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

[kanara.livejournal.com]

Honestly, there isn't much out there that scares me. Death and dismemberment doesn't bother me at all, but there are movies out there that I to this day will not watch. I will not watch Nightmare on Elm Street. I will not watch Hellraiser (though my girlfriend is plotting to get me to watch this). i will not watch movies with puppets in them (except Child's Play). And I won't watch IT.

Two of these movies, IT and Nightmare on Elm Street, were something my brother made me watch when i was a child and they scared the crap out of me. I have issues with clowns because of IT and the thought of being trapped in a dream terrifies me. With NoES, it wasn't Freddy himself that was so scary, it was being preyed on from inside a dream that did it. The abstract concept behind the horror is what gets me when it is done correctly.

I agree with Katsu that a lot of the 'scariness' of things comes from atmosphere. Without the atmosphere to initially set you on edge, the rest isn't so impactful. The things I find that approach the line of scaring me are the things that could really happen. Things like Session 9 (mostly done by atmosphere), Silence of the Lambs or stories based on real stories such as The Mothman Prophecies. Movies like The Mothman Prophecies and Silence of the Lambs tend to get to me more than some of the others out there because I have either been to or know very well the locations where they were shot and that stirs up a more realistic feel to them.

Great special effect aren't the key, even though I will say the Silent Hill movie actually scared me in a couple places. It scared me because as I was watching it (alone in the theater, mind you), I kept remembering stuff from the games. By relating what was going on in the movie to my own life experiences is what heightened the level of horror to where I was actually feeling scared. It doesn't happen often and I am very impressed when it does.

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

See, that's the exact opposite of me, and it's kind of insane. Things that actually could happen to me? Don't scare me at all. Things that have no chance of ever happening? Get to me like few other things. Go figure.

IT was creepy. I read the book when I was about eleven or twelve, and some scenes in it have never left me. The hobo scene, particularly, which wasn't in the movie. (Couldn't have been for, um, various reasons.)

I still need to watch the Silent Hill movie. Maybe tonight!