Death In Horror Movies

Death is a very distressing subject to talk or think about, that is why according to Stephen King, America’s best-known writer of horror fiction, we watch horror movies. King goes to explain that, every time we watch a horror movie we are being provided some type of psychic relief by stepping into the, “simplicity, irrationality, and even outright madness [of a horror movie]…allowing our emotions a free rein,” and separating us from having to face the reality of death (qtd. in Axelrod & Cooper 422). We all watch horror movies because they provide a cathartic effect, allowing us to express our painful fears and repressed thoughts of death in a creative way, by offering an emotional release. But according to psychiatrist and psychotherapist, Carl Jung, “dreams and fantasies [and questions]… arise from personal repressions,” therefore, our personal repression of death will later cause us to call in to question the possibility of death becoming a reality by a zombie apocalypse (Jung 931). This puts both Jung’s idea of questions, and King’s idea of movies, in the same category. Knowing that the movie is only fictional and that we will go unharmed, allows us to continue our repression of death, hiding our true fears, and continuing to show that we are unafraid but, “always [hoping]…that the thing we are afraid of will not happen” because it is something still unknown as German philosopher and diplomat, Kurt Riezler, states in his article (Riezler 489). But in fact, horror movies only tame our fear, because if an apocalyptic disaster were to occur, in this case a zombie apocalypse, then horror would arise and lead to a psychological breakdown.

Horror takes root during a zombie apocalypse and the horror is only intensified by the governm...

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...onsciousness of all of life’s realities blends all our fears together. A zombie apocalypse would overturn all the things that were consistent in our lives and make them inconsistent; creating great unreliability of anything we once relied on. The absence of trust, security, reassurance, or protection keeps us on our feet, creating paranoia, anxiety, and disassociation amongst humanity. Our full awareness and knowledge of death emerges a fear in us for life and life beyond, causing the behavior of an entire nation to change due to its inability to understand how to act or what to do in an apocalyptic disaster. Instead, people depend on their government, and hold on to the only words and follow any orders that they are given in order to survive and refrain from detaching themselves from their mother. In doing so they avoid having to face life’s horrors on their own.