As many fans of horror films know, there are two typical endings in this genre: the traditional ending – when good beats evil and everything returns to normal – and the teaser – when the evil survives. I read a study about this subject conducted by psychologists Cynthia M. King and Nora Hourani. Their goal was to try and determine which of the endings audiences preferred and whether their preferences were determined by their incentive for watching the films.
Regarding incentive King and Hourani cite a 1995 study that specifies two main categories of horror movie viewers: thrill and gore-watchers. Thrill-watchers, according to this study, “...enjoy being scared by horror via their empathy for film protagonists” (King and Hourani 4). The two then hypothesize that thrill-watchers will prefer more traditional endings because of their empathy for the victims. Gore-watchers, on the other hang, exhibit less compassion for the victims and instead watch horror movies because they enjoy “...graphic portrayals of blood, death, and even physical torture” (King and Hourani 4). For this type of viewer, the psychologists hypothesize that a teaser ending will be preferable because it leaves open the option of a sequel and, thus, further destruction. At the conclusion of the experiment, King and Hourani’s first hypothesis was supported while the second wasn’t. They found that, as an overall rule, viewers prefer traditional endings.
This article really stuck with me. As a non-viewer of horror films, the limited knowledge of their plots that I have comes from my friends and their opinions. The majority of the films that I’ve heard about are either the classics, like The Shining, or the series, such as the Saw and Scream films. Based on my knowledge, I would have expected teaser endings to be much more successful and enjoyable because they leave room for future films. The article also really interested me because it provided summaries of various theories as to why people enjoy horror films, a question that I have always had. I really want to do further research on the subject for another blog.
Works Cited
King, Cynthia M., and Nora Hourani. "Don’t Tease Me: Effects of Ending Type on Horror Film Enjoyment." Media Psychology 9.3 (2007): 473-92.
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This is a very interesting point. I love horror movies, and honestly I think the ending will make or break the movie (sometimes this is the case for other types of movies as well). I know from my personal experience that if I watch a movie and enjoy it but the ending is awful, I usually tell other people not to see it. From my point of view, once everything begins to unfold in the end, it will make or break the film (just like I said). I know sometimes I like to go back and watch a movie that has a ridiculous twist at the end again and find the clues that discreetly hint towards the finale (like in the movies The Others and The Sixth Sense), but with a bad ending, frankly I don't want to give another thought about the film.
ReplyDeleteAs for the teaser, I can understand why you would think that teasers are the best endings. From what I perceive, I think that teasers are less popular because the likelihood of a horror movie sequel being decent tends to be rare. Personally, I like the Saw films because 1) they are gory as hell (to put it simply ... though I can't explain why it intrigues me), 2) the endings tend to be unexpected leaving the watcher with the thought, "What the hell, that's ridiculous," and 3) Saw has proven that the sequels are just as good as the original. The twists and the gore and its success lead it to be, in my opinion, a great series.
As I said, the end of a movie will typically determine whether or not someone likes film. It was a great idea to do this as a blogpost, as it is one of the most important aspects of horror movies.