'Return of the repressed'

The return of the repressed is a process which explains how repressed feelings in the unconscious mind reappear in the conscious mind or in behaviour. This was mainly thought up by Freud, a psychologist. The main theory behind this is that our childhood memories shape who we become, and if there was any negativity or pain, that as a defence mechanism, we repress it until we can deal with it or destroy it. In this case however, Freud believes that repressed emotions are never destroyed instead that they are constantly re-emerging in thoughts, character traits, 'slips of the tongue' and other behaviours, which are often unrecognisable. This can be triggered by new experiences which relate to or resemble the repressed memory. A clear example of this could be Michael Myers in 'Halloween' killing Lynda after seeing her have sex with her boyfriend. This could have triggered the memory of him seeing his sister have sex before he killed her also.

This could also relate to the audience. In horror films specifically, perhaps why we relate to, or enjoy horror fims in such a way could be due to certain feelings or thoughts which society doesn't allow, but whilst watching horrors is acceptable. Many enjoy the gore or the tension because they can't experience it in real life due to society's restraints on behaviour and ideas, as it is socially unacceptable and illegal in many cases. Many argue that media aggression directly affects behaviour, so for some it could make them more violent and trigger unconscious thoughts, or for others it is a catharsis release where ideas are explored without acting out the behaviour or violence.