This Is The Best Genre Of Movie To Watch In The Theaters, Not At Home

Regardless of whether you prefer watching movies from the comfort of your own couch or you have a membership to your favorite local theater, everyone should be able to agree on the type of movie that’s best to see in theaters. 

No one can deny that it’s fun to go see major box office movies in person to get the full experience — the themed cups and cocktails, fancy popcorn buckets, and costumes that fill the audience during opening weekend. But there’s one type of movie that’s just plain better in theaters practically every single time: horror films.

Horror flicks are a box office blast for a reason. It’s primarily about the setting — and about the mood that the theater puts you in. While going to the theater can make any movie feel special and exciting, there’s quite a lot of adrenaline and anticipation that happens — whether you notice it or not — when you sit down in the movie theater. 

Horror movies benefit from this tension immensely, because it sets you even more on edge to start off the film. You’re naturally anticipating the beginning of the movie, which leads you to feel excited, nervous, or more focused than usual. Once the movie actually kicks off, this feeling doesn’t stop or change, because the content of the film leads these emotions to continue to heighten rather than fall off. You’re not starting from zero and building to 100 — you’re beginning the movie with a rush, which leads to higher highs and better scares throughout the film.

There’s also a significant lack of control in a movie theater that can play a major part in how captivating a horror film is. When you’re at home, you tend to recognize the fact that you have more control over the movie that’s playing in front of you. When you pause it to use the bathroom, you leave the world where you’re suspending your disbelief; your mind is taking a break, and you then have to work to build up the anticipation and tension all over again when you return.

You can control the volume, stop and start the film, go back, and have more room to move around or leave the room when you feel anxious. These aren’t necessarily bad moves to make if the movie is overwhelming, which is definitely a reason why some people prefer to watch horror films at home — but you can’t deny that these actions all give you a sense of security and control that you wouldn’t have at a movie theater. This can make the movie feel less scary.

The last reason horror movies are so wonderful in person is because they feature a bigger screen and a louder volume — and the environment might also be better suited to a horror movie, too. The jumpscares are louder, the violence is big-picture, and you’re in a dark room that’s probably at least a little less well-lit than wherever you’re watching a movie at home.

The theater might even change how you act and react to a movie. Maybe you naturally like to crack jokes or talk over scary parts of a horror film to make yourself feel better — something that you just can’t do when you’re in person. 

So, the next time you’re wondering whether you should go spend some cash on movie tickets or just wait until it hits streaming services, all you need to ask yourself is: is the movie a horror film? If the answer is yes, it’s more than worth it.