A new study by German scientists suggests there’s a genetic explanation as to why horror films amuse some folks, yet fill others with nameless dread. Researchers tested 96 women on their response to crime-scene images and unexpected loud noises, and found that ones with a certain variation of something called the "COMT gene" startled more dramatically than others.
Despite the depth of my scientific knowledge*, I’m not sure how solid the study is. I am, however, vindicated knowing it was not me who, in the middle of a crowded movie theater back in 2002, curled my knees up to my chest, pressed my fists up to my forehead, squinted my eyes, and made a pathetic "eeep" sound when Scary McLonghair crawled out of that television set in The Ring.
So tell me, PopWatchers: Do any of you have the same easily rattled genes as me? And would you be interested in a "cure" for what ails you? (My short answer can be found by clicking here.)
* Took courses called "sociobiology" and "geology" to fill college science requirement.
FINALLY, i have an authentic scientific excuse to use when explaining to my husband (for the zillionth time) that i don’t like scary movies. When he asks why (which he ALWAYS asks), now i can say i am genetically opposed!!
I am another that is genetically predisposed to not want to be in the same room as a horror movie. I’ll hide behind the couch for the next 90 minutes, thankyou. Or better yet, run upstairs and watch that Who documentary on VH1 Classic for the umpteenth time.
Scary McLonghair!!!! That’s awesome.
I didn’t sleep for a week after seeing “Critters” when I was 6 (if you have seen this campy movie, you’ll know my shame). A friend of mine forced me to see the remake of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and I spent the entire movie with my eyes (and ears) covered. I cried at “The Ring” when they showed the first dead girl in the closet. I would rather poke my eyes out that ever watch any of the Saw movies. I get it from my mom – but having studied genetics, it could have just as much to do with environmental factors (being raised by a scardy cat could create a scardy cat) as inheriting genes.
I can’t see movies with wet kids (drowned, in a bathtub, in a well,pool, river, etc..)
Wet kids freak me out!
In my case it actually depends on the type of horror movie. If it’s a Saw or Texas Chainsaw Massacre (i.e. more gross and bloody than really creepy) then yes, I get scared but not sleep with the lights on scared. Movies like the Shining, the Others and the Ring, though, scare the daylights out of me! The Shining will still give me nightmares if I see more than 30 seconds of it…it’s stuck in my subconscious, I guess!
I get MORE rattled if the movie is something that hits close to home..when I was 16 and a babysitter who lived in Illinois, I watched Halloween – a psycho who hunts 16yr old babysitters…I was terrified for, well, ever…
I can’t see movies like “Funny Games” or ones where normal people are terrorized at home (the killer is using the phone upstairs, Carole Kane!)…I immediately think someone has snuck into my house and is waiting for me to turn the lights out…no way…
I can’t handle blood and guts movies – Saw, Hostel, etc…nope…
For some reason, I always jump if I turn a corner in the office and someone is unexpectedly there. Or if I open a door that is completely opaque and someone is immediately on the other side. My coworkers think it’s hilarious. Yet, I love scary movies and am rarely affected by them on any kind of psychological level. So none of it makes much sense to me.
Horror movies just bore the pants off me. It’s just a movie! What’s to be scared of? Unless it’s so bad it’s funny, I spend the whole time yawning. I wish people would give up trying to convert me. It’s not happening.
That movie completley creeped me out, but why people didn’t FLEE once the ghost started comming thru the TV was beyond me.
Only when Jack Nicholson is limping around with an axe in his hand…
I’m even more easily rattled than you, Slezak. After spending years watching all the scary Jason/Michael Myers/Freddy/Exorcist movies, and sleeping with the lights on, and having really bad dreams, and devising escape routes out of my apartment as I was lying awake at night, because some movie scared the you-know-what out of me, I finally asked “why am I doing this to myself?” And I just stopped. I don’t watch anything scary like that anymore, and I sleep much better!
It’s ridiculous to me that my four and a half year old daughter isn’t afraid of the creepy scarecrows on Dr. Who, but I am. Especially since she keeps rubbing it in that they don’t scare her at all!
CSI gives me nightmares, and that is the only “scary” thing I can watch!!
I would rather poke my eyes out than watch Saw too. I do NOT do well with torture and suspense. And blood. And psycho killers. And if there is an animal in a house, like a dog or cat, I freak too. Good to know its all in my genes!!
I hate horror movies. I can’t watch any of them. But, that is not the shameful thing. That lies with my brother. He was scared of the Michael Jackson video “Thriller” when we were kids.