The category of horror is often discussed using “Top-down” language, as in, they keep making violent movies. However, basic economics teaches us that if there wasn’t a market for this content, they would not produce the product. In our last normal year of 2019, horror movies brought in around $790 million dollars in ticket sales in North America alone. This evidence poses the societal question of why we consume horror and what do aesthetics based on fear and gore do for us? Through this body of work, Bruening shares an autobiographical narrative navigating assault, pregnancy, the isolation of quarantine, and fear of motherhood. Throughout the work she discloses to the viewer the cathartic value that she has found within the genre of horror.
