Why Are Horror Icons So Scary?

The theory behind the mask (ahem) is that it dehumanizes the killer, making them an unemotional and detached murdering machine. This focuses your attention completely on the terror of the victim, so making you terrified...clever eh?

Film: The Exorcist, 1973
Character: Regan MacNeil
Why so scary? Possession

One of the first child horror heroines, Regan’s possession by the Devil is still possibly the most explicit and gruesome depictions of what could happen if Satan ever took a fancy to you. Like it or not, religion is all around us and these evil spirits tap into this vast backdrop of spirituality.

Taping into the horror we have at seeing children do terrible things, William Friedkin highlights the bad side affects possession has including frightening your mum, embarrassing social situations and, frankly, a lot of pain

Film:  Frankenstein, 1931
Character: The creature
Why so scary? Fear of the undead

Although not nearly as scary now as it was after its original release in 1931, Frankenstein’s classic horror imagery and motifs is still capable of frightening audiences anew well into the 21st century.

The original zombie movie, it is complete with deserted towers, damsels in distress and a big killing monster on the hunt for revenge. The creature remains one of horror’s most familiar figures as it taps into our primal fear of corpses.

And what might happen when technology finally catches up with our imaginations and we can reanimate the dead i.e. nothing good.

Saw VI is out now on DVD and Blu-ray from Lionsgate  

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