It’s a great week for fans of the horror genre on the smaller screen. Tonight sees the return of Ryan Murphy’s “American Horror Story,” and this Sunday AMC’s “The Walking Dead” is back.
These are just two of a growing television genre (“Hannibal” and “Bates Motel”…to name a few), which begs the question, why the popular fascination with the horror genre?
The simple answer is fear.
We love to scare ourselves. There’s nothing quite like the adrenaline rush of not knowing what terror is lurking around the corner, waiting to appear without any warning.
Of course that’s not the only answer for why we keep watching. After all, zombies eating people’s faces off, and Jessica Lange can only entertain us for so long.
Believe it or not, all of you non-horror-viewers, it’s the compelling storytelling that keeps us coming back for more. The darker corners of human nature makes for some riveting drama, and also provide a platform for reinventing the tried and true stories of humanity through a different lens.
For example, the tale of “the outsider” we’ve all heard or seen a hundred times recaptures your imagination when told through a story about a mental institute, the Catholic Church, and a serial killer.
Or perhaps, the always debatable topic of what makes someone human, except for in a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested world.
I’m sure my fellow fans could come up with a million more reasons for why we love our horror television, but basically, it’s because they make us laugh, scream, and turn all the lights on.
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…just for fun:
