What are some things that make a movie scary? Maybe it’s moments of silence and suspense. Maybe it’s loud jumpscares. Or maybe it’s a gruesome death scene. But do these elements, especially the gore, make a scene scary in a good way or just plain scary? Well, it depends on who you ask. 

Personally, I am a huge fan of horror movies, but I dislike heavy gore. I can stand it, but I don’t particularly enjoy watching the characters on screen suffer. Especially when it comes to a well-developed character. When a character is well developed, you find yourself rooting for them and sometimes even relating to them. So, why do some people enjoy the violence while others don’t?

Lilly is a student here at Quartz Hill who enjoys gory movies. “I like gore in movies because one, it has given me a tolerance for dark and scary things. And two, it adds to the thrill of the movie.”, she says. She gives a very good point. People who enjoy scary movies usually enjoy it for the thrill, and gore can intensify that feeling. It can even shock the viewer if they’re not expecting it.

But how about the other side? Valentina is another student here who does not enjoy gore in movies. “Why would I want to see people getting cut in half, or blood everywhere?” she says. And she also gives a good point, in that sometimes it can seem boring. If you aren’t very invested or if the special effects are too heavy, it can just seem like pointless violence. It has to be done right to give viewers the intended effect.

Both sides make a good argument. Blood and guts can disturb some viewers who easily get queasy. It can make some viewers feel sympathy for the victims, which is generally not a positive feeling. However, it can make a film much, much scarier. This can lead to a sort of moral dilemma. Becoming desensitized to this type of media is not the best. The people on screen are humans, and we should have empathy for them. We (hopefully) shouldn’t enjoy watching real humans suffer. On the other hand, nobody is actually in pain. Everything we see in the films is fake, and as we’re watching, we’re aware of this fact.

According to Mount Sinai, “…a study published today in PLOS One found that each person’s reaction to violent images depends on that individual’s brain circuitry, and on how aggressive they were to begin with.” This proves that the answer to our question really does depend on who is asked. In the study, two groups of men were shown violent media. Individuals with aggressive tendencies reported feeling more “inspired and determined”, while those without reported feeling more “nervous and upset”. This is not to say that those who enjoy gory movies are more aggressive than those who don’t. It merely shows that there may be psychological reasons behind these preferences.

So, who is really in the right? Thankfully, we don’t need to know this answer for sure. Because at the end of the day, it is still a matter of opinion and personality. I, however, still prefer my scary movies to be more suspenseful than gruesome.