Horror: Why do we love to be scared?

[Animeman73]

Hey, everyone, ANimeman73 here. I thought I'd indulge us in a little bit of intellectually stimulating conversation here on the forums.

A few days ago I watched a rather terrifying Let's play of a rather gory and frightening horror/survival game called Outlast. A game I'm sure many of you anime fans who are gamers know well. Anime has carved a niche in many genres, horror is certainly no different. There are some good anime horror shows and movies out there. I've never seen any of them since I'm kind of chicken like that bawk, bawk, baaawk. But after talking with some friends about my experiences and calming down I got to thinking, what is it about horror that attracts us? Why do we love to be scared?  Those who are into anime Horror please feel free to offer up your thoughts. And also what got you into horror to begin with?

Let's have a great conversation about this, feel free to respond, let's go!

[ClancyCarlin]

I'd say that it's the excitement that comes with the suspense and the fact that we know for sure that we will "survive" whatever scary thing pops up.
It's like, you sort of get to feel the excitement or scary stress that comes with being in a dangerous situation, but without the actual risk of getting killed.

[Washougal_Otaku]

Adrenaline.

A reminder of our mortality.

It beats boredom.