'Horror film gene' explains why some laugh while others scream

cool, that explains why I think the Saw movies are hilarious

I think I have the selective version of that gene :|

Great! So it's my mother and father's fault that I scream like a sissy girl. Gawd, am I going to give *them* an earful!

I can't remember the last time I actually got scared from a scary movie. I always end up laughing at the people screaming. I always thought it was because my mom knocked the fear out of me by chasing me around the house with a creepy doll when I was little. Now I can't blame her for that one.

I always wondered why I wasn't traumatized when the person in charge of the Day Care I was in when I was 5 or so brought in movies like the Exorcist and Nightmare on Elm Street, etc as the movie for the day. Guess this explains it!

I love horror movies, especially the ones with Zombies...

It's just an individual's interpretation of what they choose to perceive as real. A judgment call rather. Some people can detach themselves from what's going on-screen and focus on the formal issues at play (the lighting, direction, costume design, etc.) while others allow themselves to get lost in a movie, leaving themselves vulnerable. Interesting study, but it's up to the individual.

Damn, I guess I must have two copies of that gene - can never sit through an even slightly scary film without ending up under the chair. At least now I can blame it on my genetics.

My m8 those that but I think it is because he is a bit twisted. He thinks 'Scream' was a bit of comedy.

Interesting, but I beleive other things come into play like the environment, how convincing the film is, or even who you are with.....

I'm a laugher, however, when I go into "haunted" places, I'm pretty freaked, but I still don't "scream." I guess it's the reality vs TV that makes it more suspenseful for me.

Jim Carey scares the stuffing outta me.
Which gene is that?

Does this gene also determine if you get incredibly bored by horror films and can guess what happens next because the writers and director have no talent?

I laughed hysterically all the way through the remake of House of Wax, but it took me multiple attempts to try to finish 28 Days Later because I kept getting scared. On top of that, I had to stop [REC] whenever it was getting too intense and head over to cuteoverload.com to calm myself, haha. I still haven't seen the ending of that movie because I hear it's the scariest part :(

I thought it was because I was high.

We laugh because most horror flicks are just bad film making. Same goes for comedy; we DON'T laugh, because the movie making is terrible.

This explains so much why my sis was sooooo freak out of horror movies, espcially with Freddy. The funny part is that I was younger than her when we would see these movies. Even today she would not see horror movies. I thought one must confront ones fears to surpass it?

Never found a scary movie scary, except Alien, but I was a kid. I'm usually annoyed by them.

Never had a nightmare either.

the only movie that ever scared the crap out of me was jaws, the idea of a shark eating me while i was swimming never sounded fun. it took me 8 years to be able to get back into a pool without worrying about a shark breaking out of the vent at the bottom to eat me...i still get into a pool sometimes and swim faster over the vent than other areas of the pool. (yes i know sharks can't swim in chlorinated pools, but that was my fear. lakes, rivers and the ocean were never a problem though for some reason...) but no other movie has ever scared me- they're all boring, comedies, or just really bad films these days.

this study would suggest that external experiences can turn a gene on or off given the correct treatment.

"Horror film gene", surely "genre" non?!

I think the word gene is thrown around way too much: whether or not one likes horror film is probably determined by the combination of thousands of different genes, and obviously life experiences, such as whether or not you were one of the kids in the Texas Chainsaw massacre...

Haha! I'm a horror lover so that is really interesting to me.

Thank god we mapped the horror film gene.

I don't think I've seen a scary movie in a long time, I just saw "The Ruins," and I haven't laughed that hard in a while. That movie is god awful.

What is the gene called again. We should nickname it the woman gene.

As pertaining to some other folks' comments, and a story I just read about a guy who got hurt from a bad LSD trip, I wonder if this gene affects the way that people feel on drugs?