Watching Horror Media Is Seasonal

Around Halloween, it’s normal for people to watch horror movies and other horror media. But, otherwise, we treat horror as something that’s not normal to watch.

Okay, perhaps I’m being too general here.

Let me roll this back. Let me put it another way.

Fantasy, sci-fi, romance, these are all genres that do not need a holiday or tradition to watch, most of the time. If you walk into a room and someone is watching a rom-com, you might be annoyed—but you’re not going to flee as you might with a horror film.

Most genres of storytelling in modern-day seeks to elicit positive—or at least neutral—feelings in the audience.

Everyone loves a happy ending.

Horror is special and unique because it creates mostly negative emotions.

The goal of a horror story is to upset. To make someone scared.

Make them scream.

Horror Media Is Intense For Casual Viewing

Horror movie marketing shows their films as an endurance test. A measure of bravery just to sit through it. A promise of a perverse thrill.

“How bad could it be?”

And that’s the biggest problem with horror—it’s too niche for what’s happening with it. Let me say, right now, before anyone gets mad, that there are excellent horror movies out there. Not only are they scary, but they have good stories and excellent themes and ideas.

Some horror movies I’d call masterpieces.

And when things like IT do as well as they do, especially culturally, it’s massively impressive.

Celebrate The Big Horror Media Victories

But, horror is so limited, it’s a disadvantage in a usual movie market. Most people don’t have it in them to watch a lot of horror stuff back-to-back (unless it’s culturally encouraged by the Halloween season) or at the same bulk as, say, superhero movies.

But, yet, even with this known, creators make a lot of horror media.

More than anyone could watch or would care to watch.

Now, “too many options” is a problem for just general film watching (and television too), but, this narrowed, this constricted, and with a serious low-quality to a lot of these movies, it’s not an ideal situation.

Horror Media Has Some Garbage Within Its Genre

Even if something is good enough for the attention, it’s still not something a person can watch on a whim—because most people don’t crave being scared at random times during the week.

The world is stressful enough without that.

I’m not saying horror is dying, though. I’m sure they would not make these movies if they did not make money back—that’s just business. I’m more writing this article to bring attention to an art form that honestly could use even more love than it’s getting. That could use a few more people occasionally taking a chance on it outside of Halloween. The success of A Quiet Place, and the sheer power that is Stranger Things and, to a lesser degree, American Horror Stories, gives me hope for an even greater respect for, perhaps, our most controversial genre.

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