The Chemistry of Horror Film

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It started with Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney and Bela Lugosi doing primitive horror flicks. But the fright genre in Hollywood has morphed into situations that would probably make Wolf Man, Frankenstein and Dracula blush. OK, for these blood fests to continue to make profits, there has to be a back story to how a stupid, possessed doll named Chucky can get 4 sequels (Child's Play, Child's Play 2, Child's Play 3, Bride of Chucky [and we used to laugh at Bride of Frankenstein…], Seed of Chucky.) Here's my amatuer take: Somehow, these ridiculous gore-a-thons trigger brain and adrenal chemistry much like Pro Football, Wrestlemania, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition, and possibly Candy Crush. The "Big 3" brain/adrenal chemicals that have a pleasure effect are Serotonin, Dopamine and Norepinephrine. Remember cocaine is able to pull off the same effect exponentially. I don't think this was exactly the message Mary Shelley was trying to make when she wrote her novel "Frankenstein-The Modern Prometheus" in 1931.

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