This is a weird question maybe but why do you enjoy watching horror? It’s a question I often have whenever I watch something really fucked up. We humans like to watch movies that are messed up and sometimes makes us not being able to sleep. It’s a very long time since a movie effected me to that point.
So what’s the reason you enjoy horror? Is it because you like being scared? For me one of the main reason I like horror is that I get so focused on the movie that I can get a pause from life. I’ve been struggling with depression all my life and horror gets me to focus on the movie at hand instead of my thoughts, or at least that’s how it is at my worst times. So maybe horror also have become a guilty pleasure for me because of this.
Note that I don’t enjoy horror just because of my depression. Horror is my favorite genre, but it’s something that has that effect on me and that helps.
It’s fun to inoculate yourself against real-world fears and uncertainties by using them as entertainment. Horror tends not to flinch when it tackles the darker side of human nature. It also works well as a foil or companion to comedy, either used as a wild juxtaposition (Evil Dead 2) or to subvert established genre tropes (Tucker & Dale Vs Evil or The Rise of Leslie Vernon).
Horror as social commentary is a proud tradition (Romero’s Living Dead films being the highest profile example; Bodies Bodies Bodies worked well if you like more recent film). Lately I’ve been really enjoying horror as allegory for human conditions that society as a whole finds difficult to face (Lake Mungo and Nina Forever come to mind).
It’s great escapism and an insanely flexible genre that can be used and abused without suffering damage. In the right hands, its extreme nature and boundary pushing can be far more revelatory than standard drama. Plus, everyone loves a good spooky story.