Earlier this month, Taylor Orth at YouGov wrote that “few movie genres inspire reactions as strong as horror.”

When I was in high school, I didn’t have a plan for my life. I knew I didn’t want to be a doctor or a firefighter or whatever. I was in a band. That would have been cool to do with my life; not a high p(band) in most people’s futures, though. I played soccer. That would have been cool, too, but likewise, about 0.08% of high school players end up playing professionally.

The other thing I loved was movies. By 2001, I was gorged on Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, SLC Punk, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Cell, The Wicker Man, Natural Born Killers, The Silence Of The Lambs, Se7en, The Matrix. Those things were dope, so I wanted to do that because of course if music and professional sports were out of the question, then “writing and directing in the movie industry” was surely on the table.

So I go to college at the University of South Carolina (go cocks 🤙🏻) for no other reason save I could live with my aunt and uncle. About two weeks before school starts, they had me meet with a guidance counselor to set my schedule for my first-ever semester. My conversation with him went like this:

“So what do you want to major in?”
“I think I want to make movies?”
“Great.”

And he silently put me in the basic classes for a major in Media Arts with an emphasis in Film. That was it. That was the entire thought process that went into my college career.

But that was because I wanted to make horror movies. I loved all kinds of movies, but I wanted to make horror movies. I wanted to scare people. Horror is this niche brand of oft-hated, fucked-up movies, which comes up not infrequently when I talk about my love for horror. I’ve had years to think about it, and I now know the reason I wanted to make horror movies: I always wanted to affect someone’s disposition. And watching horror movies can crawl inside you, shock your body out of a dullness like jumping into ice water, expose you in a safe environment before you get back to your regular life.

It probably takes a specific person to enjoy that kind of stuff, like the same type of person that wants to ride roller coasters or skydive from the lower stratosphere at 128,000 ft. It’s also probably why those that love it really love it (🙋🏻‍♂️). And it would turn out that, if you hate it, you really hate it… and a lot of people hate it.

Which is what Orth’s data relays. It’s fun to see the apocryphal evidence backed up by research.

Horror is:

The most hated movie genre by a wide margin. Like, significantly. Like 22% of adults hate it, and the closest runner up is Westerns with 7%.

Orth’s data did find that, “at the same time, many people who are fans of horror tend to love it. A large share (43%) of horror fans — people who like or love horror — say they love it, behind only the comedy (52%) and action (48%) genres.”

The most overrated by critics. I kinda get this one. Similar to comedies, the bad ones are usually graded on a curve.

The most liked when it’s actually comedic. So combine the two, and you’ve got the version of the genre that’s popularly appetizing. Movies like Scream or Shaun of the Dead or Abigail or Bodies Bodies Bodies are all pretty great, and the sweet and sour popcorn and M&Ms approach gives you the fear you need with the antidote in the next scene.

Scary movies will always be a home for me. Clearly, it’s not for everyone. But those of us who love it here, will die on this hill. And we’ll probably love to talk to you about the bizarre, grotesque, and wild ways we could do it.

The horror divide: Americans’ love-hate relationship with scary movies