Faye (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
said_scarlett) wrote2008-02-03 10:38 pm
said_scarlett) wrote2008-02-03 10:38 pm
Entry tags:
On Horror.....
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![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
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.
______________________________________________
*I'm referring to the movie 'The Messengers', which ended up some bizarre crossover between Silent Hill and John Steinbeck.
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.
______________________________________________
*I'm referring to the movie 'The Messengers', which ended up some bizarre crossover between Silent Hill and John Steinbeck.
no subject
Slasher movies could theoretically happen, but they're so over the top and the only focus of them is the gore and eh. I don't like those movies because I can easily get squeamish. Not always, and sometimes, I can write grosser things than I've seen in movies. I seem to be pretty capricious in that regard.
As someone else said, the matter of realism can and does make things creepier, although I'm trying to think of a movie that truly creeped me the fuck out that was like that. Se7en was delightful, but it didn't scare me. I got lost in the symbolism of it. IT didn't bother me. The Stand and The Shining didn't get to me, although I really liked the labyrinth maze in the original Shining movie, but that's my own preferences getting tickled there and have little to do with the horror of the movie.
Weirdly, I think The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon kinda wigged me a tiny bit. But the things that really make my skin crawl? Things like the video in The Ring. Not the movie itself, but the video inside the movie. I've seen random little internet videos in its ilk and for some reason, the utter bizarrity of them tweak my mind a bit. It's probably just the element of the bizarre.
Although, whoever said Poe wasn't still creepy hasn't read the The Cask of Amontillado. That scared the bejeebus outta me.
But I'll admit, I also tend to revel in reading about and viewing things that explore the darker parts of human psychology. Shit that scares most normal people enthralls me in a morbid sort of way. I like to study it. I like to learn it. I like to watch it. And unfortunately, the best horror is the kind that preys on the mind, that draws from that deep well of darkness within the human mind, rather than on external factors.
Seriously, I'm the girl who thought The Devil's Rejects were fucking awesome and loved the whole effect of peeling off that guy's face and putting it as a mask on his wife to drive her crazy. That'd bother me if it happened in real life, but on a purely entertainment level? I thought it was damn cool.
I AM NOT NORMAL.
no subject
Though things with aliens scare me to death. I have a horrible fear of aliens, stemming from being exposed to sensationalist tabloid style 'alien abduction' tv specials when I was very little. I don't even remember seeing them, but according to my mother, I caught part of one when they watched it and wouldn't go outside willingly for months afterwards.
no subject
Now? I write shit like Jocasta (http://asylums.insanejournal.com/chaotic_library/9701.html), Pandora's Box (http://asylums.insanejournal.com/fma_alterverse), and It Ends With Swords And Knives (http://asylums.insanejournal.com/chaotic_library/12071.html).
Summary- I am fucked up massively?
no subject