As Halloween approaches, you may feel like lighting a pumpkin spice candle, grabbing a bowl of popcorn, and flipping on your favorite horror movie.

But what defines the category of horror, and why is it that such gory images are associated with it? What do people ACTUALLY find horrifying in modern cinema?

Undoubtedly, the most horror I’ve felt while watching a movie was not during Annabelle or The Conjuring. It was during A Dog’s Purpose. Watching a dog die countless times strikes a more personal chord with me than possessed dolls ever did. Ani Garcia ‘26 remarks on this: “I cried in my bed for hours watching A Dog’s Purpose, and then for Smile, I didn’t even blink.”

The issue with modern-day cinema is that producers believe the gorier and bloodier equals the scarier, which has led people today to falsely associate disgust and repulsion with genuine horror.

However, for horror to be genuine and terrifying, it has to be relatable, or, to go even further, a possibility in the viewers’ lives. When I was sitting on the couch with my dog next to me, watching the same dog die four times, I felt numb and afraid. A killer clown a whole reality away is not eliciting the same measure of fear from me.

Beyan Behmke ‘26 felt a similar way, saying that some movies hit a little too close to home, like A Dog’s Purpose, and that they “put things in perspective” and help you “realize you never know what could happen to your dog”.

In the same way, in some modern psychological horror movies like Midsommer, Get Out, Fractured, Us, and Old, what the main characters are battling are not just other characters; they are depictions of an aspect of society. Modern horror takes on a topic that differs from the norm: fear that goes beyond fiction and reflects your life.

Are you likely to walk into a zombie apocalypse? Not that we know of. Could you find yourself trapped in a world of uncanny artificial intelligence? Possibly.

When one watches a horror movie that demonstrates a possibility in our world, it is ten times scarier. For example, have you ever sat down to watch a frightening movie and in the opening credits it says “based on a true story”, and you feel a whole lot more intimidated by its contents?

Movies that take on meanings deeper than stimulating weak depthless jitters tend to leave a more profound mark on viewers than unreal or unrealistic topics.

Some dangers are right outside your door, many of which are never publicized, unlike the horror industry’s unwavering focus on anything possessed, bloody, or slashing. More common fears, such as a beloved pet dying, are truly terrifying, as opposed to ones that are completely impossible. So, the next time you are watching a “horror” movie, think to yourself, am I really afraid? Or am I just repulsed?