Cinematic emotion in horror films and thrillers : the aesthetic paradox of pleasurable fear

Hanich looks at fear at the movies - its aesthetics, its experience and its pleasures--in this thought-provoking study. Looking at over 150 different films including Seven, Rosemary's Baby, and Silence of the Lambs, Hanich attempts to answer the paradox of why we enjoy films that thrill us, that scare us, that threaten us, that shock us -affects that we otherwise desperately wish to avoid.