Introduction: When the Lights Are out Fear is a good feeling to experience. It stimulates the brain, helps to put oneself together and act fast yet efficiently. However, one would not expect that people would want to experience fear. However, they do, which the rates of classic horror movies show. Although people generally consider horror movies pointless nerve-tickler, this genre attracts many viewers, since it has a lot to offer for the audience in psychological, physiological and social aspects. The Psychological Aspect: It Feels Good to Be Alive Movies offer a lot of food for thoughts and affect people’s subconscious greatly, which means that the psychological motives for people to watch horror movies deserve being considered first. Though it is generally considered that the motivations of those who enjoy horror movies to watch something that disturbing concern mostly the need to feel excited, there is much more to it than meets the eye. A look at what movies can offer for one’s subconscious will explain a lot. Beware the petrifying beast: warning of evil It is commonly known that those who are forewarned are forearmed. As a bunch of messages that the movie director gives to the viewers, horror movies can be considered a lesson about violence and brutality, which one can face in real life as well. Of course, the chances that one meets a Giant Purple People Eater are rather low, yet not all horror movies are directed in a sci-fi genre; many of them offer typical suburban settings and a quite realistic portrayal of a serial killer. On a second thought, even the horror movies featuring supernatural monsters can be considered as a metaphor of the cruel world that people live in. A monster under your bed: the change of settings As it was said above, a lot of horror movies follow the traditions of the genre and have their characters portrayed in the most ordinary settings imaginable, which can be a small town, a ranch, a flat in a megalopolis, etc. Though one might have thought that such plain setting kills the entire thrill, in fact, it produces a petrifying effect because of the idea that something that terrible can happen literally everywhere, including the place where the viewer lives. This is a successful attempt to cash in on every child’s ancient fear of the monster under the bed. Making the audience believe that what is happening can actually be true, the movie thrills the viewers into paying attention. Motivation for living: it could have been worse Paradoxically, watching the movies in which the characters get terribly harmed or killed mercilessly can make the audience appreciate their lives more. Though this kind of motivation definitely reveals some of the least appealing features of people’s nature, it still serves the purpose, namely, making people appreciate their own lives. After the victim in the movie encounters a monster or experiences any other kind of life threat, an instant thought rushes through the viewer’s mind: “Thank God, this is not me.” As the movie ends and the audience realize that what they have just witnessed is finally over, they start appreciating their life just for the sake of it. The Physiological Aspect: From Fear to Euphoria and Back