October 29, 2025
From Psycho to Hereditary, horror films have long mirrored our collective fears. But today’s fascination with true-crime dramas and serial-killer stories—like Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story—may suggest something deeper at play. As audiences crave both terror and understanding, the line between entertainment and ethics grows thin.
Jonathan Knipp, senior lecturer of media and cinema studies who teaches a class on horror movies, shares his perspective on the psychology of horror films—why people like them, how and when the industry has changed, and where the genre might be headed in the future.
Why do people want to watch horror films? From a psychological perspective, why do so many of us enjoy the feeling of being scared?
I think all moviegoing (to the theater) is a ritual. But horror movies have an interesting distinction. People leave their houses to get scared so they can share the experience of not just encountering common anxieties, but working through them, too. You reach the climax…and you survived! Horror movies can be traumatizing (hello, Hereditary) but they also end. Is it too much to say that it’s kind of an exorcism?
Are there certain cinematic techniques or storytelling devices that consistently provoke fear or fascination in audiences?
Some of my students say that they only get scared if what they’re seeing “could really happen,” whatever that means (probably slasher movies and pursuit narratives). Others get freaked out by occult themes and devilry. There’s a tendency to dismiss “jump scares” as cheap and cliche, but audiences still jump.
How has the horror genre evolved over the years? What’s changed the most in how these films are made?
CGI replaced the reliance on practical effects, which many audiences dislike. Now there is a bit of a pushback, with filmmakers going back to the arcane use of makeup applications and puppetry but with digital gloss. Sometimes it works really well, like in The Substance. I think one of the biggest developments (in my lifetime) is the PG-13 horror movie, which is great because younger people are drawn to them. But it can also leave you wondering where all the blood and guts have gone.
Many point to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 Psycho as a turning point for horror. What makes this film stand out in the genre?
Hitchcock famously used the crew of his TV show to make it. That means they worked fast and cheap. Psycho shows a master filmmaker going down and dirty while still creating images that are composed and sequences that are still shocking in their effectiveness. Also, this film signaled a movement away from monster movies towards antagonists that were…human.
The new Netflix series about Ed Gein has stirred a lot of discussion. Is it ethical to portray real-life killers in ways that might make them seem sympathetic or even humanize them?
I think this is a case-by-case thing. It’s important to remember that these crimes are committed by people and not monsters. The more we understand, the more we can efficiently profile these criminals. That’s the theory at least. It’s like the topics of gun violence and suicide. They need to be understood, but there’s always a risk of glorifying the crime and/or triggering the spectator.
Why do you think horror tends to thrive during certain cultural or political moments? What do our fears on-screen say about us as a society?
Horror movies go in cycles. They can reflect the times or simply current trends. A surprise hit can result in a lot of imitations, like when Scream inspired a lot of self-referential horror movies. When audiences gravitate towards social media, you get a bunch of horror movies about the Web. In the ’50s, it was radioactive monsters. In the ’70s, you have counterculture horror movies inspired by Manson and many that match the political disillusionment of the era. Sometimes it’s hard to determine what cycle you’re in until you leave it.
What do you see as the future of horror?
More long-form series, like the ones Mike Flanagan makes for Netflix (The Fall of the House of Usher is great). More short-form, social media-inspired content. Can TikTok be scary? Some enterprising content creator will probably find out.
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