Why We Love Horror Movies?我們為什么鐘愛恐怖電影？

Do you like scary movies？ Of course you do. That’s why you’re here， reading this article， dressed as Ghostface from Scream， polishing your knives in anticipation of the new movie. But perhaps a more interesting question for Ghostface to have asked 26 years ago is not whether you do like scary movies， but why do you like scary movies. Why are we so drawn towards an experience that makes us feel so much fear and revulsion， which is tailor-made to cause us as much distress as possible？

你喜歡看恐怖電影嗎？毫無疑問，你是喜歡的，不然你也不會坐在這里，讀著這篇文章，穿著《驚聲尖叫》中的“鬼面”服裝，把小刀擦得雪亮，急切盼望著新電影的上映。然而，如果“鬼面”在26年前向你提問，他可能不會問你是否真的喜歡看恐怖電影，而是問你為什么喜歡看恐怖電影這個更有趣的問題。那么，我們為什么會被這種令人膽戰心驚、心生厭惡的體驗所吸引呢？這種體驗就是為了讓我們感受盡可能多的痛苦而精心設計的。

“People who are high in sensation-seeking tend to get pleasure from extreme feelings，” explains Coltan Scrivner， a researcher at the University of Chicago who specialises in the psychology of morbid curiosity， “and horror movies are one way for them to do that. But also they are only a sub-portion of the people who enjoy horror.”

芝加哥大學心理學家科爾坦·斯克里夫納專長于病態好奇心理的研究，他解釋道：“愛追求刺激的人往往能從極端的感覺中獲得快感，而觀賞恐怖電影正是他們達成這種目的的方式之一。但追求刺激的人只占恐怖片愛好者的一小部分。”

Most people， according to Scrivner， are ‘white knucklers’， people who are genuinely afraid of horror movies but still enjoy them. “These are the people who feel as if they learn something about themselves through scary experiences，” he says.

斯克里夫納表示，大多數人其實是“極度緊張之人”，他們雖然非常害怕恐怖電影，但依舊樂此不疲。他補充道：“這些人認為，正是那些可怕的經歷，讓他們對自己有所了解。”

“White-knuckle” means “causing or experiencing fear or anxiety，” similar to the Chinese saying “causing sweaty palms.”

white-knuckle（字面意思為“泛白的指關節”）表示“引起或感到恐懼或焦慮”，它與漢語中“捏一把汗”頗為相似。

“This matches up with data which shows that kids who engage in thrilling or scary play might be at a lower risk for things like anxiety later in life， because they’re learning how to navigate negative emotions， high arousal， and learning that they can get through those situations.”

“這與研究數據不謀而合：據統計，參與驚悚或恐怖游戲的兒童，在未來生活中患焦慮等心理疾病的風險相對較低。這是因為他們在游戲中學會了如何駕馭負面情緒和高度興奮，學到了這類情況是可以克服的。”

This leads into one of the more popular theories in the field， which is that horror allows us to rehearse scary and dangerous situations in a safe space. “Anxiety and fear are feelings that people tend to avoid in everyday life，” says Scrivner， “so we don’t have a lot of practice at it. But experiencing those emotions in a playful way allows you to feel in control. It’s like a flight simulator.”

這引出了一個在心理學界頗為流行的理論：通過觀看恐怖電影，我們得以在安全的環境中演練那些危險恐怖的情境。斯克里夫納解釋道：“在日常生活中，人們往往傾向于回避焦慮、恐懼等情緒，因此在這方面少有練習。然而，借助看恐怖電影這種有趣味的方式體驗這些情緒，我們能夠感受到自己的控制感，就像是操縱飛行模擬器一樣。”

Some of the dangers and fears that we rehearse in horror have their roots in primal fear. A popular horror film technique， for example， is to mimic dangerous， natural sounds that instinctively signify danger—like The Exorcist， which mixed recordings of angry bees and people screaming.

我們在恐怖片中體驗到的某些危險和恐懼，根植于人類的原始恐懼。比如一種常見的恐怖片拍攝技巧是模仿那些令人本能感到危險的自然聲響，像電影《驅魔人》就將憤怒的蜂群嗡鳴與人群尖叫這兩種錄音融為一體。

“There are a lot of studies showing that people are able to， without any experience， pay attention to snakes more than other kinds of dangers，” says Scrivner， who again compares horror to the games we played as children. “A game like tag seems fairly benign，” he says， “but if you think about it， it’s really just predator-chase play. It’s the same with hide-and-seek， where you’re essentially hiding from someone out to get you.”

“大量研究表明，與其他危險相比，人們能夠對蛇類保持更高警覺，即便他們沒有與蛇類接觸的經歷。”斯克里夫納說道，并且再度將童年游戲與恐怖聯系在一起。“捉人之類的游戲看似無害，”他說，“但深入思考后，你會發現它其實是一種被捕食者追逐的游戲。這和捉迷藏一樣，你本質上是在躲避那些想要抓住你的人。”

However， sometimes the fears that scary movies tap into are more literal and relevant. Scrivner notes that in if you look at the Google trend map for American searches and type in coronavirus， “you will see a small bump in January 2020 and then a large peak in mid-March”. The peaks correspond with early information about the virus and then the announcement of restrictions a few months later.

然而，有時恐怖電影所描繪的恐懼是更加真正意義上的，也更切中現實。斯克里夫納提到，通過谷歌趨勢圖查看美國民眾對“冠狀病毒”的搜索數據，可以發現2020年1月有一次小幅度上升，而到了3月中旬則出現了明顯的搜索高峰。這些搜索峰值的出現恰好與早期的病毒信息以及數月后宣布的限制措施時間相合。

“But if you also search for horror movies you’ll see the same trend—a bump in early January， a larger peak in March，” he says. Does this suggest that people were using the safe space of horror to process scary real-life events？ “The big example is [pandemic thriller] Contagion becoming super popular in March and April of 2020，” he says. “It showed what a pandemic might look like， but in a safe way.”

斯克里夫納指出：“但如果你再查看恐怖電影的搜索數據，你會發現一個同樣的趨勢——1月初有一個小高峰，而到了3月份則出現了一個更大的高峰。”這是否意味著人們正借助安全環境中的恐怖體驗，來應對現實生活中的可怕事件？他繼續說道：“一個典型的例子是，2020年的3月和4月，（流行病題材的驚悚片）《傳染病》變得異常熱門。它讓人看到疫情可能的樣子，但卻是以一種安全的方式來呈現的。”

But of course， people don’t just watch horror movies for educational purposes. They watch them because they are enjoyable. Scrivner suggests that this has a lot to do with our sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems， which regulate bodily functions such as heart rate and arousal.

當然，人們看恐怖電影并非僅僅為了接受教育，更多的是因為它們的趣味性。斯克里夫納指出，這背后其實有我們的交感神經系統和副交感神經系統在起作用，這兩個系統共同調節著我們的心率和興奮等生理反應。

“Think of them like two gas pedals，” he explains. “When you’re getting ramped up and anxious， your sympathetic nervous system increases things like heart rate and adrenaline output. And then once you overcome a dangerous situation， the sympathetic nervous system calms down just a little bit and the parasympathetic ramps up.

他解釋說：“可以把這兩個系統想象成兩個油門踏板。當你感到緊張不安時，交感神經系統會加快心率和腎上腺素分泌等生理過程。而當你克服了某種危險情況后，交感神經系統會稍有平靜，此時副交感神經系統則開始發揮主導作用。

“The parasympathetic is more of your rest and relaxation. It increases digestion. It releases those feel-good hormones; basically， the same things that drugs do to make you feel good.”

“副交感神經系統主要負責休息和放松。它促進消化，釋放那些讓人感覺愉悅的激素。基本上，它與藥物令人產生的愉悅效果有著異曲同工之妙。”

So， by simulating the experience of overcoming something dangerous—like surviving a jump-scare or finishing a horror movie – you can essentially trick the parasympathetic nervous system into spiking and giving you a rush of pleasure and relief. Who needs rollercoasters when you have a knife emerging from the dark？

因此，通過模擬克服危險的經歷，不論經歷了突發驚嚇的緊張，還是完成了一部恐怖電影的觀賞，實際上都是在欺騙我們的副交感神經系統，使其產生興奮，從而帶給我們一陣愉悅和放松的感覺。當看見黑暗中冒出一把刀子，誰還會想坐過山車來尋求刺激呢？