There are relatively few studies on the human motivation to get involved in watching fictional horror on the screen and how a horror movie affects people’s behavioral, cognitive and emotional reactions. Why do young people enjoy horror films, how individual differences affect the reaction and preference for horror films, whether horror films affect behavior, why we are afraid of certain “classes” of stimuli, and also how sympathy for horror develops... The author of the article analyzes the psychological aspect of this phenomenon, and also considers how it affects the psyche of modern students in the process of studying the discipline “Psychology of Cinema”.

The article offers an analysis of the concept of “trauma”. The author, overcoming the crisis state of studying this phenomenon, interprets it at three levels: social, psychological and somatic, stating that currently the leading one is psychological. Problems are formulated that require the construction of a new understanding of trauma. Three options for the formation of trauma as an ideal object are considered, depending on the level at which changes to the whole are initiated. The argumentation of the provisions on trauma is based, on the one hand, on the author’s teaching about mental realities, on the other hand, on the analysis of specific cases (cases of trauma). The role of semiotic schemes in both explaining the process of trauma formation and its possible healing is discussed.