Horror Movies and the Power of Images
With Christmas behind us, January brings a chance to settle into the slump of normal workdays and winter blues. The first month of the year is one of what the box office calls a “dump month.”
Despite the slump, horror movies generally continue to bring in the audiences during this time, prompting a big release in the first week to start the New Year off with a bang (or perhaps a scream).
Between Hollywood and the litany of streaming services, the constant availability of horror movies confronts Christians with a question: Should we watch horror movies?
The subject brings passionate defenders, discussion, and debates. As one who spent my childhood watching Michael Myers marathons for fun and having scary movie nights with my girlfriends, it’s a topic that hits close to home—especially since I’ve changed my mind.
But instead of sending another tidy “should” or “shouldn’t” article out into the web, I think it’s far more beneficial to take a closer look at the violent images we all consume.
As I’ve been pouring over my thoughts about horror movies, I’m convinced that images matter, whether they’re in a scary movie or a police drama. But in order to understand where images go wrong, we must first remind ourselves of their purpose in a story.
IMAGE’S PLACE IN THE STORY
Narrative is a universal way of teaching truth. We see it in Greek mythology or the history of oral story-telling traditions. For the Christian, we know this, as our own Creator powerfully used narrative in the lives of his own creation. He didn’t script a movie. Instead he sovereignly moved nations, peoples, and kings to not only work out his will, but to paint a narrative that taught of his redemption. Surely our hearts love and long for good stories because they were made by the greatest storyteller of all time.
We can look through the Bible and see that even dark imagery was used to strengthen these stories, like when Ezekiel speaks about the valley of the dry bones vividly coming to life and being clothed in muscles, tendons, and flesh (Ez. 37:1–14). We even read about birds feeding on the flesh of kings, captains, and mighty men in Revelation (Rev. 19:17–18), reminding us that God’s judgments on evil are weighty.
We often learn by seeing, which is why we can see numerous teachings about the eyes throughout the Bible. We are told to “fix our eyes on Jesus” (Heb. 12:2). The psalmist sings, “Lift my eyes to the hills” (Ps. 121:11). Or we read Jesus say, “The eye is the lamp of the body” (Matt. 6:22). Just as picture books help a child learn, images teach the meaning of difficult concepts, sometimes even dark imagery. We can see this in the importance of war photographers, documentaries, and, yes, well-made fictitious movies.
Sometimes we need to look upon the dark so we can see the beauty of the good. This truth is one reason people admire the horror genre so much, and it’s one that has intrigued my own story-loving heart.
Yet, while the use of imagery and words is a gift to be used wisely, we must look at a couple of ways these powerful images—particularly found in horror movies—can negate these good intentions.
WHEN AN IMAGE LOSES ITS IMPORTANCE
We were sitting in our small, two-bedroom apartment watching the naval detectives of NCIS solve a crime. The scene flashed to a man lying dead on a table. Out of nowhere, my husband’s hand shoved in front of my face.
“Uh, what are you doing?” I voiced in protest. My mind scoffed at the fact that my husband assumed I was weak. Didn’t he know what I had seen? This was nothing. Yet as our marriage went on and my husband continued to flip the channel or shield my eyes, I realized it was the Spirit who was working to convict.
Over time, I had stopped caring. Amidst scenes of gun fights, slasher films, and autopsies, I had stopped viewing much of the death and evil on the screen as repugnant enough to even shudder. And that bothered me.
No, we don’t have to flip the screen at every punch or slap of the hand. My husband and I don’t cover our eyes for every single death. But I do think it’s important to realize the effect a steady stream of images takes on our brain. While studies are mixed as to whether or not media violence causes real-life aggression, they do agree that there is evidence that consuming a lot of violence will, in turn, make you desensitized to it.
We can see the effects of this in the nature of many horror movies, as they often work overtime to shock and awe mercilessly. If images are, as we said, useful for making us think, what happens when the constant swarm of them decreases their own power? If the point of the story is to use evil to tell a powerful message, then why did I need to boast in my own ability to handle the evil unmoved? In truth, I was weakening the storyline, and I was naïve to how the media I consumed was working underneath.
This is why David—a king who saw great violence in battle—still purposed to not set any worthless thing before his eyes (Ps. 101:3). He goes on to say in the psalm, that he will hate the work of those who fall away and that “it shall not cling to me” (Ps. 101:3).
The Spirit showed me early on in my marriage what was clinging to me beneath the surface of my entertainment choices. We won’t be able to remove every instance of evil before our eyes. We live in sinful world. That reality envelops our world, our stories, and our own testimonies. But we must take active ownership over what is set before our eyes and over what silently attempts to numb and dull our senses to it.
WHEN EVIL BECOMES THE HERO
Another danger we find as we consume violent images is the tendency to start to view evil as attractive. When images come together to tell a story well, it often looks artistic. This is the draw. But the danger is that when we see start to see violent images as art in themselves, we can lose sight of the evil it represents.
Before we know it, the evil meant to provide a stark contrast from the good turns into something appealing itself. As we sit and watch a horror movie unfold, it’s too easy to boast—perhaps even find glee—once we guess what evil will next happen. But evil should never delight us.
It often delights the world and the past few years of anti-hero movies can be seen as evidence of this fact. Why do some choose the villain from Sleeping Beauty to idolize? Why has the character of the Joker—the very epitome of evil—become celebrated by many?
Of course, these complex stories hold more weight than their flat, easy-going counterparts of Disney. They remind us of our human nature and how evil often hides in what looks good. I get it. Yet while we can welcome deep and thoughtful storylines, we must be on guard of the tendency to adore the evil.
We flatten the story’s whole point when we start to see the evil as something desirable. When we brighten up evil, we can’t see the beauty of the contrasting sun piercing the night.
If it’s true that we care about the good of the story, we will seek after writers and directors who stay true to making evil just that, and we’ll work to make sure our own perspective stays true as we watch.
ANALYZING OUR IMAGES
These days, I don’t watch any horror movies. I found I couldn’t easily disassociate my own enjoyment of the art with cheering for evil. I view the slippery slopes and the temptations of these tendencies far too strong in a steady diet of most horror movies.
Still, as thought-provoking horror movies like A Quiet Place have come out, I find myself intrigued by how they use the power of story. While I don’t feel the desire to watch, I sometimes seek out reviews to see how they’ve artfully told the story.
While my convictions on horror movies might be different from yours, I’d call us all to look at the effects of the images we take in. They matter, as does our attitude towards them. The verse that always seems to pop up around this topic is still true: “Woe to those who call evil good . . . who put darkness for light . . . who put bitter for sweet (Isa. 5:20).” That’s not just a saying people use to keep kids from trick-or-treating—it’s a truth we would do well to remember as we consume images.
May we make it a point to never be tempted in our minds to start calling evil good. Perhaps that means cutting out images that tempt you to celebrate evil. Maybe you need to evaluate what the volume is doing to your perspective. Have you become numb to what should cause you to turn your gaze?
Shielding our eyes isn’t a sign of our weakness but that we value the beauty of all that is right, true, and good even more.
Brianna Lambert is a wife and mom to three, making their home in the cornfields of Indiana. She loves using writing to work out the truths God is teaching her each day. She is a staff writer with GCD and has contributed to various online publications, such as Morning by Morning and Fathom magazine. You can find more of her writing paired with her husband’s photography at lookingtotheharvest.com.