Users and Gratifications Theory

Blumer and Katz suggested that the audience plays an active role in media, in opposition to how media uses the audience instead. It is an approach to understand why people seek out specific media and focuses on how people use the text.

Pleasures and gratifications include:
Diversion/escapism - To escape from everyday issues.
Information - To find out important information such as the news or the weather.
Identification - To recognize a specific person, perhaps because of aspiration to be like them (role models).
Entertainment - For enjoyment, relaxation or emotional release. For example, a person would choose to watch a comedy because they want to laugh.

For the main brief, the audience is likely watch it for entertainment as people like to be scared when watching horror films.