After Dark HorrorFest: A Treat for Fans of Horror Movies

An after Halloween treat was recently announced for fans of horror movies. Starting tomorrow November 9Th and running through the 18Th, the After Dark Horrorfest will be shown in over three hundred and fifty theaters across the country.

After Dark Films is releasing eight new horror movies for one week only. This will be your only chance to view these new horror movies in theaters. The featured films include: The Deaths of Ian Stone, Nightmare Man, Crazy Eights, Unearthed, Borderland, Mulberry Street, Tooth and Nail, and Lake Dead. This unique film festival showcases these 8 new movies that run the spectrum of horror to thriller to gore to supernatural.

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AMC Theatres Offers Fans Of Horror Movies An Early Halloween Treat: The "Saw-fest" Movie Marathon

Recently, AMC Theatres announced details of "Saw-fest," a marathon of the 3 previously-released "Saw" horror movies leading up to the midnight show of the newest installation, "Saw IV," all for the price of a single admission ticket.

Saw-fest will take place Thursday, Oct. 25, in forty two participating AMC theatres in twenty five U.S. markets. The marathon will begin at six p.m. with short intermissions between each film, culminating in the 12:01 a.m. release of "Saw IV."

Tickets are available at all participating AMC theatres and at AMCTheatres.com.

"The "Saw" series is quickly becoming a Halloween tradition, and we've seen few horror films release on the same date because of its recent success," said Zach Baze, vice president, marketing, at AMC Theatres. "Saw-fest is a rare opportunity for fans to see this exciting film series in succession, building to the much anticipated release of "Saw IV."

The "Saw" film series is a popular horror film franchise created by James Wan and Leigh Whannell, beginning in 2004 and continuing to the present.

The series' main plot revolves around the Jigsaw Killer, a vigilante who kidnaps victims and places them in deadly traps to test them and see if they are deserving of the life they have abused.

The victims, almost always chosen because they have taken their lives for granted, are usually linked to each other in one way or another. The films tend to conclude with a twisted ending that wraps things up, but also leaves more questions to be answered in the following film.

Guests who attend Saw-fest are free to come and go throughout the duration of the series, but will need to keep and produce their ticket stub to ensure re-admission into the Saw-fest auditorium.

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New Research On How Horror Movies Affect Different Viewers

Recently, new research has determined that non-horror fans (the people who have to cover their eyes during scary scenes) are actually no more frightened than horror fans when watching horror movies.

The findings challenge the prevailing belief that horror fans do not experience fear at the same depths as the supposedly more sensitive people who would rather watch comedy than killing.

The four-part study, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, also concludes that the most terrifying scenes in scary movies are the ones that rouse the most pleasure among horror fans.

This mixed experience of fear and happiness counters the notion that negative and positive emotions can't be triggered simultaneously, while much of the existing research has suggested horror fans simply endure discomfort to enjoy the flood of relief that follows.

In fact, it was only among the horror-averse that significant levels of happiness registered at the end of a chilling scene.

According to study co-author Eduardo Andrade, a marketing professor at the University of California-Berkeley, the capacity to simultaneously experience fear and pleasure is directly linked with having a "protective frame."

That is, knowledge that no real-life danger exists in a given on-screen situation.

Horror fans are more likely to have these dual feelings because they maintain a certain level of detachment that allows them to absorb fear while still enjoying the movie.

Those people who typically avoid scary movies, however, don't approach nail-biting scenes with a like sense of safety and thus experience the same level of fear as horror fans but "virtually zero" enjoyment.

"They just hope it's going to be over soon," says Andrade.

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