The science of fear: What makes us afraid, and why do we sometimes like it?

The things of nightmares have arrived in the Inland Northwest.

Thankfully, those who study them were already lying in wait.

All across Spokane this week, Jason Voorhees terrorized teen campers, a missing little girl’s voice echoed through an old box TV, and Jack Nicholson poked his sweaty face through an axe-hacked door to announce, “Here’s Johnny.”

Whether it’s a classic horror flick, a startling bump in the night or that surprise spider in the shower, scares are aplenty this time of year.

As hordes of residents prepare to celebrate Halloween Friday evening, fear is – or will soon be – front of mind.

The emotion is hard-wired into the human condition, explained Kristen Lindgren, a clinical psychologist and researcher at the University of Washington School of Medicine. It’s an evolutionary function, and most may not realize the elaborate internal mechanisms at play when a shiver runs down their spine – or why they may go out of their way to seek those shivers out.

“Our brains are simultaneously really sophisticated and really simple,” Lindgren said.

Film critic Nathan Weinbender, co-host of the Spokane Public Radio show “Movies-101,” is one of those who seeks out a good scare. While he hesitates to call himself a true horror movie devotee, he did organize a trip to New Orleans this year centered around a multiday horror film festival.

The appeal of the genre only seems to be growing, he said. While Hollywood struggles to produce fresh projects that draw big returns at the box office, horror is a space where creativity and profits abound. He pointed to the success of 2025’s latest installment of “The Conjuring” franchise, “Sinners” and “Weapons,” which together have brought in more than $1.1 billion worldwide.

“The thing about horror people too, is, sometimes they’re looking at this disgusting stuff on the screen, but they’re the nicest people in the world,” Weinbender said. “Every time I’ve met somebody who’s a horror filmmaker or just a big horror fan, they’re always sweethearts.”

When a scary movie gives a good fright, or a Scarywood staffer jumps out from around a corner, it elicits the same response internally as truly frightening, dangerous situations, Lindgren said. Adrenaline and dopamine course through one’s system, amping someone up in preparation for a fight, flight or freeze response.

The body then takes note in preparation for the next move; hearts thump, muscles tense and sweat starts to bead on skin.

Then logic and reason come to the rescue. Lindgren said relief typically comes when the brain is able to discern there is no real threat – that the axe-wielding husband wandering the halls of a Colorado resort is only on screen.

“It’s that sense that you’ve got basic safety happening around you; then you’re really able to get the pleasure and the rush from it as the good rush,” Lindgren said. “Versus the ‘Holy moly, we got to get out of here as soon as possible’ rush that you get if you were at a place or a situation that wasn’t objectively safe.”

Weinbender said the rationale lines up with his own experience when it comes to the allure of horror movies. People seem to enjoy being able to have the sensations of fear or disgust in a controlled environment.

“We as a species seem to have always been fascinated by violence and death, and we’re both terrified of it, but sort of, we can’t stop gawking at it,” Weinbender said. “… But there’s something about being in the confines of a movie theater or from the safety of your couch that allows you to get kind of close to those experiences, or even feel them through a character.”

The allure’s not universal; different people have different reactions to that “rush,” Lindgren said. Some may enjoy the initial surge, shudder at the thought of subjecting themselves to it in the first place or look forward to the release that comes after. The body tries to maintain homeostasis, and the latter group may find more enjoyment in the sensation of coming down from a Halloween haunt-induced state.

“That process of coming down also has its own sensations with it, and can often feel really good to people like, ‘Oh, I got through it, I’m back to normal, I’m safe, this is over,’” Lindgren added.

There are not the same relief mechanisms at play when one’s asleep, however, said WSU professor Chris Davis, of the university’s Sleep and Performance Research Center. The come-down often doesn’t arrive until someone’s startled awake by a nightmare.

Nightmares, and vivid dreaming at large, typically occur during rapid eye movement sleep (REM), the fourth and final stage of the sleep cycle.

Davis said the limbic system of the brain, where the “fear center” amygdala resides, is more active during REM sleep, while the frontal lobe that evaluates threats and regulates emotion functions at a reduced capacity.

Nightmares are the result of the mismatch in those two regions, and the related circuits and chemistry at play, he said.

“The emotion-generating and memory center regions are pretty active, and the logical reasoning areas of our brain kind of go offline,” Davis said. “So, essentially, that sets the stage for tense storylike dreams with strong emotions.”

Davis, who’s studied sleep and the effects of sleep loss on cognitive function for decades, said there is a well-identified relationship between mental disorders and nightmares. In addition to being common symptoms of conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder, nightmares can contribute to mental health decline.

Medical interventions are sometimes necessary to address both from either direction, Davis said. One of the growing areas of focus in terms of treatment of nightmares is lucid dreaming, in which an individual is aware and in control during a dream.

“It’s about becoming aware within the dream that you’re dreaming and then gaining some control and flipping the narrative,” Davis said. “Not everybody can do it. It’s kind of like how we all think we can meditate and everything. It does take some training.”

Lindgren said that in the land of the living, or rather, awake, fear can also function as a communal experience. Halloween activities meant to manufacture scares are often group experiences, and therefore an opportunity to connect with others.

Friends laugh with each other after a haunted house jump scare, costumed children reach for their parents’ hands when approaching a stranger’s door and couples grip each other tighter at a scary movie’s climax.

Some of Weinbender’s favorite movie-viewing experiences have been horror films, due largely to that communal experience. Sharing the scare with a movie theater of other people is a draw in itself, which likely helps with those staggering box office profits.

“Weapons,” which debuted in August, was one of those screenings, he said. It’s full of suspense, and he recalls feeling “jolts of electricity” sweep through the crowd at pivotal points.

“It made it more exciting to experience that, for the first time, with other people that were similarly surprised and jumping and shouting, and even laughing along with it,” Weinbender said. “I think it’s just like the difference between watching a standup comedy special at home and watching it in a club with people.”

Lindgren said she has peers in the field who’ve looked into what makes a good first date, and the science shows a horror movie screening can help a deep relationship develop quickly.

“You have this big experience, you have these big emotions that get triggered and you go up and down, all that,” Lindgren said. “And it turns out people tend to think of them and remember them as better dates, and better ways of getting to know people.”