September 19, 2025 • 19 mins
George Noory and neuroscientist Austin Lim explore his research into the impact of horror and science fiction movies on the human brain, why we enjoy being scared by movies since we face few threats in daily life, and if audiences react differently to modern horror movies than the classics.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast AM on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
And welcome back to Coast to Coast George Nori with you.
We've got a great couple hours coming up for you.
Austin lim PhD is a University of Chicago trained neuroscientists
and lecturing professor at De Paul University, where he teaches
a course that explores how science fiction authors have used
the very popular scientific advances of their time to inspire
(00:27):
their creative works. His work has appeared in Scientific American,
US News, and World Report. His book is called Horror
on the Brain. He's got a tour coming up. We'll
talk about that as well. Austin, Welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Hi George, thank you, thrilled to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Looking forward to that. How in the world did you
tie in the brain, neuroscience and science fiction. How did
that all come together?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Well?
Speaker 4 (00:55):
A lot of it's sort of from my personal background.
I've always enjoyed science fiction. I've really enjoyed horror and feeling,
you know, eerie and getting those the goosebumps. And I
just love October in general. It's a wonderful season. As
we start to think about Halloween, more and more and professionally.
(01:16):
I've always been thinking about how the brain works, and
I've always been curious about that, So it was just
kind of a natural mashup of my two worlds colliding.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
October is one of my favorite months to us, and
I loved this season. The weather cools down. It's just perfect,
isn't that.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
Yeah, it's been pretty warm on and off around here,
so I'm in Chicago bet a warm summer, so I'm
looking forward to when it starts getting really really pleasant outside.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Tell us about your neuroscience background.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
Yeah, so I sort of stumbled into neuroscience really accidentally
as a kid.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I've always liked the science.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
I remember my parents let me set up a little
chemistry lab quote in Quotations, where I just had a
bunch of, you know, plastic bottles filled with all kinds
of random, gross stuff that I would just collect from
nature and outside. But it sort of took a turn
where I thought I wanted to do something else completely
(02:21):
as an undergrad, and then I just came across part
of one of the requirements for graduation was taking a
class in the psychology department, and I was kind of
a late registrant and I ended up with the only
class available being Introduction to Neuroscience, and I thought it
was the most interesting stuff, just mind blowing material. I
(02:45):
was just so curious about everything. I remember just studying
that and pretty much nothing else when I was taking
that class, and it just sort of sparkled out of
control from there, and all I could think about was
just things. I just want to know more about how
our brains work, the underlying changes, or when people develop
(03:09):
some kind of brain related illnesses.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
I just got really fascinated by all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Is there an extensive scientific study of the brain.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
It's a very young field, so especially in comparison to
many of the other academic disciplines when we think about
chemistry or physics or biology. People have been curious about
that stuff for really, really long, but the study of
how the brain works has sort of been at the
(03:45):
whims of how advanced the technology is. So for example,
we didn't get our first really good scientific descriptions of
what the brain looks like under a microscope until the
eighteen hundreds, so really the origin of having the correct
(04:06):
tools to study how the brain works, it's only one
hundred and twenty one hundred and thirty years old as
far as understanding what's going on at a level where
we can gain some really powerful knowledge.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
What fascinates me about the brain, Austin is the fact
that different sections of the brain allow you to do
different things. One section is for memory and otherwise for personality.
It's just amazing, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Yeah, it's just so many We're just capable of doing
so many different things.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
And the brain is such a small part.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Of our body realistically, right, it's two percent of our
body weight, and it's doing all of these things for us.
There's just so much specialization with what we can get
from the brain.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
In your book Horror on the Brain, you talk a
lot about fear. Tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Yeah, fear is one of the more primal emotions, right,
it's There's an excellent quotation from HP Lovecraft where he
says that fear is one of our oldest and strongest emotions. Now,
he wasn't a scientist. He was, you know, one of
the main voices in the weird fiction movement, but he
(05:31):
was totally accurate about this.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Our processing of.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Fear is one of the most key survival elements that
our brain's capable of processing.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Do you think people like to be scared Austin. Do
we get a kick out of that?
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Yeah? People.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
I think people secretly love being scared, or at least surprised.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
If they don't say it.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
I think they they're, you know, their oldest evolutionary part
of their brain. They love that little bit of sensation, right.
People say they don't like horror movies sometimes because the
images stick around with them and it gives them nightmares,
and they'll say things like that. But I think that
(06:19):
there's an enjoyment that comes out of exploring these feelings
that we don't normally get that often in our real
day to day lives.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
How many horror movies or sci fi movies have you seen?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Do you think in your career? Oh? Boy, that's a
good question.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Things have sort of slowed down with when it comes
to seeing movies, just because I don't have too much
time to consume as much media as I really want to.
Sometimes I'll throw on a movie in the background, but wow,
a few hundred at least, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
It's probably not doesn't.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
Sound like that much, probably, but it's all just sort
of stuff that I'm seeing in my spare time.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
But it's safe to say, you've probably seen almost all
of them out there.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
It's tough to know there.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
I was reading this old quotation from Arthur C. Clark,
one of the early science fiction leaders, especially when it
comes to the space stuff. He was saying that at
some point he felt that he was going to be
the last generation who could have seen or could have
read all of the science fiction that was being published.
(07:35):
But things have changed quite a bit in the world
of publishing since since he wrote that stuff.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
And I feel like that quotation is from the sixties
or so.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
So there's just so much media to consume out there,
and you know, there's the there's all these different awards
that are given to science fiction authors and to horror
authors as as a literary genre that doesn't get as
much credit I think as it's due. And yeah, there's
(08:07):
just so much media out there. I want to be
able to consume all of it.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Have you seen one of the original Dracula movies? Not
sat too.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
I have the black and white one, right, you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
That creepy guy.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Wow, Yeah, it really summons the feelings that you know,
Bram Stoker's Dracula elicited back when it was published. You know,
times have changed quite a bit, so if you go
back and watch that from the modern lens, you'll think
about all these ways that it would be different.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Or how it could be more accessible to people.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
But it was really you know, at its time, it
was Yeah, it was super creepy.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
What a sci fi? What what are horror films?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Due to the brain?
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Yeah, so science fiction and horror, they they push people
in a comfortable space. Right, So when we're watching movies,
a lot of times we're watching it at home or
maybe we're at the theater, but in both cases they
are safe environments, right, especially considering that, for you know,
(09:28):
we're living in the safest time that has ever been, right.
Homicide rates have fallen over the past centuries, so we're
not exposed to the kinds of threats and fears that
our evolutionary ancestors were. Right, when we think about cave people,
(09:48):
they were exposed to genuine threats at a on a
regular interval, and so we have this adaptation where we
probably want to have that occasional burst of fear. And
one thing that horror does is that it replaces those
(10:08):
genuine threats, whether it's you know, being attacked by a
tiger or a large cat or bear, or whatever threats
there are, or other people. Usually it replaces that with that.
It gives you that sensation, It activates your body in
a way that we don't normally get and it puts
(10:29):
us in touch with the evolutionary systems that are there
in our bodies that just doesn't get activated as often
anymore in these days.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Who would you say might be one of the best
sci fi or horror writers out there? Stephen King?
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Stephen King's a classic.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Love his early works, for sure, there are right now there.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I think I feel like the horror genre.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Has you know, people have been curious about what happens
after death, like what happens to your body, what happens.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
To your spiritual parts?
Speaker 4 (11:14):
You know, those questions have been around and you can
see that in all the different folklores from all around
the world. So those stories have been around for a
long time, and it's really there's all kinds of people
who are taking those stories and adapting it to their
personal experiences, the ship, those experiences that they have on
(11:39):
their own. I think right now the person I'm I'm
really looking at as far as who's doing some really
cool stuff would have to be Jordan Peel no former
you know, former comedian who has now branched into all
kinds of genres in cinema. I think get Out is
(12:02):
an excellent work of that mashes up science fiction and
horror in a wonderful way that connects with an audience
who may not have been into horror before.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
If you sat a little kid down to watch horror
movies time and time again, what do you think would
happen to that kid when he grows up.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Yeah, it depends.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
So there's It's just another one of those environmental influences
that's going to change a person. I know that when
I was a kid, one of the movies that I
watched at way too young of an age was Aliens.
I'd still absolutely love the Aliens franchise and everything that
(12:52):
it brings. I think it's a wonderful science fiction slash
horror film and everything related, everything related beyond that, And
I don't know how that has changed me personally. It's
more than anything, inspired me to be more curious about
(13:14):
the world and about worlds outside of our own. I
think for the most part it horror films influence people
in a way will that has a lasting influence. And
it's just like other media when we're thinking about consuming
maybe violent video games or whatever.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
It's just another venue to explore emotions.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
What do you think, What do you think Austin has
more of an effect on the human brain a book
on horror or the film.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
I think that really depends on age, actually, and and
maturity level in general. I think films bring a different
kind of fear to light. You're able to see things
that it's multimodal, right, so you can you can play
with stuff like jump scares. You don't really get jump
(14:14):
scares in horror literature.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
With one exception, I would say horror.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Manga has done a really good job of translating the
jump scare onto the written word. Right, You're turning pages
and then all of a sudden you turn a page
and you see this, you know, a horrendous image of
a person with holes all over their body for instance. Right,
I think that's the closest thing you get to a
(14:41):
jump scare in literature.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
The other cool thing about that film can do is
it really plays with sound.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
Sound is such a big aspect of why horror movies
are so effective. Sometimes you get we think about the
scene from Psycho right with the screeching violin strings, that
dissonant melodies that it has, the scene, it's excellent.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
And so for instance Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the background of
it is mostly a soundscape. There's not really melodies, it's
not really music, but it's the actual sounds that someone
might hear if they were in a meat processing plant.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
So you are.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Able to combine the visual element and the auditory element,
which really heightens the sensations. But on the other hand,
in literature, when you're reading things, I think literature can
be really effective at an older age, a little bit
more mature person as they're reading through things, because they're
(15:51):
imagining things in their heads, right, And when you imagine things,
you get something that's sometimes a deeper level.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Of scare than what you would see.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Right.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
The pacing of modern horror films is you don't want
to show the creepy thing until as late as possible.
Sometimes you don't even want to show it at all, right,
because once you see, once you put an image to
whatever paranormal thing it is, then that's the image that
(16:24):
people are going to have.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
That's the way that people are.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Going to connect with overcoming that fear because they see
something and it's physical.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
It's physical and it's tangible.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
But when you're reading something scary, something supernatural, the forces
there are beyond what you could imagine. It's just more
more encompassing.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
I guess what.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Did you conclude, Austin about science fiction or horror films
on the brain?
Speaker 4 (16:58):
My big conclusion was that they are wonderful tools for exploring.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
How our body is going to react.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
And I think that that's that makes them really useful
device for all kinds of different things, potentially even for therapy.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Would you say they're healthy, I.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Would say in moderation. I know that's an ancient Greek
cop out, but I think that with all as with
all media, there's there's a line right where you can
enjoy something, you can get a benefit from something, but
then that could also teeter into something beyond an obsession.
(17:45):
And I think that with as with all other media,
there's a there's a sweet spot for it.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Have you noticed a change in people over the years
based on the change of films, you mean.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
The way films have evolved over the years and and how.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
People have that.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Yeah, that's a really interesting question.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
I think modern I think it's interesting to see how
older franchises are doing reboots for modern audiences or for
modern film.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
I guess the.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
Demands of modern film, so we always you know, a
lot of horror franchises have a lot of sequels, right.
It's one of the It's one of those genres where
you can see a volume ten of something as a
tenth movie, which is I think just interesting on its own.
But you know Texas Chainsaw Massacre that got a reboot
(18:55):
not too long ago, and it just had it was
technically a sequel, but it brought the pacing, it brought
the way that people act on screen to the way
that modern filmgoers would want to see or would expect
to see out of it. And at the same time
it's also drawing in new viewers into the into the fold.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Listen to more Coast to Coast AM every weeknight at
one a m. Eastern and go to Coast to coastam
dot com for more
Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast AM on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
And welcome back to Coast to Coast George Nori with you.
We've got a great couple hours coming up for you.
Austin lim PhD is a University of Chicago trained neuroscientists
and lecturing professor at De Paul University, where he teaches
a course that explores how science fiction authors have used
the very popular scientific advances of their time to inspire
(00:27):
their creative works. His work has appeared in Scientific American,
US News, and World Report. His book is called Horror
on the Brain. He's got a tour coming up. We'll
talk about that as well. Austin, Welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Hi George, thank you, thrilled to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Looking forward to that. How in the world did you
tie in the brain, neuroscience and science fiction. How did
that all come together?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Well?
Speaker 4 (00:55):
A lot of it's sort of from my personal background.
I've always enjoyed science fiction. I've really enjoyed horror and feeling,
you know, eerie and getting those the goosebumps. And I
just love October in general. It's a wonderful season. As
we start to think about Halloween, more and more and professionally.
(01:16):
I've always been thinking about how the brain works, and
I've always been curious about that, So it was just
kind of a natural mashup of my two worlds colliding.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
October is one of my favorite months to us, and
I loved this season. The weather cools down. It's just perfect,
isn't that.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
Yeah, it's been pretty warm on and off around here,
so I'm in Chicago bet a warm summer, so I'm
looking forward to when it starts getting really really pleasant outside.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Tell us about your neuroscience background.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
Yeah, so I sort of stumbled into neuroscience really accidentally
as a kid.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I've always liked the science.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
I remember my parents let me set up a little
chemistry lab quote in Quotations, where I just had a
bunch of, you know, plastic bottles filled with all kinds
of random, gross stuff that I would just collect from
nature and outside. But it sort of took a turn
where I thought I wanted to do something else completely
(02:21):
as an undergrad, and then I just came across part
of one of the requirements for graduation was taking a
class in the psychology department, and I was kind of
a late registrant and I ended up with the only
class available being Introduction to Neuroscience, and I thought it
was the most interesting stuff, just mind blowing material. I
(02:45):
was just so curious about everything. I remember just studying
that and pretty much nothing else when I was taking
that class, and it just sort of sparkled out of
control from there, and all I could think about was
just things. I just want to know more about how
our brains work, the underlying changes, or when people develop
(03:09):
some kind of brain related illnesses.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
I just got really fascinated by all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Is there an extensive scientific study of the brain.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
It's a very young field, so especially in comparison to
many of the other academic disciplines when we think about
chemistry or physics or biology. People have been curious about
that stuff for really, really long, but the study of
how the brain works has sort of been at the
(03:45):
whims of how advanced the technology is. So for example,
we didn't get our first really good scientific descriptions of
what the brain looks like under a microscope until the
eighteen hundreds, so really the origin of having the correct
(04:06):
tools to study how the brain works, it's only one
hundred and twenty one hundred and thirty years old as
far as understanding what's going on at a level where
we can gain some really powerful knowledge.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
What fascinates me about the brain, Austin is the fact
that different sections of the brain allow you to do
different things. One section is for memory and otherwise for personality.
It's just amazing, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Yeah, it's just so many We're just capable of doing
so many different things.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
And the brain is such a small part.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Of our body realistically, right, it's two percent of our
body weight, and it's doing all of these things for us.
There's just so much specialization with what we can get
from the brain.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
In your book Horror on the Brain, you talk a
lot about fear. Tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Yeah, fear is one of the more primal emotions, right,
it's There's an excellent quotation from HP Lovecraft where he
says that fear is one of our oldest and strongest emotions. Now,
he wasn't a scientist. He was, you know, one of
the main voices in the weird fiction movement, but he
(05:31):
was totally accurate about this.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Our processing of.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Fear is one of the most key survival elements that
our brain's capable of processing.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Do you think people like to be scared Austin. Do
we get a kick out of that?
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Yeah? People.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
I think people secretly love being scared, or at least surprised.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
If they don't say it.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
I think they they're, you know, their oldest evolutionary part
of their brain. They love that little bit of sensation, right.
People say they don't like horror movies sometimes because the
images stick around with them and it gives them nightmares,
and they'll say things like that. But I think that
(06:19):
there's an enjoyment that comes out of exploring these feelings
that we don't normally get that often in our real
day to day lives.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
How many horror movies or sci fi movies have you seen?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Do you think in your career? Oh? Boy, that's a
good question.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Things have sort of slowed down with when it comes
to seeing movies, just because I don't have too much
time to consume as much media as I really want to.
Sometimes I'll throw on a movie in the background, but wow,
a few hundred at least, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
It's probably not doesn't.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
Sound like that much, probably, but it's all just sort
of stuff that I'm seeing in my spare time.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
But it's safe to say, you've probably seen almost all
of them out there.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
It's tough to know there.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
I was reading this old quotation from Arthur C. Clark,
one of the early science fiction leaders, especially when it
comes to the space stuff. He was saying that at
some point he felt that he was going to be
the last generation who could have seen or could have
read all of the science fiction that was being published.
(07:35):
But things have changed quite a bit in the world
of publishing since since he wrote that stuff.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
And I feel like that quotation is from the sixties
or so.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
So there's just so much media to consume out there,
and you know, there's the there's all these different awards
that are given to science fiction authors and to horror
authors as as a literary genre that doesn't get as
much credit I think as it's due. And yeah, there's
(08:07):
just so much media out there. I want to be
able to consume all of it.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Have you seen one of the original Dracula movies? Not
sat too.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
I have the black and white one, right, you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
That creepy guy.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Wow, Yeah, it really summons the feelings that you know,
Bram Stoker's Dracula elicited back when it was published. You know,
times have changed quite a bit, so if you go
back and watch that from the modern lens, you'll think
about all these ways that it would be different.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Or how it could be more accessible to people.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
But it was really you know, at its time, it
was Yeah, it was super creepy.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
What a sci fi? What what are horror films?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Due to the brain?
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Yeah, so science fiction and horror, they they push people
in a comfortable space. Right, So when we're watching movies,
a lot of times we're watching it at home or
maybe we're at the theater, but in both cases they
are safe environments, right, especially considering that, for you know,
(09:28):
we're living in the safest time that has ever been, right.
Homicide rates have fallen over the past centuries, so we're
not exposed to the kinds of threats and fears that
our evolutionary ancestors were. Right, when we think about cave people,
(09:48):
they were exposed to genuine threats at a on a
regular interval, and so we have this adaptation where we
probably want to have that occasional burst of fear. And
one thing that horror does is that it replaces those
(10:08):
genuine threats, whether it's you know, being attacked by a
tiger or a large cat or bear, or whatever threats
there are, or other people. Usually it replaces that with that.
It gives you that sensation, It activates your body in
a way that we don't normally get and it puts
(10:29):
us in touch with the evolutionary systems that are there
in our bodies that just doesn't get activated as often
anymore in these days.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Who would you say might be one of the best
sci fi or horror writers out there? Stephen King?
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Stephen King's a classic.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Love his early works, for sure, there are right now there.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I think I feel like the horror genre.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Has you know, people have been curious about what happens
after death, like what happens to your body, what happens.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
To your spiritual parts?
Speaker 4 (11:14):
You know, those questions have been around and you can
see that in all the different folklores from all around
the world. So those stories have been around for a
long time, and it's really there's all kinds of people
who are taking those stories and adapting it to their
personal experiences, the ship, those experiences that they have on
(11:39):
their own. I think right now the person I'm I'm
really looking at as far as who's doing some really
cool stuff would have to be Jordan Peel no former
you know, former comedian who has now branched into all
kinds of genres in cinema. I think get Out is
(12:02):
an excellent work of that mashes up science fiction and
horror in a wonderful way that connects with an audience
who may not have been into horror before.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
If you sat a little kid down to watch horror
movies time and time again, what do you think would
happen to that kid when he grows up.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Yeah, it depends.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
So there's It's just another one of those environmental influences
that's going to change a person. I know that when
I was a kid, one of the movies that I
watched at way too young of an age was Aliens.
I'd still absolutely love the Aliens franchise and everything that
(12:52):
it brings. I think it's a wonderful science fiction slash
horror film and everything related, everything related beyond that, And
I don't know how that has changed me personally. It's
more than anything, inspired me to be more curious about
(13:14):
the world and about worlds outside of our own. I
think for the most part it horror films influence people
in a way will that has a lasting influence. And
it's just like other media when we're thinking about consuming
maybe violent video games or whatever.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
It's just another venue to explore emotions.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
What do you think, What do you think Austin has
more of an effect on the human brain a book
on horror or the film.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
I think that really depends on age, actually, and and
maturity level in general. I think films bring a different
kind of fear to light. You're able to see things
that it's multimodal, right, so you can you can play
with stuff like jump scares. You don't really get jump
(14:14):
scares in horror literature.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
With one exception, I would say horror.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Manga has done a really good job of translating the
jump scare onto the written word. Right, You're turning pages
and then all of a sudden you turn a page
and you see this, you know, a horrendous image of
a person with holes all over their body for instance. Right,
I think that's the closest thing you get to a
(14:41):
jump scare in literature.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
The other cool thing about that film can do is
it really plays with sound.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
Sound is such a big aspect of why horror movies
are so effective. Sometimes you get we think about the
scene from Psycho right with the screeching violin strings, that
dissonant melodies that it has, the scene, it's excellent.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
And so for instance Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the background of
it is mostly a soundscape. There's not really melodies, it's
not really music, but it's the actual sounds that someone
might hear if they were in a meat processing plant.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
So you are.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Able to combine the visual element and the auditory element,
which really heightens the sensations. But on the other hand,
in literature, when you're reading things, I think literature can
be really effective at an older age, a little bit
more mature person as they're reading through things, because they're
(15:51):
imagining things in their heads, right, And when you imagine things,
you get something that's sometimes a deeper level.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Of scare than what you would see.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Right.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
The pacing of modern horror films is you don't want
to show the creepy thing until as late as possible.
Sometimes you don't even want to show it at all, right,
because once you see, once you put an image to
whatever paranormal thing it is, then that's the image that
(16:24):
people are going to have.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
That's the way that people are.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Going to connect with overcoming that fear because they see
something and it's physical.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
It's physical and it's tangible.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
But when you're reading something scary, something supernatural, the forces
there are beyond what you could imagine. It's just more
more encompassing.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
I guess what.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Did you conclude, Austin about science fiction or horror films
on the brain?
Speaker 4 (16:58):
My big conclusion was that they are wonderful tools for exploring.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
How our body is going to react.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
And I think that that's that makes them really useful
device for all kinds of different things, potentially even for therapy.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Would you say they're healthy, I.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Would say in moderation. I know that's an ancient Greek
cop out, but I think that with all as with
all media, there's there's a line right where you can
enjoy something, you can get a benefit from something, but
then that could also teeter into something beyond an obsession.
(17:45):
And I think that with as with all other media,
there's a there's a sweet spot for it.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Have you noticed a change in people over the years
based on the change of films, you mean.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
The way films have evolved over the years and and how.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
People have that.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Yeah, that's a really interesting question.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
I think modern I think it's interesting to see how
older franchises are doing reboots for modern audiences or for
modern film.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
I guess the.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
Demands of modern film, so we always you know, a
lot of horror franchises have a lot of sequels, right.
It's one of the It's one of those genres where
you can see a volume ten of something as a
tenth movie, which is I think just interesting on its own.
But you know Texas Chainsaw Massacre that got a reboot
(18:55):
not too long ago, and it just had it was
technically a sequel, but it brought the pacing, it brought
the way that people act on screen to the way
that modern filmgoers would want to see or would expect
to see out of it. And at the same time
it's also drawing in new viewers into the into the fold.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
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