Are Horror Movies Bad?

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Recently I was told that horor movies are bad and can invite demons in. Is this true, that they’re bad?
 
No. Movies do not open up demonic portals.

A particular movie may be an occasion of sin for a particular person, if that person watching it is inspired to sin from looking at it. Doesn’t matter whether it is a horror movie or My Little Pony. The same movie may be fine for other people to watch because they don’t feel any motivation to sin from watching it.

A movie that is pornographic or blasphemous is also sinful because it contains pornography or blasphemy. This is not dependent on the genre of the movie. You could have a pornographic horror movie, a pornographic comedy, or a pornographic action movie. Likewise, there are many horror movies, comedies and action movies that are not pornographic (and also not blasphemous) and are fine to watch.
 
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I had a brief episode of scruples when I saw an exorcism movie with a giant upside down crucifix in the movie background. So, it’s not far fetched for Catholics to get overly worried about horror films. My family also had strict rules while growing up regarding some movies. I think they had my best interests in mind not to invest myself in fear over the salvation of Jesus Christ.
 
I would avoid them. I have been told by very religious and learned religious that they can be extremely spiritually damaging.

I am also going to say we should reject all evil or representation of evil and put God first.
 
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Roseeurekacross said:
I would avoid them. I have been told by very religious and learned religious that they can be extremely spiritually damaging.
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On the flip side, there are very spiritual people who think that they can be potentially good. Bishop Robert Barron took that side recently when asked about horror movies on his podcast. While he acknowledged that not all horror is good, morally speaking, he was fond of its potential and with what some horror movies have already done.
 
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“Horror movies” is an extremely broad term and would include everything from the 50s campy alien films like “The Blob” to exorcism movies to psychological horror films like “Carnival of Souls” to slasher gore films to old classics like Bela Lugosi as Dracula, etc. It’s fine if you simply don’t like the genre or are sensitive to it and thus avoid it, but with such a huge variety of films, subgenres and treatment of subjects, the idea of them all being damaging is far-fetched to me. if you are a film aficionado, you’re going to want to watch some of them simply because they are very good movies, or very bad movies, from a filmmaking standpoint.

Also, some of them are making broader points about society. “Frankenstein” is a classic in that regard, and the 50s alien and monster movies are generally understood as relating to WWII and the Cold War.

It’s also fun when you recognize the places in the movie. I was just watching the original Steve McQueen version of “The Blob”, which was filmed in the 50s around a couple of towns where I have spent time, and got a chuckle out of seeing a poster for St. Joseph’s Church annual festival in the diner scene. St. Joseph’s Church is still there, albeit in a much bigger and newer church, and still has a huge festival every year. I also enjoy watching the original “Night of the Living Dead” as it was filmed near my husband’s hometown, the name of which appears in the news broadcast scene when they are showing the list of emergency shelters. My graduate school program was located in the building next to the “Exorcist Steps” and the locations in that film are very familiar to me as well.
 
I think it depends on the horror film, you can’t say it’s because it’s violent, because there are a lot of things that are violent that are okay to watch. Like, pretty much any reenactment of the crucifixion. I think it really depends on the context, and especially how Christianity is portrayed. I remember one of the Hellraiser movies, that a priest who didn’t believe in Hell, grabbed a crucifix, and said something to the main character, and then the main character quoted a Bible verse out of context, and the crucifix liquefied. I’m not sure what to make of that. I think it honestly does depend on a lot of circumstances. I’ve been watching horror films, probably most of my life, and you can actually find in some of them some pretty deep Theology and some of it’s actually pretty good. Some of it’s actually pretty bad too though. I don’t think it’s necessarily bad to watch horror films, but like anything else, always be careful.
 
Horror movies are very difficult to get exactly right.

However they do not invite demons more so than any other genres.

Personally I think demons would prefer to use porn as their portal.
 
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Personally I think it’s about good housekeeping in your temple of the Holy Spirit. That may be annoying to some people but would someone you respect for being highly moral, highly pious and very highly regarded by God watch such a film?

I suppose it depends on whether you aspire to be pure of thought or remain as you are. I have enough unsavoury images in my memory without adding to them and it is worth remembering that the hippocampus doesn’t seem to be capable of discerning between real and unreal, true or false, it just remembers.

I don’t watch horror films, I like innocent films with what I hope,will be a heart warming story, one to inspire pleasant thoughts. Annoying ain’t I? Even more annoyingly I just remembered I watched a film called Lucy a few months ago, I don’t think it was horror nor like sci-fi I think, a little bit of gore but only a couple of scenes I think, if that, I found it very interesting though and it didn’t make me think weird things.

(My son, an atheist and proud of it told me that if he was god he’d have two commandments as well, first don’t bother me and second do what you like.)
 
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I like watching well made horror films. Horror films are quite difficult to get right, so there are more badly made ones than well made ones. I hate the slasher films and prefer the supernatural horror films.
 
To be honest I especially don’t watch supernatural horror films, I don’t watch any but I would certainly avoid those kinds.

I wonder, if we could travel to another universe and observe an advanced race would we see them watching movies like those? An advanced race? How about an advanced race which believed in and worshipped God?

Do we think that when we pray our prayers are heard? If so is it only our prayers which are heard? Do we switch on a connection when finished after the word Amen does it disconnect? I don’t think so. So without going into details about a diementio which plainly exists around us but which we have no means of detecting directly I think our thoughts make a difference. I think violent thought affects us and being excited about vicarious violence observed in a movie has the same effect.

Who knows. Do we say to God, yes Lord I want to be holy but not right now, I’m watching an exciting horror movie?
 
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It’s funny that you bring that up. Though they are not horror films, parts of Goodfellas were filmed within walking distance of my home growing up, and the church used in the Godfather sits on the grounds of a summer camp at which I used to volunteer in high school.
 
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You can watch a horror movie and still be holy.

The key is in being able to tell which is fantasy and which is reality.

It’s not like I turn evil whenever I watch a horror movie.

By the way, the last time I saw a horror movie was ten years ago. As I said before, horror movies are rarely done right in my opinion so I rarely watch them.

Now the movies I despise are the romantic comedy films. I never understood the appeal of romance.
 
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This should be a sticky post that automatically answers the “horror movie” questions. Brava!!!
 
The recent Netflix remake of “Hill House” has kept me on the edge of my seat!!
 
I disagree.
Would Our Lady have visited the colosseum for fun and entertainment, probably not.
It depends what you aspire to become I think.

We think we have control over our minds and so can tell the difference between real and unreal, maybe even what we remember, but do we? Don t we all struggle sometimes with bad memeories about things we’d rather forget? I have, so how much control do we really have.

All I’d say is that if see or hear something there’s a good chance I’ll remember it. Do I really want that? Personally no. I don’t see how that will help me in life or in death.
 
Then we will have to agree to disagree.

Our Lady did not also go to University, ride a bus or drive a car, but that does not mean we shouldn’t do it. She also never wore trousers but that does not mean Catholic women shouldn’t wear trousers.

As I said before, watching porn is a lot more damaging than occasionally watching a movie about a ghost living in some old Victorian mansion.
 
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