How The Heart Rate Is Affected By Suspenseful Movies

“This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last,” Oscar Wilde and many others have given us these small pieces of enlightenment, suspense is hated yet yearned for at the same time. Suspense is waiting for a decision or outcome to happen. Suspense makes everyone who reads it enchanted by it as if it were magic. If it's a book, they cannot stop reading if it is a film they cannot stop watching. People are engrossed by anticipation while trying to figure out what is lurking around the corner with suspense. The three most suspenseful texts I have read this unit are Sorry, Wrong Number by Lucille Fletcher, “Let ‘Em Play God” by Hollywood Reporter and “Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and Two Kinds of Suspense All Authors Should Be Aware Of” by Victoria Grefer. I’m going to demonstrate you in the following three paragraphs how the texts show you things, but also leave you guessing.

The aim of this paper is to provide a critical review of the article The Effect of Video Game Violence on Physiological Desensitization to Real-life Violence by Nicholas L. Carnagey, Craig A. Anderson, and Brad J. Bushman (2007). In this article Carnagey, Ander and Bushman experimentally examine the effects that violent video games have on those playing them, specifically in the area of physiological desensitization. It is the goal of this review to provide readers with an overall summary and critique of the article. This review will describe, discuss, and evaluate the key points of Carnagey, Anderson, and Bushman’s article and

In essence, we might be inclined to believe horror films in fact create a sense of gray. To take this a step further, there’s documented facts proving how people are inspired by horror films and actually carry this out in real life. However, King’s suggestion that horror films are like roller coaster was more persuasive. When I think of riding a roller coaster, I recall all of my experiences of watching horror movies. The emotions are similar, almost always leaving me with an adrenaline rush, sense of fear, rapid heartbeat and at times sick to my stomach. It’s terrifying watching someone on the “big screen” being harmed or murdered and yet I’m always relieved when the bad guy or gal receives pay-back in the end. I guess that would be my sense of excitement?

Suspense is a crucial ingredient in the making of horror and thriller films. The significance of suspense in horror films is to bring out the “twist or unexpected moment of realization that makes someone scream and one's heart race. In the film industry, there are various types of genre, but as different as films may seem, they all have one element that links them all together. That element is known as Mise-en-scene. Mise-en-scene is a French phrase that means “putting into the scene.” Mise-en-scene includes elements such as setting, lighting, costume, and figure movement and expression (acting).

The null hypothesis was that no change in heart rate or blood pressure would occur. Our results however, did not support our data. Using p-values (which is the critical value and probability of said-thing happening, (Rightskewed 2010,) for all three categories, (Systolic, diastolic and heart rate,) being .21, we fail to reject the null hypothesis and conclude that the results are insignificant, that the scary video had no impact on heart rate and blood pressure.

Because modern cinematic techniques have allowed filmmakers to get more graphic, horror flicks have desensitized young American viewers to violence.

The setting of a film can play a huge part of adding suspense or creating a mood for the film right off the bat. When The Silence of the Lambs first started Clarice Starling was running through the woods in the early morning and it was foggy outside. Also, she was alone and suddenly an officer came out of the woods. That alone can add suspense because we had no idea was she was running from or for and then someone shows up. This film was mainly shot in Virginia, but since they are FBI agents they were traveling all over the place. The most suspenseful place in the story I believe was Bill’s house.

Horror movies. The type of genre that gives a thrill of adrenaline, yet also gives nightmares late at night. Everyone has watched a horror movie at least once in their lives. And during the movie there is also a time in which the viewer just wants to punch the TV screen and call it quits. Whether it is because their favorite character just did something dumb, or because the ending was horrible, there is always a moment in which one thinks: I would have chosen a better option. I could have survived. In literature, it is often the same thing. Believe it or not, fear is a huge contributor to how the story goes; how it ends, and who dies. Fear either motivates the character to take action or, defeats them. But fear doesn’t act alone. Fear influences people, but what influences the fear? The answer is quite simple, no matter how shocking it can be. Just as love brings happiness, it also brings forth the poison of fear. Whether it is the fear of losing the person they love, or fear that they are no longer loved, both of them are huge contributors on how a character’s actions or decisions are influenced.

All types of horror films are designed to unfold our most horrible fears and insecurities that lie deep within. It successfully focuses on the bizarre and illicit side of life that frights us by playing around our nightmares, vulnerability, and fears of the indefinite. However, despite how chaotic and terrifying these films are, the horror-genre still attracts and repel us. We crave to see the numerous film villains overtake our nightmares and then be defeated by a particular “Final Girl” who normally places society back to its stagnant normality.

In the movie Psycho there was a lot of scenes that showed Suspense but there was two scenes that really got my attention. The first one being the famous shower scene when Marion Crane hops into the shower and Norman Bate's mother (Norman) attacks her with a knife. Suspense can be an effect when the character Marion is trying to defend herself from her attacker but ends up dead but can be an effect toward the audience because its a scene that has sound that gives chills but also lets you know what is going to happen. The second scene being when Marion's sister goes to Bate's house to try to talk to Norman's mother but instead her dead but Norman Bates comes in and tries to attack her with a knife. This suspense is an effect toward Marion's sister

How will someones Heart rate change during clips of a scary movie v.s. A different and more cheerful movie?

Kathy Benjamin lists 5 scientific ways watching movies effects people. First, they can impact their physical and mental health. She explains when you watch a horror movie or intense film, your heart rate and blood pressure will increase. In extreme cases, people can have heart attacks and/or die. Depressed people should not watch sad movies. Also, scary movies may cause someone to go through a traumatic experience all over again. Second, Kathy mentions watching violence in movies can make you more aggressive. “A new study seems to prove that watching aggression on screen can contribute to being a bully in real life, even if it is just in the short term” (Benjamin). This has been debated for a long time. However, studies have shown that there is some truth to it.

In 1989, a study was conducted that involved some of its participants to be forewarned about a scary film that all participants had to watch (Sparks, 1989). There were two types of people information-seekers and information-avoiders. It was discovered in the experiment that information-seekers preferred to be given as much information as possible to cope better with the potential stress of the scary film, while information-avoiders preferred to be given a low amount of forewarning, since heavy forewarning made it difficult for them to distract themselves from the movie. Forewarning drew all participants’ attention to the negative stimuli (scary movie), but their coping-style ultimately effected the way they handled and used the information to form their own reactions (Sparks,

According to Gyroscope “Heart rate is a strong indicator of emotional state. Whether it’s watching a movie, playing poker, being interviewed, speaking in public, or breaking up with someone, your heart rate might betray your emotions more than your facial expressions.” and In 2013 the multimillion dollar making film franchise Insidious proved this by previewing the movie Insidious: Chapter 2. The movie trailer entailed an audience watching the movie with heart rate monitors strapped onto their bodies. The words “This is your average heart rate” was showed on the screen along with the audience’s average heartbeat. Then the words “This is your heart rate on Insidious: Chapter 2” showed and a massively increased heart

In his trajectory, Hitchcock was called by many the father of suspense. Usually, his films would contain a deep level of psychological thrill that would captivate his audience. Similarly, Nolan was perhaps influenced by Hitchcock and integrated the same degree of suspense and psychological thrill to his films. Nonetheless, the question becomes why would they choose this route, and the answer we find in psychology. There are people with adrenaline-seeking behavior, which means such individuals enjoy the adrenalin released through fear experiences. Nevertheless, real life dangerous situations could lead to death; as a result, people found a way to experience, to some extent, a similar level of fear without jeopardizing their lives. Possibly, both Hitchcock and Nolan had at least a basic understanding of how the human psyche works and incorporated the suspense