Effects of Horror films

Watching horror films regularly would leave a long term effect on audiences, right? The Social Learning Theory in psychology suggests that our behaviour and attitude can be influenced and learned from the people we observe. So, perhaps watching horror films can actually lead audiences to become more aggressive and prone to violence, due to them being exposed to such things in the media. It may also effect audiences in that they are desensitised to real life violence and even gore and therefore some may have a more accepting attitude to violence. There are also short term effects from horror as well; some horror movies (usually the controversial ones) have led people to feel physically sick and some had to discontinue watching.

There have been crimes that, while not necessarily triggered by movies, but were inspired by them in  the way the crime was carried out. For example, in 2001 a girl was murdered by a man who donned the Ghostface costume (from Scream), and another case where two teens attempted to prank an old woman 'Saw' style which instead caused the woman to have a stroke.

However, horror has multiple sub-genres, and not all feature physical violence. There are many horror movies that tries to disturb audiences mentally, or some feature supernatural and paranormal creatures. So what do these films do to us? In such cases, the effect it has on audiences are usually short term. Sleeplessness is common after watching a scary movie; the audience may feel restless and wary of their surroundings due to the lingering fear they felt as they watched the movie. Some may have a small temporary fear that the 'monster' from the movie is real and will go after them.

In some extreme cases, audiences may develop phobias or something in the movie might trigger past trauma.