Touchy Topic... Torture

Jenny asked "Is talking about and/or seeing torture difficult for you? Is it to the extreme like me or are you interested as well as disturbed?"

I personally can take watching torture in movies for the most part, because I know it's fake and I just keep telling myself that over and over if I start to tense up.  But personal reasons and such make torture kinda iffy with me.
I hate to say, but I get horrible nightmares where my sister is physically tortured in front of me, and I can't do anything to save her.  My sister is my world, and I always wake up from these crying, shaking, and covered in sweat.  Though all of this is in my mind, I can't help but be extremely upset- I mentally get beat up. 

I can talk about torture for the most part without expressing any emotion, but that's just because I've grown to mask emotions very well.  I've grown to realize that I can talk about anything and make it seem as if I have no emotions towards the topic, and it's something that Ive grown to like.  Though I'm uncomfortable on the inside with most aspects, I can make it so people don't know.


There is also a part of sickening fascination I have.  Not saying I enjoy watching people get tortured, but think back to the Mayans and Aztecs.  Their history is so interesting (or at least it is it me), and these two groups were considered the most violent of the Indians.  They would behead a group of losers in a sporting even, and carry the heads around to prove they were the champions.  Things like that oddly interest me-maybe I'm just weird.

Do you think the movie industry plays with the emotions that people get from torture and other gruesome acts and puts those situations in the movies just for such reactions?