On Horror.....

[said_scarlett]

As most everyone knows at this point, I write horror. In a semi-professional capacity, as I have had a handful of horror-themed stories published in small print magazines. Nothing big, but I read a lot of horror, I watch a lot of horror, and I play a lot of horror. And I research it.

I subscribe to a few newsletters and the like, mostly filled with reviews and articles and a few essays. And a recent essay I read got me to thinking. And as it's eleven o'clock at night and it's horrifically stormy out, my mind has begun to wander and has spit up this post.

The essay was on the evolution of entertainment horror. Interesting enough read, but one thing stuck out to me.

"...what Lovecraft and Poe and the other fathers of horror did was scary at the time, but not in modern day..."

This gave me pause. I thought back to all the older horror stories I've read, and wondered why the themes and monsters and situations wouldn't be frightening today.

Now, admittedly, maybe the way in which they were written wouldn't be quite as frightening today as it was when first written, but that doesn't mean that what they wrote isn't still scary. Most of the staples that those forefathers of horror laid down are alive and well today, and still used to scare the bejeezus out of people. Everything from the supernatural - ghosts and monsters and the like - to the situational - being buried alive, being trapped in a horrific alternate reality - all are still used in modern day horror.

And when attempts to try something nice and new crop up - Sam Raimi, I'm looking at you* - often they just don't really work.

I am of the mind, however, that it isn't necessarily the thing that is scary. It's the way in which it's presented. Atmosphere is integral to horror. Which is why I have an issue with a lot of modern horror movies - it's all gore and slashing and very little mood. Very little subtlety. It kind of reminds me of a strip Penny Arcade did, where it boiled down to Survival Horror = Monster Jumps Through A Window. And going back to what I mentioned in my above paragraph, recent attempts at creeping, subtle terror have fallen somewhat flat.

I find it in a great deal of horror novels and stories, too. Even my greatest influence and admiration, Stephen King himself, is guilty of this. Hell, I'm guilty of it, as anyone in damned can tell you. But is this because of the evolution of the genre, or the evolution of the audience?

Are we all so jaded and used to being bombarded by visual images that it's the only thing that gets through to us? Are we so used to the horrible and horrific in modern day life, that only gruesome death and dismemberment frighten us? Or has everything else really been played out, so ingrained into us that it's more stale than scary? There are dozens of theories, invoking everything from science to evolution to desensitization. And still, I wonder.

So what scares you? What's the scariest thing you've ever read, seen, played, heard? Share, and maybe shed a little light on my wonderings.

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*I'm referring to the movie 'The Messengers', which ended up some bizarre crossover between Silent Hill and John Steinbeck.

Comments

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have way more experience with horror literature than I do with horror cinema. And that's a really good point about the two types of horror - or fears, rather. I find the primal fear to be more frightening than societal fears, personally. I've never been entirely sure why.

I find Poe and Lovecraft to still be very frightening. Lovecraft especially - the monsters and terrors are never described in detail, but that's what so damn frightening!

Maybe I'll have to turn my attentions to Sci-fi, in that case. Because modern horror just sort of makes me yawn. With a handful of exceptions.

Is Blink the one with the angel statues? I've never seen a single episode of New Who, but I've heard a lot about the episode with the angel statues.

[lovelies.livejournal.com]

It feels to me like societal fears were better adressed in the horror/sci-fi movies of the 50s and 60s. They don't seem as dated as movies from later decades, where the gore and shock has taken over. But the benefit literature has on the cinema is that it leaves much more room for one's own imagination, and the best stories help the reader construct the horror from their own fears. Yeah, that's exactly why they're so damn frightening.

Heh, I'm entirely biased for sci-fi, because I grew up watching the Outer Limits, the Twilight Zone, etc. But I really do think it's worth exploring. I forgot to say that the movie Event Horizon once scared the bejeesus out of me. Now I've seen it too many times, but the first time was very affective.

And yeah, it's the one with Weeping Angels, the kind you've got on cemeteries.