Why Horror Films Are More Popular Than Ever

2020 was a bad year for just about everything—except horror. Horror films were wildly popular on streaming platforms over the past year, and 2020 saw the horror genre take home its largest share of the box office in modern history.¹ In a year where the world was stricken by real horrors, why were many people escaping to worlds full of fictional horrors? As odd as it may sound, the fact that people were more anxious in 2020 may be one reason why horror films were so popular. A look at typical horror fans may provide some clues about the nature of this peculiar phenomenon.

For example, horror fans often mention their own anxiety and how horror helps them deal with it. They may be more of an anxious bunch than a fearless bunch. In a recent study, posted on , researchers looked at plot keywords from over 800 films and nearly 1 million Facebook likes. They found that fans of horror movies were more likely to be high in neuroticism—a personality trait characterized by high anxiety. Across all movies in the dataset, plot keywords such