LOS ANGELES: Even in an age of war and terrorism — or maybe because of it — there are few things as comforting as a rousing Hollywood horror film, psychiatrists and moviemakers say. This year, the studios are releasing no fewer than 12 scary flicks during the summer movie season, starting on Friday with “House of Wax” and continuing with titles like “High Tension,” “Dark Water” and “The Skeleton Key.”

The tally is roughly double last year’s and far above any season in recent years, according to box office trackers. Analysts say the sudden horror flick boom in part reflects a desire for American audiences to escape the real-world violence from Iraq and elsewhere that has featured so prominently in newspaper headlines and TV news. And Hollywood is only too happy to oblige.

“They allow you to engage in an experience that is, more or less, under your control,” said Dr Charles Goodstein of New York University Medical Center and past president of the Psychoanalytic Association of New York.

“It follows, then, that the viewing of a horror movie can act as a kind of soothing factor,” he added. “It allows you to have — in microcosm — a situation that is very frightening, yet you can leave the theater alive and well.”

In spring 2003, not long after US forces invaded Iraq, director Rob Zombie’s “House of 1,000 Corpses” surprised the industry with a $17 million global box office — a solid performance for a low-budget movie with no real stars. That in turn set off the current wave of horror films.

Since then, blood suckers and body slashers have won audiences away from other films. One of 2004’s horror hits was a $10 million picture, “The Grudge,” which scored $110 million at box offices, and recently “The Amityville Horror” earned the No. 1 spot in its opening weekend.

SILENT ARMY: Tom Ortenberg, president of Lions Gate Releasing, which distributed “House of 1,000 Corpses,” said that after the film began receiving attention, his phone rang off the hook with people wanting to know how to lure horror fans to theatres.