Hollywood’s Scariest Killers – And Why We Fear Them!
Hungry Zombie
With few exceptions, almost everyone likes to be scared. We love the vicarious rush we get when reading a thrilling novel, riding a hair-raising roller coaster, watching a scary movie. But by far, if the numbers are any indication, scary movies with a horrifying central killer are our go-to choice for an adrenaline fix.
Clearly, some movie killers are scarier that others. Everyone has their “favorite” killer or killers, but we’re going to take a look at five of Hollywood’s scariest killers based on the overwhelming financial success of their films—after which I’ll attempt to answer the question: “Why do they terrify us?”
Christopher Lee as Dracula, 1958
Dracula and his undead pals have starred in countless films featuring the blood-sucking, neck-biting fiend. Ever since the publication of Bram Stoker’s novel, people just can’t get enough. Every year the legend of the toothy killer continues to inspire bestselling novels like Twilight, generate numerous TV series, and spawn a seemingly endless lineup of new vampire films.
Another Hungry Zombie
Zombie killers have never been a category that worked for me. They’re slow, lumbering, stupid. Sure, they want to eat your brains, but unless you fall down while running away (which happens way too often in scary movies), you would think you could avoid being eaten by simply staying out of reach. Lately several filmmakers have revamped the zombie profile, making them a lot faster and MUCH more lethal—Brad Pitt’s World War Z, for example. But still . . .
Anyway, the longstanding brain-munching Zombie franchise has to be included, being a Hollywood financial mainstay that has inspired literally hundreds of scary films.
Jaws Directed by Steven Spielberg, 1975
Jaws, based on the breakout novel by Peter Benchley, was one of the highest grossing films of its day, terrifying millions of viewers. People wouldn’t go in the water for years. Most of us will never forget its ominous, two-note theme – da, dum . . . Da, dum . . . DA, Dum . . . DA, DUM – that always preceded some unlucky swimmer getting devoured. Great film—take another look sometime.
Alien Directed by Ridley Scott, 1979
Alien: Most people don’t like science fiction. At least that’s what they say. Nevertheless, although science fiction films don’t garner Academy Awards, year in and year out they always appear on the list of highest grossing films. Alien is a good example, arguably being one of Hollywood’s scariest movies ever. Monsters that not only eat you, they place a newborn in your body so it can eat you from INSIDE. Ugh. Again, most of us who saw the film will never forget the unsettling image of an alien pupa plastered on a crewmember’s face, presumably doing something unspeakable.
Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lector, 1991
Dr. Hannibal Lector first appeared in Thomas Harris’s chilling novel The Silence of the Lambs. The book was later adapted for the screen in one of the most successful films of its decade. Anthony Hopkins brought to life its terrifying antagonist, Dr. Hannibal Lector—a serial killer who not only kills his victims, he EATS them.
So why are all these Hollywood killers so good at scaring us? In other words, why are these particular killers so much more unsettling (and financially lucrative for Hollywood) than say, your run-of-the-mill, knife-wielding slasher? If you’ve read this far, I think you know where I’m headed.
Alien Sex
In the field of evolutionary biology, there is good evidence that certain adaptive fears are hard-wired into our brains, instinctual terrors dating back to the Stone Age that have been passed down through our genes. An instinctual fear of heights, for instance. Experiments show that a baby human (and other newborn animals as well) will not crawl out on a transparent surface that gives the impression of walking off a cliff. An inborn fear of snakes and spiders is another. And there are others.
Imagine you are living in the late Paleolithic Age, say 100, 000 years ago. It’s night and you’re sleeping in a nice cozy cave, safe for the moment from the terrors waiting out there in the dark. What are those terrors?
Feeding Time
Well, it’s a simpler time, so the dangers are easy to imagine: the snakes and spiders already mentioned, and falling, and growing old and feeble and being left behind by the group, and starving. And topping the chart—BEING EATEN. (It was this very aspect of human nature that I stumbled across when creating Victor Carns, a pivotal character in my second “Kane Novel” thriller, Kane.)
Bottom line, I believe an instinctual fear of becoming lunch for something with big, sharp teeth is an adaptive trait that’s hard-wired into our psyches, coming down to us from our distant past. It is this facet of our instinctual makeup that Hollywood’s scariest killers tap into. In one way or another, Hollywood’s scariest (and most financially profitable) killers—vampires, zombies, sharks, psychopaths, aliens—all want to sink their teeth into us.
And that’s scary.
What scares you? What are your top scary movies? Please leave a comment and join the conversation!
