the Psychology of Transmissible Horror: When Fear Becomes the Disease

Ringu (1998)

The Ring + It Follows + Smile

What if fear could spread like a virus?

Welcome to the world of transmissible horror—a subgenre where terror doesn’t just stalk you... it passes through you. In films like The Ring, It Follows, and Smile, fear becomes something that can be caught, turning every relationship into a potential threat and every victim into a future carrier.

These stories don’t rely on haunted houses or masked killers. Instead, they build dread around the idea that once you’ve been marked, there’s no escape—unless you pass it on.

📼 The Ring: The Birth of Modern Cursed Horror

The Ring (1998)

The Ring (1998, Japan) started it all. A cursed videotape kills viewers seven days after watching it—unless they copy and show it to someone else. The curse spreads like a spiritual virus, and no one is safe once they’ve pressed play.

Professor John Hall pointed out that The Ring “set the tone for transmissible horror,” but he also noted that modern films have shifted the focus:

“Where The Ring uses a physical object—the tape—newer films like Smile use trauma or psychological burden as the thing being passed.”

🏃 It Follows: Intimacy as Infection

It Follows (2014)

In It Follows (2014), the curse is passed through sex. It sounds bizarre, but it works—every person who’s cursed is followed by a slow-walking, shape-shifting entity. If it catches them, they die. The only way to stay safe? Pass it to someone else.

Here, the curse is a metaphor: for STDs, for emotional baggage, or even guilt. The fear isn’t just of dying—it’s the fear of being followed by something you can’t explain, can’t fight, and can’t stop.

😃 Smile: When Trauma Becomes Contagious

Smile 2 (2024)

Smile (2022) takes things even further. The curse is passed when someone witnesses a traumatic, curse-driven suicide. It’s not just a chain reaction—it’s generational trauma turned literal. The characters don’t just die—they spiral into paranoia, isolation, and fear, unable to trust even themselves.

As Hall shared, “These stories work because they present fear as something you can’t control or contain. The horror isn’t just the curse—it’s the moral dilemma of passing it to someone else.”

🔁 Final Thoughts

Transmissible horror taps into a deep, modern anxiety—that fear is contagious, and once it starts, there’s no stopping it. It’s not about outrunning a killer. It’s about deciding who to save... and who to sacrifice.

“Great horror gives us impossible choices,” Professor Hall said. “And transmissible horror traps its characters in a cycle where there are no good choices.”

Next week, we’ll step into the world of feminist and body horror—where the horror is written into the body itself.