The three types of horror fan

Research suggests there are three types of horror fan, each finding different values from engagement with horror media. Understanding these different personality types can help tailor your story.

Most of us know adrenaline junkies; that friend who always has to turn everything up to eleven - even when they don’t need to.

Photo by Daniel Jensen on Unsplash

That need to seek dangerous activities and experiences was one of the first models used to understand the psychology of horror fans; a topic I have discussed before.

This model provided partial answers to why so many people chose to watch horror films, as it was easy to understand that they were excited by the sensation of fear. But over the years, researchers discovered this model was too simplistic, and there was another group of horror fans who were didn’t enjoy being scared, yet repeatedly put themselves into situations where this was inevitable.

This group became known as White Knucklers; horror fans who went to horror movies and visited haunted attractions and experienced fear, yet didn’t seem excited by it in the same was as the adrenaline junkies. While this group was clearly distinct, their motivation was unclear, and research has barely scratched the surface about the psychology of this group. Some evidence suggests this group experiences personal growth from exposure to horror, and this acts as a reward impulse.

However, recent research has uncovered another group of fans which are described as Dark Copers; they straddle the excitement of the adrenaline junkie and the personal growth identified by the white knucklers.

The psychology of horror fans is most frequently probed through the use of surveys or interviews, where people are asked to respond to a series of questions, and then statistical analysis can search for patterns in the responses.

In this case, the authors used a two-pronged approach. First, they undertook a study on personality and media preferences, asking 389 US adults to answer 46 Likert-scale survey questions about various aspects of horror. For the analysis, they removed all responses that didn’t score high enough on the horror fan item “I enjoy watching horror movies and TV shows,” leaving them with 256 responses from horror fans.

They then ran an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) on the items. The EFA helps probe latent factors in the data set, these latent factors can be thought of as subconscious groupings of the items according to an unknown framework. The analysis then revealed the presence of three latent factors in the dataset, which correspond to the definitions above.

In the second part of the study, they tested their definitions against a group of visitors of a Danish haunted house (n=258) by asking them questions before and after their experience, and then doing EFA on the results. The interesting part of this study, was that the authors set up their surveys to differentiate between Adrenaline Junkies and White Knucklers, but were unaware of the Dark Riders at the time. However, the EFA again identified three latent factors in the response data, providing (post-hoc) confirmation of the Dark Copers fan type. As they state in the paper:

We found that Adrenaline Junkies were more likely to report a mood boost, White Knucklers were more likely to report learning something about themselves and feeling as if they developed as a person, and Dark Copers were more likely to report all three outcomes.

To summarize: the three horror fandom types they identified were:

Adrenaline Junkies

These are fans who enjoy the intense experience from watching horror movies. They enjoy being scared, and the sensations derived from horror films.

White Knucklers

Similar to the adrenaline junkie, white knucklers also experience fear, but they don’t perceive this as pleasurable. So why do they watch horror? The research suggests they often learn something about themselves, and feel they have developed or grown as a person.

Dark Coper

These fans get immediate pleasure-related benefits like adrenaline junkies, but also the epistemic benefits of the white knucklers. In other words, dark copers not only enjoy the fear, but also see how it helps them grow.

What does this mean for creators?

You may think there is nothing useful here for creators, but I think that’s short-sighted.

What this paper suggests to me is that horror fans are not monoliths, and their reasons for watching horror are diverse and complex. Creators working in horror would do well to think about this as they approach their story, and tailor it to a specific type of fan.

Creating “generic” horror is unlikely to satisfy any of the three fandom types identified above, and will therefore create poor - or worse, no - word of mouth.

Of course, you could try to consider how to satisfy each of these groups across numerous moments in your story, but that could take a long time to create, and I wonder if the end result would feel too contrived.

Instead, I think it’s best to pick one of these fandom types and tailor everything towards their psychological profile. Every scene and moment should be there to not only drive the story forward in an interesting way, but also to appeal to that specific fan type. If you can do that, then your chances of having a horror hit are likely to rise exponentially.

With all that said, I think I’m a Dark Coper. What type of horror fan are you?

While we’re on the subject of horror. My newest horror novella “Born Again” comes to Kickstarter on May 6. Find more information here.

The story follows Jason, a writer struggling to find things to say. He's on the verge of quitting when Anders, an old friend, knocks at his door and asks for his help fighting demons.

The two friends have a complex past, centred around their former DIY punk band, and Jason desperately wants to help, but doesn't want to enable Anders' delusions.

Despite serious misgivings, the two embark on an unusual road-trip that forces Jason to finally confront the demons of his past, and also the demons preying on an unusual family.

If you like psychological horror, explorations of grief and trauma, and dark tales with demons, then you'll love this story!