The beauty of Steven Spielberg’s horror class Jaws is not due to 
all the special effects of makeup, but the overwhelming pressure 
that the film puts on the audience’s imagination.

Recent studies show that the five human senses relate to fear 
differently. While many may think that sight is the first trigger 
for fear might be surprised to find out that it is in fact touch. 
Doctor French Capotelli of CAF offered an explanation.

FC: You might see a lion coming towards you. You might 
hear it. You might smell it. But all those imply the fatalistic 
last stage of death which only possible at touch," says 

Will Curpill: So you may ask how it is possible that Jaws 
became such a great horror sensation. Audiences didn’t hear the 
shark, the heard the music. They didn’t even see it. Obviously 
they didn’t smell it or touch it either.

FC: The filmmakers were smart because they didn’t go with 
the one sense that most horror films capitalize one, which is 
sight. They went straight for the source which is the brain and 
the organ that processes the fear that comes from the five 
instigators and creates fear. They used a process that is called 
behavior association pushing which means that they send out 
information to the brain that would be created if the five senses 
are processing data that would turn into fear.

WC: Can you give us an example?

FC: Surely. If you can recall the music that Spielberg 
used in Jaws, you will remember it was a very repetitious and 
eerie sound. The brain associates that sound with a heart beat or 
labored breathing or the throbbing of your head when you are 
anxious. However, the brain and the heart are not in those states 
of hyperactivity so to make sense of the data, the brain sends 
out signals to trigger those organs. This is why when you watch a 
horror film, your heart beat goes up and you get sweaty palms, 
it’s your body trying to make sense and keep you up to date with 
the information you’re receiving.

WC: And this made for the success of Jaws and perhaps the 
Ring?

FC: Absolutely, the Ring is another prime example. There 
are images and sounds that the filmmakers use and because the 
viewer is not able to connect that date directly to the film, the 
brain automatically prepares the viewer in case the source of 
those sounds comes from behind or anywhere in the dark space of 
the theatre. 

Will Cuprill is a movie reviewer. And,
he wants you to know about the upcoming
movie, "Machiavelli Hangman".
http://www.hangmanmovie.com