like in the  Sixth Sense  when David realizes he's a ghost. 

12. Race To the Final (Girl)  - They’re up and running no matter what. They can make it! 

This is the series of scenes that carries us toward your thrilling finale. In  Alien , it's when Ripley is confronted and has to think fast. 

13. The Moment of Relief  - Did they make it out alive? Has life returned to normal?

What does their day feel like with the problem corrected? Think about when  Jaws  finally blows up?

14. Where We Go From Here? - Show us the world in a new light, hint what’s next. Maybe the killer or monster returns for one final scare!

In every horror movie, it feels like there's one last scare. Like in  I Still Know What you did Last Summer  when it turns out the hook-handed man is under the bed! 

Horror Movies and Comedy Movies 

One last thing I wanted to address is the addition of humor to your screenplay. 

So many horror movies use comedy to help bring levity to dark things. Sure, it doesn't happen all the time, but comedy helps ease people into scenes., If you're laughing, you might be more susceptible to a jump scare or a misdirect. 

You can be as funny as Shaun of the Dead , or use the deadpan humor of The Dead Don't Die. 

Even titles as unsettling as Midsommar contain humor that helps the audience engage. 

So consider adding humor to your pages to keep them turning. 

Sam Raimi, one of the best to do it, uses comedy in all his horror films. 

What's next? Learn about Movie and TV genres ! 

Film and TV genres affect who watches your work, how it's classified, and even how it's reviewed. So how do you decide what you're writing? And which genres to mash-up? The secret is in the tropes. 

What is a Crane Shot?

Learn how to master this intricate camera move..

Ever watch a TV show or movie and suddenly feel the camera rising higher and higher in the air? Or Maybe you start high and suddenly are lowering into a scene from above?

These shots are achieved with a handy, titularly title tool called a crane, and offer some of the most iconic visuals in all of cinema history. The creativity of filmmakers lies not only in storytelling but also in the visual techniques they employ. And the crane shot is a perfect example of that sentiment.

Today, we'll go over this shot, look at some examples, and teach you how you can use it in your own work.

Let's dive in.

Crane Shot Definition

| Criterion

In film and video production, a crane shot refers to any shot captured by a camera mounted on a mechanical arm called a crane or a jib.

This setup provides filmmakers with incredible flexibility, allowing the camera to move vertically, horizontally, and often in sweeping arcs.

The result is dynamic footage that transcends the limitations of static cameras.

Why Do Filmmakers Love Crane Shots?

Crane shots offer several unique advantages to filmmakers:

• Elevated Perspective: Cranes grant a bird's-eye view of a scene, giving the audience a broader, more expansive look. This elevated viewpoint can evoke a sense of grandeur or create a sense of awe.
• Reveals and Scope: Starting high and moving downwards, crane shots are perfect for establishing shots. They introduce locations, unveil hidden elements, or set the stage for a narrative development.
• Fluid Movement: Unlike dollies or tracks that are ground-based, cranes boast incredible range in all directions. This enables them to follow characters smoothly or even swoop over obstacles.
• Dramatic Effect: The inherent dynamism of a crane shot adds emotional weight and visual flair to a moment. A slow crane up may signal a character's triumph or a sense of foreboding.

Crane Shot Examples

The prevalence of crane shots in film and TV makes it hard to pick a favorite, but I wanted to go over some that are famous.

Some iconic crane shot examples from cinema and television include:

• Gone with the Wind (1939): The Civil War epic features a breathtaking crane shot revealing the aftermath of the Battle of Atlanta, showcasing countless wounded soldiers.
• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001 - 2003): Peter Jackson's fantasy epic utilizes sweeping crane shots to immerse viewers in the breathtaking landscapes of Middle-earth, bringing battles and journeys to life with incredible scale.
• Game of Thrones (2011 - 2019): The series employed crane shots extensively to reveal armies, build dramatic tension in battle scenes, and showcase the intricate construction of its fantasy cities.
• Touch of Evil (1958): Orson Welles' crime-noir masterpiece opens with one of the most celebrated crane shots in film history. The shot begins with a close-up of a ticking time bomb, then ascends along a crane, finally culminating in a wide shot of a busy border town moments before the explosion.
• Citizen Kane (1941): Another Orson Welles classic, Citizen Kane, features a pivotal crane shot that begins high above the stage where Susan Alexander is performing. The camera descends, passes through various levels of the theater, and finally focuses on a scathing newspaper review in a critic's hand.
• La La Land (2016): The vibrant opening number of this modern musical features a stunning crane shot. The camera weaves through a massive traffic jam on a Los Angeles highway as dancers erupt into song atop their vehicles.

The Modern Crane Shot

Forrest Gump

| Paramount

Advances in technology have made crane shots more accessible and dynamic than ever before. The rise of drones, smaller, more agile cranes, and even handheld gimbals allow filmmakers flexibility and versatility.

They can simulate crane-like movements at a lower cost and in tighter spaces.

Crane shots offer a powerful tool for visual storytelling, and they will continue to elevate our cinematic experiences. From epic battle scenes to intimate character moments, the rise and fall of this technique creates a visual symphony within the language of film.

Let me know your favorite crane shot in the comments.

What Are The Best Fantasy Movies of All Time?

What are the best science fiction movies of all time, dji launches its most affordable drone ever with dji mini 4k, stop bailing on your concept halfway though your screenplay, what are the best adventure movies of all time, how to use your voice to make socially-driven films, how to write character introductions (w/ template), how to control your sony alpha camera with an apple watch, can ai create better vfx check out this ai-assisted vfx breakdown, defining the most popular screenplay transitions.

• Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal

Robin Wood on the Horror Film: Collected Essays and Reviews ed. by Barry Keith Grant (review)

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‘I Saw the TV Glow’ Review: How We Used to Escape

An outstanding not-quite-horror film about being a fan just before the internet took over.

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By Alissa Wilkinson

We’ve forgotten how hard being a fan used to be. You had to labor at it in multiple media: scouring listings and keeping tabs on schedules, reading books of lore and compiling episode recaps. Pop culture was built around presence, real physical presence: To see the latest episode of “The X-Files” or “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” you had to show up at your TV when it aired. If you missed a key episode, you were out of luck, unless someone remembered to tape it for you, at least until it went into reruns or syndication. And if your taste ran to the niche, discovering that someone else loved the same thing you loved felt revelatory, like you’d stumbled upon a person who spoke a language only you could understand.

The social internet, algorithms and streaming blew most of this up, shoving our favorites at us and making them available all the time. Some of the magic disappeared as well, the uncanny immersive quality. You can bury yourself in a binge-watch for a day or a week, but then it’s over, no long in-between stretches to hash out each episode. Sustaining a relationship with the world a show built is still possible; connecting with others over your shared love is preposterously easy. Something, however, has been lost.

“I Saw the TV Glow” captures this obsessive, anticipatory submersion in a long-form weekly TV show, to the point where it ignites the same feeling. A lot of movies tell you stories, but the films of the writer and director Jane Schoenbrun evoke them; to borrow a term, they’re a vibe. Like “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair,” Schoenbrun’s previous film, this one isn’t quite horror, but it gives you the same kind of scalp crawl. In this case I think it’s the mark of recognition, of feeling a tug at your subconscious. It’s oddly hard to put into words.

“We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” was the tale of a lonely teenager living in the oddness of our internet era, where intimacy is free and plentiful and confusing and could be dangerous, or could be banal. “I Saw the TV Glow” dials that same tone back a generation, centering on a couple of lonely teenagers who find one another through a show called “The Pink Opaque.” It’s a mash-up show, instantly recognizable in its own way: It airs on something called the Young Adult Network (clearly a stand-in for The WB, the teen-focused TV network that turned into The CW) at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday nights, a time reserved for shows barely hanging on by a thread. The opening credits we glimpse suggest the show is “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”-adjacent (it even uses the same typeface), but with elements reminiscent of “The X-Files” and “Twin Peaks” — in all these cases, not exactly horror, but not quite anything else. (There’s also a band in the show, one that apparently performs a song in every episode, which plays expertly tuned mid-90s teen-show music; the musicians are Phoebe Bridgers and Haley Dahl.)

“I Saw the TV Glow” is set in 1996, right at the moment when entertainment was about to dive over the cliff and become what media theorists sometimes refer to as convergence culture . Back then, TV was still a few years away from being participatory for most youthful viewers. The internet wasn’t mature enough yet for the majority of teens to really haunt it, and those who did were posting on the kinds of message boards and websites that would eventually come to define both the TV and the fan-driven internet of the early aughts. (“The X-Files,” for instance, which premiered in 1993, was one of the first shows with a developed online fandom; they communicated through a Usenet newsgroup.) If you knew how to find message boards and chat rooms, you might have bonded with other fans. But if you were just a kid at home in the suburbs, you were most likely planning your schedule around episodes.

The story of “I Saw the TV Glow” mostly belongs to Owen (played as a seventh grader by Ian Foreman, and then from high school up by Justice Smith). He is nervous and anxious and sheltered, but he catches an ad for an episode of “The Pink Opaque.” He doesn’t know what it is, but he’s obsessed. One day, waiting for his parents to finish voting in the school cafeteria, he wanders into a room and finds Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) reading a book that recaps episodes of the show. Maddy explains the show to Owen: It’s about two girls, Tara (Lindsey Jordan, the musician Snail Mail) and Isabel (Helena Howard), who meet at camp and discover they share a connection that enables them to fight that most stalwart trope of ’90s TV dramas: the Monster of the Week. There’s a Big Bad in their world, too — the mysterious Man in the Moon named Mr. Melancholy. Owen is even more consumed.

Owen’s father won’t let him stay up to watch the show, but Maddy and Owen concoct a way to make it happen. This is where “I Saw the TV Glow” starts to leave the realm of straightforward plot and slip-slide into some nether region at the intersection of fantasy, nostalgia, fear and longing. Escapism has always belonged to children’s literature, fantastical other worlds into which we might leave the ordinary behind and discover ourselves special. Owen and Maddy are trapped in their own worlds, but “The Pink Opaque” gives them the sense that a parallel dimension might be where they really belong.

There’s a heartbreak at the center of this film that made me gasp to see it, an acknowledgment that sometimes it’s better not to go back to what we once loved because now, in the cold light of adulthood, it all looks very different. There are other layers, too: implications that awakenings around gender dysphoria and sexuality are tied up in the teens’ obsession with the show, though they barely understand. Even more broadly, the immense pain of pushing down your true self, and the brittle breaking of that shell, is woven throughout.

But what’s most effective, and staggering, is Schoenbrun’s storytelling, which weaves together half-remembered childhood elements in the way they might turn up in a nightmare, weaving in sounds and lights and colors and the gloriously inexplicable. Teenage malaise, untreated, can sour into an adult psychic prison; the TV is just one way that we escape.

I Saw the TV Glow Rated PG-13 for some really trippy stuff. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes. In theaters.

Alissa Wilkinson is a Times movie critic. She’s been writing about movies since 2005. More about Alissa Wilkinson

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32 Horror Movies That Are Great For Beginners Into The Genre

There's so many great choices.

Alright, let’s have a chat. Say that you’re on a date, hanging out with friends, or maybe you’re just on your own, and the desire to watch a horror movie arises. You’re scared at first because you’ve never watched a horror movie; you don’t know how you’ll react to them. Are they all as terrifying as Midsommar and Hereditary seem to be?

Rest assured, readers, we have the solution to that. Today, I’ll review several great picks for horror movies for beginners, whether you want something with a little less horror or maybe a little more. Let’s get into it. 

Poltergeist (1982)

Poltergeist is a classic horror movie from the 1980s that Steven Spielberg co-wrote. The film follows a family who has to find a way to save their daughter when vengeful spirits kidnap her in their own home. Out of most horror movies, this one is very light on the jumpscares and mainly builds fright through suspense – mixed in with some pretty okay-ish CGI. 

Halloween (1978)

You can’t get more of a classic horror movie villain than Michael Myers. Halloween was released back in 1978 and told the story of a young woman acting as a babysitter the night of Halloween and how she has to survive the wrath of Michael Myers, an escaped killer from a mental facility. Halloween isn’t gorey but has excellent music, suspense, and an unforgettable villain. Out of all the Halloween movies , this one is still the best. 

The Fog (1980)

The Fog is a horror movie directed by John Carpenter that makes you question what you see in the fog. It focuses on a group of strangers who all have to survive this strange fog that takes over their town, which seems to contain evil forces. The movie isn’t scary, but it is a nice entrance into a more suspenseful horror. 

The Sixth Sense (1999)

M. Night Shyamalan’s best movies often involve some horror, and The Sixth Sense follows that. The film mainly focuses on a child psychologist with a patient who can see dead people, but of course, the classic Shyamalan twist makes this movie all the better. It’s not scary, per se – just exciting . 

Psycho (1960)

I mean, yes. I have to put Psycho on here. Directed by Hollywood legend Alfred Hitchcock , Psycho is based on the novel of the same name and follows the story of an investigator looking into the strange life of Norman Bates at the Bates Motel and how one interaction with a young woman and her disappearance changes everything. It’s black and white with no gore, but it's a great horror movie to start on. Trust me. 

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Friday The 13th (1980)

The Friday the 13th movies were essentially some of the films that began the subgenre of slasher within horror, but the first movie isn’t even that bad. It focuses on a group of teenage counselors trying to survive a serial killer at their summer camp after a tragedy occurred years prior. While there are some messier scenes, it’s not that bad and has some great music. 

Beetlejuice (1988)

With Beetlejuice Beetlejuice releasing , it’s the perfect time to watch the first film. Beetlejuice stars Michael Keaton as the titular character, a “bio-exorcist” contacted by two ghosts to get humans to leave their home – but he has tricks up his sleeves. Look, Beetlejuice, truthfully, is probably the best entrance into horror. This movie is way more funny than scary, but it has enough creepy moments to dip your toes in horror. 

The Black Phone (2022)

Starring Ethan Hawke , The Black Phone is an excellent horror film that follows the story of a teenager who is abducted by a child murderer and can use a rotary dial phone to speak to past victims to find a way out. This film has a few gorier moments, but they’re pretty tame. And truthfully, the plot alone is so creative you’ll be sucked in. 

Happy Death Day (2017)

There are plenty of fantastic horror comedies, and Happy Death Day is one of them. The film follows a young woman who, when she is killed, is forced to relive the day over and over again to find the murderer. Yes, this is a horror version of Groundhog Day, and it’s the best. 

Gremlins (1984)

Gremlins is a comedy horror film that everyone has seen at least once. The film follows the story of a man who receives a strange creature called a mogwai. At first, it seems fine, but once they get fed past midnight, they turn into monsters that wreak havoc. The movie isn’t scary, but it has some good makeup and will make you chuckle at the monsters. 

Shaun Of The Dead (2004)

Shaun of the Dead is a classic comedy zombie movie directed by Edgar Wright and starring Simon Pegg . The film follows a salesman who must survive the zombie apocalypse with his friends when the entirety of London falls. The zombies can sometimes be creepy, but trust me when I say you’ll be laughing a heck of a lot more than screaming. 

Night Of The Living Dead (1968)

Night of the Living Dead essentially created the zombie genre as a whole. This classic horror film from the 1960s, directed by George A. Romero, follows a group of survivors in Pennsylvania who must try to survive when they are all attacked by corpses that have come back to life. The movie features the slowest zombies ever, but they’re still pretty creepy – and powerfully told. 

Get Out (2017)

Jordan Peele’s movies are always hits; Get Out was his first big one. The movie follows a young Black man who travels to his Caucasian girlfriend’s house for the first time to meet her family, only to discover that they hold much darker secrets than ever before. There’s barely any gore in here—all the horror is in the storytelling and how evil humans can be. 

The Ring (2002)

Have you ever heard the phrase “Seven days?” Because it comes from here. Directed by Gore Verbinski and based on the Japanese horror film and novel of the same name, this movie follows the story of a journalist who discovers that when she watches a cursed tape, she will die in seven days—and now she must find a way to survive. Yes, the girl can be a little creepy, but truthfully, the movie isn’t that bad.

Insidious (2010)

When it comes to horror movies about demons , Insidious is pretty much the best you can get because it’s not “poop your pants” scary, but it’s effective in the way it scares. Directed by James Wan, the film follows a married couple who must find a way to save their son when he enters into a coma, and his body becomes host to several vengeful spirits and demons. There are a few jumpscares, but it’s nothing an average person can’t handle. 

Scream (1996)

This film isn’t scary, and I stand by it. Scream is the first in the Scream franchise , and it follows Sidney Prescott as she tries to avoid getting killed by Ghostface, a serial killer in her town. This movie is just a trope city, and there are undoubtedly bloody moments, but not enough to truly scare you. If anything, it’s a love letter to horror movies from decades before. 

Zombieland (2009)

Zombieland was one of the first zombie movies I ever watched, and I think it’s a great horror comedy for first-time viewers. It mainly follows four survivors as they try to survive the zombie apocalypse, but it’s the comedy that keeps you coming back for more. It’s so funny, and some of the ways the zombies are killed are hilarious. It’s one of Emma Stone’s best films . 

An American Werewolf In London (1981)

Starring David Naughton, An American Werewolf in London tells the story of two American backpackers who are attacked by a werewolf. One of them gets bitten, turning him into a werewolf when the moon rises. The scariest thing about this film is the realistic werewolf transformation, but other than that, it’s a great horror movie to start on. 

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

While the found-footage horror genre has only gotten bigger, I often credit The Blair Witch Project as the first to really set it off. The film focuses on a group of film students who are trying to make a documentary about a local legend, only to vanish. Their footage is found a year later—hence the name, “found footage.” The movie has a few scary movies but builds its scares on suspense. 

Jaws (1975)

Will you be scared of sharks a little after this? Sure, but Jaws is iconic for a reason. The film, directed by Steven Spielberg, follows a marine biologist and a shark hunter working together to take down a man-eating great white shark. Yes, the score is as iconic as you think it is.

Alien (1979)

To me, the original sci-fi horror movie was always Alien. The movie, directed by Ridley Scott, follows the space crew as they have to survive aliens that make their way into their vessel. Truthfully, I don’t see the aliens as too creepy—the only thing that’s truly scary is the alien popping out of someone’s chest, but it’s not that bad. 

The Shining (1980)

One of the best Stephen King adaptations is The Shining. Based on the novel of the same name, The Shining follows a family in which a writer takes on the position of off-season caretaker in a hotel, only for him to lose his mind while he’s there. The movie itself is built on suspense and doesn’t really have that many gory or scary moments—it’s just a greatly shot film.

Old is an M. Night Shyamalan movie that follows a group of vacationers who realize that they are aging inexplicably quicker on a beach, to the point where they grow closer and closer to death with each passing hour. I enjoy this film a decent amount and think it’s excellent for first-time horror viewers, mainly because there’s barely any gore, and it’s an exciting concept. 

Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark (2019)

For all my PG-13 peeps, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a great first-time horror movie. Based on novels of the same name, the film follows how horror stories written in an ancient book come to life, and it’s up to three teenagers to figure out how. The movie is creepy, eerie, and so much more – but it doesn’t quite cross the line of unwatchable. I love it. 

Carrie (1976)

Carrie is hands-down one of the best horror films to start watching. The film, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, follows a young woman who is bullied at school. She later finds out that she has telekinetic powers—ones she uses to exact revenge when she’s pushed too far. The film isn’t gory but expertly acted and brilliantly told. 

The Cabin In The Woods (2013)

This sci-fi comedy is everything. The Cabin in the Woods follows a group of close friends who go away to a remote cabin for a weekend. There, they all fall victim to different kinds of killers—only to find out that these killers aren’t who they thought they were. The twist is excellent; you have to watch it. It’s not scary at all. 

A Quiet Place (2018)

A Quiet Place is a great horror movie to start on. The film follows a family who are trying to live in a world where man-eating but blind monsters have taken out much of humanity. They have incredible hearing, and you're dead if you make a sound. The monsters can be a little creepy, but there’s so much more that makes this movie so good. 

Goosebumps (2015)

Goosebumps is an excellent PG-13 pick on here. Based on the R.L. Stine books of the same name, the film follows a group of kids and a fictionalized Stine as they struggle to capture all the monsters in the Goosebumps books when they come to live and terrorize their town. It stars Jack Black and is silly, goofy, and just a little scary – perfect for first-timers. 

The Birds (1963)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, The Birds follows the sudden invasion and attack of birds that look to kill in California and how it came to be. Yes, I know the premise sounds goofy, but it’s a well-shot film and a classic for a reason. 

Child’s Play (1988)

Child’s Play may sound like it’s for children, but it’s not. The film follows a widowed mother who gifts a doll to her son, unaware that a serial killer’s spirit possesses it and is looking to kill again. Look, this movie is goofy as heck. It is. It’s about a doll killing people – you’re not going to have nightmares after. Just make sure the kids don’t see it. 

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Everyone needs a horror musical sometimes. The Rocky Horror Picture Show, starring Tim Curry, is based on the musical of the same name and follows an engaged couple who take refuge in a castle when their car breaks down, only to see that it’s occupied by several interesting and enigmatic people. That’s all I’ll say. Now, let’s do the Time Warp!

Mama (2013)

Starring Jessica Chastain, Mama tells the story of two girls who are brought home by their uncle after their parents die and are haunted by a strange entity. The spirit follows them to their new house. The film certainly focuses more on the love a mother can bring than anything else, but it’s perfect for first-time horror fans. 

With all these options, now I feel like watching some of the best horror movies ever – I think it’s time for a horror movie marathon. 

A self-proclaimed nerd and lover of Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire, Alexandra Ramos is a Content Producer at CinemaBlend. She first started off working in December 2020 as a Freelance Writer after graduating from the Pennsylvania State University with a degree in Journalism and a minor in English. She primarily works in features for movies, TV, and sometimes video games. (Please don't debate her on The Last of Us 2, it was amazing!) She is also the main person who runs both our daily newsletter, The CinemaBlend Daily, and our ReelBlend newsletter. 

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A new king of horror is coming to haunt you

With ‘Late Night with the Devil,’ actor David Dastmalchian is cementing his status as the genre’s next Vincent Price

TORONTO — If ever someone were born to play a vampire, it’s David Dastmalchian, who opens the door to his temporary Edwardian-style home looking like a steampunk Nosferatu. Black linen duster. Chipped black nail polish. Black hair swept skyward from that angular, haunting face you’ll recognize from dozens of small but memorable movie roles.

Dracula socks. Okay, maybe that one’s a little too on the nose.

Had the star of the horror-comedy hit “Late Night with the Devil” — a found-footage flick about a ’70s talk show host who opens a door to hell on live TV — dressed on theme? “No, no, no, this is just David,” he says, laughing.

Dastmalchian is in the midst of what he describes as “one of the most, if not the most, resoundingly incredible and rewarding professional years of my career.” The night of the Oscars, he was in L.A. celebrating the triumphant “Oppenheimer” (he plays William Borden, who wrote a letter to the FBI accusing the physicist of being a Soviet agent). By 5 a.m., he was on a plane to Toronto to start filming a central role as a hacker in “Murderbot,” a sci-fi series for Apple TV Plus starring Alexander Skarsgård as an android. And three days after that, he was in New York to open “Late Night with the Devil,” a collaboration with Australian directors Cameron and Colin Cairnes and Dastmalchian’s first leading role in a movie he didn’t write. It became an out-0f-nowhere mainstream hit, selling out multiplexes, earning an eerie $666,666 its first Sunday in theaters and recording the best-ever opening weekend for its distributor, IFC Films.

Dastmalchian plays Jack Delroy, a wannabe Johnny Carson who’s made an unfortunate deal with the occult in a desperate effort to raise his show’s ratings. The entire movie takes place over a single disastrous, and gruesomely funny, Halloween broadcast featuring a parapsychologist working with a teenage girl possessed by a demon.

Stephen King declared it “absolutely brilliant.” It’s since made $11.1 million on a $3 million budget, with positive reviews from horror and mainstream critics alike. (It’s still in theaters and, in mid-April, became the highest-watched debut in the history of the horror streaming service Shudder.)

LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL: I got a screener. It's absolutely brilliant. I couldn't take my eyes off it. Your results may vary, as they say, but I urge you to watch it when you can. — Stephen King (@StephenKing) March 26, 2023

In many ways, this feels like the start of a new chapter for Dastmalchian, 48, who seems poised to become the new king of horror — a go-to actor for fright films in the vein of Vincent Price, Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff.

“What made Vincent Price so special was that he took the genre seriously and he acted so intensely and beautifully and I think he recognized that the genre can be a way of expressing very human experiences … like grief and trauma,” says Sam Zimmerman, Shudder’s vice president of programming. “And David reminds me of that.”

What separates Dastmalchian from his cohort, beyond his soulful performances, are those striking looks that have led to an impressive career of playing creeps. “I have a love-hate relationship with my face,” Dastmalchian says, fiddling with a water bottle adorned with stickers of the Bride of Frankenstein and Taylor Swift (courtesy of his wife and daughter; he also has a son). “I’m not going to be a matinee idol. And that’s okay.”

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You may remember him as a paranoid schizophrenic acolyte of the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight.” Tortured superhero Polka-Dot Man in “The Suicide Squad.” Pompadoured Russian cybercriminal Kurt in “Ant-Man.” And a favorite of director Denis Villeneuve, who’s killed him off brutally in three films: as a suspected child-abductor in “Prisoners”; a quickly dispatched morgue worker in “Blade Runner 2049”; and bald, red-lipped psychopath Piter de Vries, henchman to Stellan Skarsgård’s Baron Harkonnen in “Dune.”

Villeneuve has joked that Dastmalchian is the first person he thinks of when he has a character who needs to die a miserable death and calls him “an incredibly versatile and tremendously inspiring artist.” The director first noticed him in “The Dark Knight,” and says by email, “I’m fascinated by his range and by the mad poetry he brings on screen.”

It’s in horror, though, that a respected character actor like Dastmalchian, often cast as a bone-chilling sadist, can become a leading man.

I ’m not sure there’s anyone like David circulating at the moment,” says Phil Nobile Jr., editor in chief of Fangoria . “No one looks like David, no one sounds like David. And I think horror fans are taken in because they just recognize him as one of their own.”

Thirty years ago, Nobile explains, horror was considered a ghetto legitimate actors had to claw themselves out of. It’s a sector of the industry that prints money by casting faceless (read: cheap) unknowns because, well, they usually all die by the end.

But Dastmalchian has turned more toward horror as he’s risen in prominence. He was the whistling marauder in “Bird Box” and, just before “Late Night,” could be seen in 2023’s “Boogeyman,” a Stephen King adaptation, and “The Last Voyage of the Demeter,” as a sailor aboard a notoriously doomed 1897 merchant ship from Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” He’s also started a production company, Good Fiend Films, geared toward creating fun, quality genre fare, which he used to help produce “Late Night.”

Dastmalchian — whose wedding ring features a carved skull and crossbones — has always gravitated toward the spooky and the gruesome. For the past three years, he’s hosted horror’s equivalent of the Oscars, the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards . He’s also the author of “Count Crowley,” a comic book about a female vampire hunter. He even became a brand ambassador for Titan Caskets (“At Titan Caskets we have an obvious interest in you dying, but we can wait”).

Even his social life is horror-tastic. He met his close friend Trent Reznor at a haunted house and now they do board game nights together with their families. While in Toronto, he’s been hanging out with the cast from the vampire mockumentary series “What We Do in the Shadows.”

Dastmalchian jokes that it’s all part of his master plan to keep making horror films just to see “if I can get a shot someday at Dracula, because they keep putting me in vampire films and then not letting me be the f---ing vampire! I’m always fighting Dracula or getting killed by him. It makes no sense!”

@titancasket Spring forward and fall back...are two ways it could happen. Let's Bury Daylight Savings. ♬ original sound - Titan Casket

A s the youngest kid of an evangelical family in Kansas City, Kan., he wrestled from an early age with what he now understands was untreated anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation, much of it exacerbated by the bitter divorce of his parents — his father, an Iranian immigrant, was an engineer, and his mother, who could trace her ancestry to the Mayflower, worked in education. At school, he was bullied relentlessly for having vitiligo. (Kids called him “polka-dot,” which would give him unique empathy for the doomed superhero he’d later play.)

Comic books were an escape, while horror was a natural fascination, given the constant talk in their deeply religious household about the afterlife and the watchful eyes of the dead.

“Monsters were always my favorite thing,” he says. “It drove my mother crazy because horror was considered so evil.” He’d secretly check out slasher movies with his older siblings and, on Friday nights, watch a local fright fest, “Crematia’s Friday Nightmare.”

“What I love about [horror] is that, if it’s done properly, it fills the audience with so many physical, visceral experiences. … I think it helps us look down the barrel of the inevitable in a way that feels healthy, and it gives storytellers a way to wrestle with really pointed questions, like what happens when you don’t deal with grief?”

By high school, he was playing the part of a well-adjusted football player dabbling in theater on the side, even as suicidal thoughts crept into everything he did. On a different timeline, he would have gone to a Division II school on a sports scholarship. But he followed a “wild, crazy dream” to audition for the theater conservatory at DePaul University in Chicago and got a scholarship there instead.

Then, at 19, he tried heroin while hanging out with some musician friends he admired.

“It was the first time everything made sense,” he says. “It was the first time all the pain was just gone. … I was just surrounded by complete bliss.”

He thought drugs could help him create art like his hero William S. Burroughs, whom he, coincidentally, met around the time he started using and took as a sign he was on the right path. Instead, he says, “out of theater school it went right to full-time junkie and pretty quickly into homelessness.” He’d sleep in his car, shoplift, run scams where he’d raid gift tables at weddings and sell the spoils at pawnshops. At one point he was running small quantities of heroin down from Chicago into areas south of the Ozarks and taking meth back. He narrowly survived multiple serious suicide attempts and had to be institutionalized twice.

He sometimes still can’t believe he made it out. “I like the term ‘miracle,’” he says. “And I’m just filled with an ocean of gratitude.”

T he doorbell rings.

After a brief conversation with the person at the door, Dastmalchian comes back looking terrified and starts peeking out through the curtains.

It’s a moment straight out of a horror film.

“Oh my god, my heart is racing,” he says. “A very mentally ill woman just came and told me that I’m her universal husband and she’s been waiting for me.”

When he told her she had the wrong house, she smirked silently until he was forced to close the door.

Dastmalchian runs to the street to make sure she’s gone before calling the landlord, only to find out that she’d stopped by his house first. “Did she ask for David?” Dastmalchian wants to know. She had not.

She must have been on drugs — Dastmalchian knows the signs well — but still, it’s weird, and he has had a stalker before.

“I think I’ve played so many people who are mentally ill that [fans] tend to respond to me in a in a really strong way,” he says.

He takes some deep breaths: “I think my initial fear is subsiding. I think we’re safe.”

B y the time Dastmalchian got sober in his mid-20s, he was sure he’d missed his shot. “I robbed myself of prime years for an actor,” he says. He lived in a halfway house and worked odd jobs. His favorite was ushering and working concessions at a Chicago movie theater, where he’d chain smoke and watch films with the projectionists.

It was there that a couple of theater-director friends saw him and convinced him to get back onstage. To his surprise, he was a much better actor sober.

He’d just gotten his biggest on-screen credit, in a Cingular Wireless commercial, when he joined every other character actor in Chicago at a cattle-call audition for “The Dark Knight.” He was devastated when he didn’t get cast as one of the Joker’s henchmen in the opening heist scene.

Then four months later, on a day he was heading to the unemployment office, he got a phone call. “Little did I know that they had saved a much cooler role for me and it changed my life,” he says. He’d be playing a deranged Joker fanboy who can only giggle as Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent shoves a gun into his forehead. The feeling of being on that enormous set, in the company of great actors gave him the fuel that’s carried him through all the Weirdo No. 7 roles that followed: “All you need is one person, somebody just saying, ‘Yes, you belong here. Come on in,’” he says.

The most rewarding experiences of Dastmalchian’s life, he says, are when he’s had the courage to face down his fears — which is a good thing to know about yourself, because he was racked with anxiety in 2021 as he headed to Melbourne to shoot “Late Night with the Devil.” The 1977 world of Jack Delroy, says Dastmalchian, “hinges on how well the guy at the center of the story can pull off being not only a talk-show host but a man who’s on the verge of a dissociative psychotic nervous breakdown.”

The Cairnes brothers, though, had no doubt about Dastmalchian’s abilities. They’d written him a personal letter after reading an essay he’d written in Fangoria about the comfort he’d found in the horror hosts he’d adored as a kid after his mother’s death during covid. They loved how he “is utterly compelling in everything he does, whatever the genre and however big or small the role,” says Colin Cairnes by email.

In Dastmalchian’s hands, Delroy isn’t just a comedian with a dark side, but something more frightening: a charming, ruthlessly ambitious man with nothing but emptiness beneath his mask. And there’s more horror from Dastmalchian to come. Up next, he’s in “Dust Bunny,” a horror-comedy about a little girl seeking revenge on the monster under her bed, and “The Life of Chuck,” a Stephen King adaptation about the end of the world.

“I’m building this little circus of like-minded artists where we’re trying to create genre stories that wrestle with the complicated things that I think are interesting about life,” he says.

But mostly, he’s just staring into the void and enjoying the view.

An earlier version of this article stated that David Dastmalchian was from Kansas City, Mo. He is from Kansas City, Kan. In addition, he was 19, not 24, when he first tried heroin. The article has been updated.

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When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings, they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards. One by one, they come face to fac... Read all When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings, they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death. When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings, they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death.

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Voices : Welcome to the circle. One more at the heart. With this final card, your meeting will start. Follow one rule to stay out of danger. You're never to deal with the deck of a stranger. The Hermit. Magician. High Priestess or Death? Whose face will you see, when you take your last breath?

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Russell crowe is a horror movie actor who begins to unravel in ‘the exorcism’ trailer.

The genre horror film from director Joshua John Miller will see an exclusive theatrical release beginning on June 21.

By Kevin Dolak

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The trailer for the latest take on the demon extraction genre dropped on Thursday with a first look at The Exorcism , which stars Oscar winner Russell Crowe as an actor who begins to unravel while filming a supernatural horror film.

The Exorcism , from director Joshua John Miller, will see an exclusive theatrical release beginning on June 21.

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Per the logline, Crowe stars as Anthony Miller, a “troubled actor who begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film.”

The cast is rounded out with several notable supporting actors, including Sam Worthington ( Avatar: The Way of Water ), Chloe Bailey ( Praise This ), Adam Goldberg ( The Equalizer ) and David Hyde Pierce ( Frasier ).

Miller teamed up with co-writer M.A. Fortin on The Exorcism,  their second film together. The two shared a writing credit on the upcoming project and the hit series Queen of The South ; the duo also wrote and produced The Final Girls . Miller began his decades-long career in Hollywood with a role in Kathryn Bigelow’s vampire genre favorite, Near Dark.

Miller said the film idea stemmed from his childhood spent watching his father, Jason Miller, playing the doomed Father Karras flinging himself out a window at the climax of  The Exorcist .

North American rights to the horror film, formerly known as The Georgetown Project , have been acquired by independent distributor Vertical. It was produced by Miramax, Kevin Williamson and Outerbanks Entertainment.

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EXCLUSIVE : Here’s a hot one. Following their collaboration on hit horror Talk To Me , A24 and filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou are re-teaming on original horror movie Bring Her Back , we can reveal.

The team have set two-time Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins (The Shape Of Water) to star in the movie, which is due to begin production this summer.

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Brit actress Hawkins has only appeared in one horror movie before back in 2007 but was Oscar-nominated for her memorable performance in Guillermo Del Toro’s fantasy creature feature The Shape Of Water . She most recently played Willy’s mother in box office smash Wonka .

Bring Her Back may or may not be on A24’s sales slate for Cannes. The studio is still aligning its priority pre-sales projects. Also in the mix to be on sale in Cannes are buzzy projects including Ari Aster’s starry Eddington , currently in production with Austin Butler, Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal and Joaquin Phoenix; Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s Warfare ; and Bennie Safdie’s wrestling biopic The Smashing Machine , which will see Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson portray former UFC champion, Mark Kerr.

Oz twins Philippou and Michael Philippou (also known together online as RackaRacka), became well known for their horror comedy YouTube videos. Sundance smash Talk To Me , which garnered $92M globally off a $4.5M budget, was their feature debut. They have also been attached to a new Street Fighter movie.

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‘The Exorcism’ Trailer: Russell Crowe Goes Meta as a Troubled Actor Losing His Mind While Making a Horror Movie

By Jack Dunn

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Vertical has released the first trailer for its upcoming supernatural horror film “ The Exorcism ,” starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Simpkins.

According to the official logline, “The Exorcism” follows Crowe as “Anthony Miller, a troubled actor who begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter, Lee (Simpkins), wonders if he’s slipping back into his past addictions or if there’s something more sinister at play.”

Popular on Variety

Crowe continues his streak of horror films after starring in “The Pope’s Exorcist” in 2023 and “Sleeping Dogs” earlier this year. Simpkin is no stranger to the horror genre herself, starring in all three parts of Netflix’s “Fear Street” trilogy, as well as several horror films in the mid-2010s such as “Twixt,” “Hangman” and “Anguish.” Worthington, known best for his work as Jake Sully in the “Avatar” franchise, makes his horror debut with his role as Joe in “The Exorcism.”

“The Exorcism” comes to theaters June 21. Watch the trailer below.

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