{"id":26539,"date":"2026-10-26T10:51:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T14:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.jmbyington.com\/?p=26539"},"modified":"2026-10-26T11:17:06","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T15:17:06","slug":"service-of-horror-films","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.jmbyington.com\/?p=26539","title":{"rendered":"Service of Horror Films"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I posted \u201cService of Fear,\u201d on Halloween 2016. At the time I asked fellow tenants in the office space I rented for their favorite horror movies since I don\u2019t like to be scared so I avoid them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They mentioned:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Haunting\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen a Stranger Calls\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cThe Birds,\u201d \u201cPsycho\u201d & \u201cRear Window\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Conjuring\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Gate\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Strangers\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cHalloween II\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cThe Thing\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cThe Shining\u201d         <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cPoltergeist\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   \u201cThe House of Wax\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   \u201cBones\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked AI if there was a correlation between horror movie popularity and scary political times. \u201cYes \u2014 research and cultural analysis show a strong historical correlation: horror film popularity often peaks during periods of political unrest, social anxiety, or ideological polarization, as the genre reflects and amplifies collective fears.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some examples AI provided:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGreat Depression (1930s): Films like Dracula, Frankenstein, and White Zombie reflected fears about outsiders, immigration restrictions, and racial prejudice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c1960s religious upheaval: The breakdown of traditional religion fueled occult horror (The Exorcist, Rosemary\u2019s Baby)\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPost\u20119\/11: Horror emphasized random violence and \u2018us vs. them\u2019 nationalism (The Strangers, Cloverfield)\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What am I scared about? Shenanigans that impede a legitimate election that has already begun with DOJ holding hostage 20,000 votes in Los Angeles and the president ordering DOJ to block the Alaska Senate race if Republican, Senator Dan S. Sullivan loses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you a horror film fan? What are your favorites? Does your yen for the genre increase when you feel anxious about political unrest?<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I posted \u201cService of Fear,\u201d on Halloween 2016. At the time I asked fellow tenants in the office space I rented for their favorite horror movies since I don\u2019t like to be scared so I avoid them. They mentioned: \u201cThe Haunting\u201d \u201cWhen a Stranger Calls\u201d  \u201cThe Birds,\u201d \u201cPsycho\u201d & \u201cRear Window\u201d  \u201cThe Conjuring\u201d  \u201cThe Gate\u201d \u201cThe Strangers\u201d  \u201cHalloween […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,1453,4872,1454],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fear","category-films","category-horror-films","category-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jmbyington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jmbyington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jmbyington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jmbyington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jmbyington.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26539"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jmbyington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26546,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jmbyington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26539\/revisions\/26546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jmbyington.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jmbyington.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jmbyington.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}