Sensory Experience

When you watch a film, you are constantly bombarded with noise, lights, and images at a rapid rate. This type of experience pulls an audience in, maintains their attention, and develops the story further. It is part of the reason why movie theatres have dark lighting and comfortable chairs; when an audience is submerged in such an environment, it is easier to tell a story using sensory experiences.

This truth is no different for horror films, and in fact, I would argue that sensory experience is the key element of a horror film. Not the plot. Not the characters. It is the images of the monster and the environment of the story, the noises, or lack thereof, of the surroundings, and the lighting and cinematography used during scenes which heightens an audience’s awareness of a situation and their susceptibility to be frightened.

To argue this, imagine you are watching Dracula approach a stranger on the street in a nice, suburban neighborhood. Within the story, it is a bright, sunny day, the birds are chirping, and Dracula is speaking at a normal tone of voice. Although the situation may be odd, it is not frightening. Now instead, imagine that the same Dracula is approaching a stranger in a dim alleyway at night. Within the story, it is dark and rainy. There is little noise and Dracula speaks in subdued tones that force you to listen closely to every breathy word. The latter situation is much more suspenseful and frightening.

On top of those techniques used, the element of sound is extraordinarily important in horror movies. Music heightens our awareness and gives hints as to what may happen next. Low, demonic tones are played in order to warn an audience that a monster is a about to appear and they should be shaken by what may occur. The sounds of the scene are often amplified. A character is being followed and the steps are all that is heard or similar situations are common in all horror films. Also, sound can also play a trick on audiences using the bus technique. At a time of heightened awareness, an audience is bombarded with a loud sound that is not the monster or whatever the event was that was expected.

One may argue that this type of need for sensory experience is necessary for any time of cinematic plot line, therefore being no more important to the horror film. The problem with that argument lies in that horror films are often not strongly relying on their plot line to get a rise out of audiences. The sights and sounds are the things that stir audiences in their seats, not simply the mental thought that something like this may occur.

The plot serves as a baseline for the sensory experience to build off of and make sense from. It is necessary to the movie, but ultimately it is not the key element which horrifies audiences time and again. Even within horror literature, sensory experience is necessary. The description of the sights, sounds, and smells are thing elements which make readers cringe in fear, not the simply the story of a monster.

Ultimately, it is evident that sensory experience is absolutely necessary for audiences to be horrified. Remove them from the film or literature, and it is nothing but an odd fairy tale. Yet, add the sights, smells, and sounds of monsters and the environments they entail, and many will be disgusted and horrified by these imaginative beings and stories.