Why a scary movie can make a good first date

Forget the romantic comedy if you really want to bond with someone on a first date, take them to a scary movie.

That's the advice from Stacey MacKinnon, Mainstreet P.E.I.'s relationships columnist and an associate professor of psychology at the University of Prince Edward Island.

There's even science behind it, she said.

"One of the research studies I read many years ago talked about the best way to bond with a potential new romantic partner was to take them on a rollercoaster, because you get an adrenaline rush and you associate that with how attracted you are to this person.

"Same thing happens with scary movies."

At a neurological level, it's a high, essentially. Stacey MacKinnon

Most people enjoy at least a mild scare, MacKinnon said, though some more than others.

Those who like to be scared feel the same kind of adrenaline rush a marathon runner or mountain climber might get.

"At a neurological level, it's a high, essentially," she said. "We enjoy our adrenaline. It gets the heart pumping, it gets the breathing activated."

When it comes to Halloween, people can feel and enjoy the fright more because they know they are safe, MacKinnon said.

"The scariest movies are the ones that are just real enough that you could picture yourself in that situation but not so real that you'd be afraid it would happen to you."

But not everyone likes to be scared, including MacKinnon herself. It's usually because of social and cultural reasons, she said.

"Often times we've had a bad experience when we were too young to realize this wasn't real. And that actually transmits throughout the lifespan for many people into a real dislike of a fright."

Still checks the closet

MacKinnon recalled the first Halloween party she attended. She was nine years old, and was "weirded out" by the peeled grapes that were made to look like eyeballs. Then, at a sleepover, her friend's father jumped out of a closet dressed as a vampire.

He meant no harmbut MacKinnon said to this day, at 48 years old, she still checks the closets.

"Rationally I know the chances of there being anything scary in there is next to nil. But the experience of having that fright and feeling so unsafe has haunted me literally, ever since."

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With files from MainstreetP.E.I.