Shadows of the Season: the paradox of fear and fun on Hallowe’en

Her research highlights the psychological and physiological impacts of fear, such as its role in releasing adrenaline and endorphins, which can lead to both pleasurable and bonding experiences; her work has even made a significant impact on the design of haunted attractions, theme parks and other experiences where controlled fear is central. Fear can bring us together posits Kerr – because our emotions are contagious; and fear in controlled settings (such as rides or haunted house experiences) is often followed by laughter, which is often reimagined when we see it mirrored in other people.

‘Fun’ scary things are usually encountered with friends and family and this, in Kerr’s opinion, creates intense and encoded memories which are very bonding and feel safe. Whilst our fear response is designed to protect us (and acknowledging that how we respond to threat is based on factors such as genes, environment and past experiences), Kerr challenges us to ‘play’ with our fear, get to know it by ‘testing it out’ in safe ways and learn what fear is ours and what is imposed upon us by outside influences.

However, many people will still find the Hallowe’en period simply too disturbing in terms of garish imagery and general mayhem – can it really be good for us to have a certain amount of communal scaring? To see streets lit up with pumpkins and candles at Hallowe’en can certainly be fun, but sometimes the plethora of spiders and skeletons can feel a bit much - people who suffer from arachnophobia have a reportedly terrible time at Hallowe’en, as can be evidenced in this piece by Izzie Price from Wellcome Stories.  

As is often commented on, we have become detached from the original meaning of Hallowe’en - All Hallows Eve – which began in Celtic times and was known as the Festival of Samhain. Celebrated on October 31 to mark the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter, people believed Samhain was when the boundary between the living and the dead was blurred, and they lit bonfires and wore costumes to ward off wandering spirits. When Christianity spread to the British Isles, around the 4^th century AD, Samhain traditions merged with All Hallows' Eve, the night before the Christian feast of All Saints’ Day, creating the holiday we now know as Hallowe’en.

Many cultures have a special date or time of year when the dead are particularly remembered, for example the Hindu festival of Pitru Paksha or the famous Hungry Ghost Festival of China; and although not celebrated on October 31^st still shares similarities between all of them around the themes of remembrance, seasonal shifts and death. In Mexico and parts of Latin America the famous 3 day long De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) begins on October 31^st and is well known as a powerful statement of our mythical connection with unseen worlds.

It could be said then that there is a ‘sweet spot’ of fear which is just enough to keep us entertained and out of our comfort zone until we are flooded with relief – and laughter - when we realise the danger is not real. As previously mentioned, in recreational fear settings, laughter often follows the jump-scare and research has shown that just the right amount of enjoyable fear is associated with surprise – despite this being complicated and deeply paradoxical.

Children sometimes play physical games which contain mild threat, such as hide and seek or tag; and it is perhaps interesting to contemplate the reasons behind why these games have endured over so many years (now echoed in contemporary gaming culture). Does the low risk exposure to the unknown offer a chance to replace the adrenaline of being scared with a sense of relief? Perhaps it taps into their curiosity of the unknown or even makes them more resilient? Danish researcher Jørn Malmdorf-Andersen explored how children's play often involves elements of fear as a means of confronting and managing emotions. He argued that activities like hide-and-seek or playing "monsters" allow children to engage with fear in a controlled, playful environment, helping them to understand and process their anxieties.

To investigate the relationship between enjoyment and fear, Malmdorf-Andersen and his colleagues at Aarhus University’s Recreational Fear Lab also studied a group of people who went to a haunted house visitor attraction. There, the guests voluntarily signed up to be terrified by brain-munching zombies, chainsaw-wielding maniacs and child-eating murderers. How many of us would be ‘brave’ enough to sign up for this?!

A lot of fictional horror centres around danger of death and the attempt to overcome it - or unseen presences and things out of our control or coming from beyond the grave. In his book, Philosophy of Horror, aesthetics professor and film expert Dr Noel Carroll looks at why we love to be scared. He is particularly interested in how emotions such as fear and humour intersect with the enjoyment of horror and points out that there’s a natural but paradoxical relationship between light (humour) and dark (fear). He addresses why we enjoy spending time watching horrific imagery such as zombies/demons/vampires in films, when to encounter such things in real life would be absolutely unthinkable - why do we take pleasure in the parade of horrific and disgusting beings at Halloween when we would never normally countenance such terror?

In his opinion, horror comes with the irresistible promise of fascination and to show us something we’ve never seen before (often a supernatural ‘thing’) – although it doesn’t always succeed. And whilst this is not the only reason Carroll thinks we are drawn to horror, it is a very compelling one. There is also (in his opinion) a therapeutic value in engaging with scare inducing fictions, because it allows us to process our difficult emotions which can be frightening to handle at times. Carroll goes further and suggests that this is why there is such a strong teen interest in the horror genre because it mirrors a time in life when everything is changing within our bodies, minds and environment, and that sense of feeling out of control emotionally. Going to see a horror film for example could be a way of ‘practicing’ or processing fearful emotions which may otherwise go undealt with.

Carroll also draws on Aristotle’s theory of catharsis to explain the appeal of horror, suggesting that it allows audiences to experience and process fear, disgust, and curiosity in a controlled way. Like Aristotle’s concept of tragedy, where audiences find pleasure in emotional engagement with fearful or pitiful events, Carroll suggests that horror taps into similar dynamics by enabling viewers to confront disturbing, often supernatural forces from a safe distance. While Aristotle focused on the purging of pity and fear, Carroll argues that horror provides a "cognitive" pleasure, as audiences are drawn to explore and understand the mysterious and transgressive nature of fictional monsters, demons and zombies.

It is often apparent that films and fiction act as a cultural mirror which can amplify whichever anxiety may be percolating within society; and whilst not always within a strictly horror genre, can resonate deeply with a moment in time. For example, during the 1950s/60s, films such as Godzilla reflected the fear of further atomic weaponry after the devastation of events in Japan at the end of the second world war; and during the 1980s and 1990s there were several films which addressed the fear of disease and genetic mutation, surveillance and computerised realities, perhaps reflecting the fear in society around new technology and loss of individuality (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Fly, The Matrix).

In 2024 our ‘horror’ is perhaps intertwined with a fear of emerging AI – recent films like M3GAN (2022) and The Creator (2023) focus on artificial intelligence and the potential dangers of human-like robots gaining autonomy. These films reflect modern fears about the rapid rise of AI, loss of jobs due to automation, and ethical concerns about machines developing consciousness and control.

From the beginning of time we have told and listened to scary stories, early Greek tales contained elements of horror, the supernatural, and existential fears about death and the unknown, forming the foundation of themes that persist in horror to this day. In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus descends into the Underworld and converses with the dead and in the much-repeated story of Medusa, themes of destructive transformation illustrate just how much we have not moved on in terms of our fears.

However, all of these fictions are just that and it is widely accepted that we just can’t help learning through stories. Stories are where we can safely explore so many things, from the horrific to the sublime and where we can get lost in different worlds and learn about ourselves. They have also served as cautionary tales throughout the ages, or attempts to control what may have been seen as disruptive behaviours within society. So, whether you decide to test your fear this Hallowe’en or just hunker down with a comforting mug of hot chocolate, spare a thought for the original message this occasion has to offer us – that of contemplating the turning of the seasons and remembering those no longer with us.

What do you think of Halloween? We love hearing from people and you can share your thoughts with our Thinker in Residence here. Next time we will be delving into the weird and wonderful world of Ai-Da, the world’s first art robot – watch this space.

Get in touch

At eCom we love to hear from people so if you have enjoyed this content from the Thinking Zone or would like to pose a question to our Creative Thinker in Residence then please do get in touch below or follow us on LinkedIn or Instagram – where you can join in with our new Question of the Month!

---