When it comes to sitting down and watching a scary movie, most of us want something that will keep us tossing and turning into the night, as creepy thoughts linger and hearts race at the thought of monsters lurking under the bed. 'Blood-curdling' has long been a way of describing horror movies that pack a punch, and now medical scientists at Leiden University in the Netherlands believe that the phrase is backed by physiology.
The doctors examined 24 healthy volunteers, all under the age of 30, and forced the to sit through two very different movies a week apart; the first time around, the subjects sat through the 2010 horror flick Insidious, from horror auteur James Wan. Seven days later, the exact same group of movie watchers sat through the considerable less threatening French wine industry documentary A Year in Champagne.
Having sat through both films, the subjects gave a blood sample before and after each screening, and the bloodwork revealed that after enduring the spooky thrills of Insidious, participants presented with much higher levels of Factor VIII, a blood-clotting protein.
“We think that from an evolutionary perspective it is actually a good thing to clot a bit faster if you experience fear,” study leader Banne Nemeth said. “Fearful situations often come together with trauma or injury. So from this evolutionary perspective, it would be good to prepare your body for blood loss.”
As such, the scientists believe that when something happens very suddenly in and around the human body, even if that it is just some chills and thrills on screen, the body automatically triggers the healing process in preparation of impending doom.
