My obsession with the slasher genre started from an early age. My two older siblings introduced me to Peter Jackson’s Braindead in my teens, and zombie movies became my ~entire personality~.
I’ve recently started thinking about why slasher and serial killer stories have such a hold on us. What makes us seek out gore, violence and fear? And is it a bad thing? Dexter (2006) was one of the first slasher shows to truly tap into the mindset of a killer, and had such depth to the anti-hero main character, which I found fascinating. Dexter: Original Sin drops this month on Paramount+ and will tap into the making of a serial killer.
Turns out there are a few personality traits or tendencies that draw certain people (hi, it’s me) to the slasher genre, according to Clinical Psychologist Dr Aileen Alegado.
“Some studies suggest that high-sensation seekers — those who crave intense experiences — are more likely to enjoy horror. They might enjoy the thrill and excitement that comes from the high stakes in slasher content,” she tells PEDESTRIAN.TV.
“Additionally, people who enjoy exploring dark or forbidden themes or who are curious about psychology or the unknown may be drawn to these shows.”
There’s actually a benefit to sitting down and getting the crap scared out of ya, so if you’re into slashers, keep doing what you’re doing besties!!!
Dr Alegado explains that feeling fear in a “controlled setting” like watching a show (such as Dexter: Original Sin) can give a viewer a “rush of adrenaline and endorphins”. It also gives viewers “a way to release pent-up anxiety, providing a psychological ‘purge’ or catharsis”.
“For others, confronting fear in a safe way is empowering, helping them feel more resilient and capable of handling stress… it’s very similar to [riding a] rollercoaster,” Dr Alegado continues. “Both horror films and rollercoasters deliver a safe dose of danger and excitement, allowing people to feel fear while knowing they’re not in real harm. This thrill can be exhilarating, creating a powerful emotional response that can feel pleasurable once the scare is over.”
She notes that some studies have even indicated that horror fans were able to handle both fear and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic better than others. Now that’s a win!
Dr Scott Knight, Assistant Professor of film, television and videogames at Bond University, thinks curiosity is a big reason people seek out the genre.
“[Death] can be a very scary thing for many, many people in many different cultures, and [this genre] puts that front and centre… curiosity [means] we can confront these things and we can actually be better humans for engaging in this kind of fiction [and] fantasy,” he tells PEDESTRIAN.TV.
He says that “fantasy” is an “incredibly important part of the human psyche” to experience things through media that you wouldn’t do in real life, which opens viewers’ minds and imaginations.
“I can go to these dark places [that] in real life I would never be caught dead [doing]… it’s like, let’s go into this house even [though] we’ve heard that there’s a serial killer in there… by extension, we’ll follow these characters that will become our substitutes, and we’ll be connected with them through that journey, and hopefully we’ll survive.”
Prior to Alfred Hitchcock‘s Psycho in 1960, the horror genre tended to look to monsters as being the most terrifying archetype of all: think Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula and Wolfman. Hitchcock’s film flipped the genre on its head, revealing that sometimes the scariest threat of all is simply human. Frankenstein was science fiction; serial killers live among us.
I reckon that’s why Dexter has such a hold on people, because it taps into this idea that anybody could be a monster hiding in plain sight. With the rise of true crime, people are more fascinated with serial killers than ever before.
Dexter: Original Sin will show how Dexter started controlling his urge to kill in a *somewhat* positive way, targeting those who deserve to die. We’ll finally get to see Dexter’s first kill in 1991 and I’m so keen to fill in some missing puzzle pieces. With horror greats like Sarah Michelle Gellar, Patrick Dempsey and Christian Slater in the cast, it’s definitely going to be a wild ride.
Dexter: Original Sin is streaming only on Paramount+ from December 13.
Lead image: Paramount Pictures, Paramount+ Australia
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