Horror Rx

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Happy Tuesday, Future Party. The US National Highway Safety Administration would really like some answers from Tesla about why it introduced a “Mad Max” mode for its semi-autonomous Full Self-Driving software earlier this month. The update allows Tesla to autonomously speed and change lanes more aggressively than normal. Just a thought, but maybe letting cars road-rage on their own isn’t the best idea.

Correction: On 10/21, we mentioned that Felipe Mendez left UTA’s Next Gen team to make fan edits of Lionsgate’s movies and shows for the studio’s TikTok account. Mendez is actually still with UTA and runs Lionsgate’s TikTok as an agency partner. Apologies to Felipe, who is clearly putting in even more work than we originally thought.

An increasing number of studies are finding that engaging with horror content — watching movies and TV, playing video games, or attending interactive events like haunted houses — can actually be great for your mental health.

The Big Picture: Horror has fast become the biggest genre in entertainment, reliably buoying the box office between blockbuster tentpoles and drawing crowds all year round. As real life continues to feel more and more unpredictable and dangerous, the demand for horror shows no signs of stopping.

Behind The Scares: Turns out, there’s science behind our love of scares — engaging with horror content triggers and strengthens the area of the brain that helps us deal with uncertainty and anxiety.

Big Finish: Scrivner wanted to better understand why people love horror, so he surveyed American horror-movie fans. He found that people fall into three categories: “Adrenaline Junkies” (people who feel “alive” in being scared), “Dark Copers” (people who want to be reminded of how good they have it), and “White Knucklers” (people who enjoy the feeling of conquering fear).

Scrivner then tested the theory with Danish researchers to see why people attend the Dystopia Haunted House in Vejle, Denmark — and he discovered that “those three ‘types’ replicated beautifully in a different language, in a different culture, in a different setting.” Our love of horror really is universal.

Next Watch: Custom-made horror games are already being tested as a form of anxiety therapy with kids in the Netherlands. So, we wouldn’t be surprised if that research expands to include psychologists prescribing curated movie marathons to help deal with acute stress.

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K-pop has been exploding in popularity for a decade, and it’s now poised to expand its reach beyond Korea in every way — making the music a key piece of global soft power.

Why It Hits: The K-pop market tripled in revenue between 2019 and 2023, according to Morgan Stanley, yet it still accounts for only 3% of the American music market — about half of the Latin and country genres. But as K-pop-driven movies like KPop Demon Hunters crush viewership records and BTS prepares for its first world tour in a year and a half, it’s safe to assume that market share will multiply again.

Behind The Music: Hollywood exported blockbuster filmmaking techniques to the world… and Seoul may be doing the same with pop supergroups.

Encore: All of this explains why half of the K-pop songs released last year include English lyrics — the genre is globalizing in both members and its fans. There are actually more fans of K-pop outside South Korea than in it, with Indonesia, the US, and the Philippines each having more than the home country. And now, South Korea is only behind the US, UK, and Sweden in exporting more music than it imports, per a study by Pivotal Economics.

Maybe there’s ultimately no need for K-pop to drop the K.

Next Tour: While the US may be the king of building individual pop stars, it’s possible that American labels will start courting international talent to build their own version of K-pop-esque supergroups.

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60.6% of you voted No in yesterday’s poll: Do you currently own any Nike shoes?

“My family prefers Adidas, Lacoste, and Reebok.”

“Hoka replaced Nike in my closet years ago. Performance over ideology.”

“Haven’t worn Nike shoes in years — they hurt my feet! A doctor said they’re one of the worst shoes you can wear. Brooks or Asics for me!”

“Been hooping in Nike basketball shoes since I was a kid in the ‘90s. While I’ve expanded my casual and athletic footwear to many other brands, I’ll always have at least one pair of Nikes in rotation. They’re the epitome of cool and still the global leaders in athletic performance.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

🎥 Taylor Sheridan — the reigning hitmaker of TV — is migrating his film deal from Paramount to NBCUniversal next year and his TV deal to NBCU in 2029.

🍿 AMC and Netflix are burying the hatchet with the re-release of KPop Demon Hunters in theaters and planned screenings of Stranger Things and Narnia.

🎞️ Cinemark has struck a deal with IMAX to build several 70mm auditoriums in theaters across North and South America… and in preparation for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.

📱 Instagram is introducing a watch history feature, so you can go back and see every Reel you’ve viewed in the past 30 days.

👀 Threads is debuting the ability to write posts that disappear in 24 hours called “ghost posts.”

🪦 Sweet dreams, Twitter.com. Now, we all have no choice but to type x.com in the address bar.

🏈 The NFL is collabing with Lululemon on a custom apparel line for all 32 teams.

🛒 Although Gen Z represents only 19% of the population, it’s responsible for 31% of spending in-store and online.

🏚️ Airbnb still doesn’t want your parties this Halloween. It stopped 38,000 from occurring last year.