Let's face it, most couples looking for some entertainment that also gets them feeling romantic will turn to flicks in the molds set by Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling or Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Or even Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, if that's your cup of rom com tea.
But to get closer to your special one, rom coms might be a bit overrated. Although it might not seem wise, the better choice is to cuddle up with a horror flick, and there are many good reasons why that's the case.
There's a psychological phenomenon called the "misattribution of arousal" at work — basically, the body's response to fear gets a bit muddled up with the emotions.
When you're afraid, your heart rate goes up just as it would when you're aroused, and when your blood is pumping like that, chances are you'll feel more attracted to your date.
A good jump scare doesn't just shock your heart awake — it also releases a pair of powerful hormones: adrenaline and dopamine.
Dopamine is the "feel-good" chemical that goes right to the pleasure centers of our brains, and it's especially powerful when we know we're in a safe place, like on a roller coaster or watching Freddy stalk some teenagers.
Part of knowing you're in a safe environment is that reassuring presence of another human, and cuddling up to them, or even just holding their hand can be just the thing for a case of the creeping willies.
For example, are you dating someone who is cool with you reaching out for their hand or burying your face in their shoulder whenever Michael Myers sinks his knife into an unwitting victim?
Or, are you dating someone who will wait outside after the flick while you try to get yourself together?
I mean, there's all kinds of material in a flick like Get Out to keep you talking all night, whether it's about race relations, existential dread, or how fast you would, indeed, have gotten out if it had been you in the character's situation.
And, if it's the kind of movie that makes you not want to turn the lights out, you might just talk all night.
If you actually do fear things like chainsaw massacres, hockey masks, zombie apocalypses, or even ghosts hellbent on revenge on the living, well, a good scary flick can help open up lines of communication about them with your partner, and that's always a good thing.
Real intimacy isn't always pretty, but it's those vulnerable moments that help to build trust in a relationship.
Being vulnerable is scarier than any movie, but knowing that your significant other will be there for you in trying times is, well, significant.
Worried that you might be dating the sort of person who would delight in a bloodbath? Take them to a simulated bloodbath and see how they react!
