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“The body’s fear response is pretty generic,” says Liz Phelps, a psychology and neuroscience professor at New York University who studies fear and other emotions. Whether the perceived threat is real or imagined, the body will kick into fight-or-flight mode--albeit to a lesser degree at the movies. “It’s an automatic, hard-wired response to a threat and evolved across species to prepare our bodies to act quickly,” she explains.
Fortunately there are ways, short of fleeing the theater, to counter this genetic programming. Phelps wisely notes that fear makes people avoid the things they're afraid of, e.g., fear of creepy movies = avoidance of creepy movies. So treating phobias often involves incremental exposure to the object of fear—say, subjecting an acrophobe to increasing degrees of height. Another option is to learn to regulate emotions. “You reappraise the situation to make it more positive, like seeing the glass half full,” says Phelps.
For the screening of Shutter Island, I decided to take the doctor’s advice and focus on anything but the hair-raising elements. Forget about the looming island and think about the cameraman leaning out of a helicopter to get the shot. Ignore the fact that you know the dead figure lying in a heap will suddenly open her eyes, and notice instead how pretty her hair is. Never mind the lab-coat doctor pulling out a syringe in the flickering corridor, just think about what fabulous acting is going on.
The result: I thoroughly enjoyed the artistry of Martin Scorsese’s latest film.
As it turned out, the movie was less about creepiness and horror, and more about one man’s psychological spiral, deftly done with overtones of Hitchcock and his frequent collaborator, composer Bernard Hermann. The film’s dark and stormy atmosphere and ominous score became points of aesthetic pleasure. Instead of hunkering down and averting my eyes from the screen, I simply relished the moody compositions and those deep, insistent bass chords.
-Luna Shyr
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Comments
Feb 23, 2010 12PM #
I visited imdb.com to see the review. The rating is great. Another movie to watch.
Feb 23, 2010 12PM #
Hi,
I found your strategy for disarming scary movies very interesting, mostly because it's something I have used with my children (and myself) for years. You'd think the movie would be ruined by thinking of how the shot was set up, etc, but sometimes you just need to take a step back and remember that it's just a movie and not for real. Thanks for explaining the psychological background for this strategy.
Feb 23, 2010 12PM #
I looked at the movie in a different light after reading your review. I'm betting he's No. 67. (It was still creepy watching the trailer though)
Feb 23, 2010 12PM #
Scary movies did always scare
Me so much that my heart would pound
So hard in that theatre there.
To not be fearful fleeing bound,
I thought in ways to soothe my mind,
That this was just a movie made,
With watchers in front and behind.
A calm came and my fears did fade.
And now I watch these movies all
In this theatre where I dwell.
The time somehow has seemed to stall
Somewhere between heaven and hell.
I'm haunting here from long ago,
When stabbed to death watching "Psycho."
Feb 23, 2010 12PM #
Hope I'm wrong, but nothing really surprises me anymore (too many movies I guess). Haven't been caught off guard with an ending since The Sting and The Crying Game.Thanks for throwing some light on the story of the movie.
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