![]() ![]() The genre plays with primal fears such as fear of injury, accident, evil, our mistakes, whether evil faces accountability (see Thomas Fahy’s The Philosophy of Horror for more on the philosophy of horror and moral questions horror asks). Also fear of the unknown (what could be lurking in said dark). Horror builds suspense by evoking our fear of the known (for example, fear of the dark). Suspense (the anticipation of terror or bad things).See Noël Carroll’s The Philosophy of Horror: Or, Paradoxes of the Heart for further interesting information on the genres history, as well as Stephen King’s Danse Macabre.Įight recurring elements in classic and contemporary horror, from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) to the contemporary horror films of Ari Aster, are: Or else an external monster or supernatural figure is no figment but completely real. Here, the source of horror is more interior. More modern horror turned increasingly towards ‘psychological horror’. It was often ambiguous whether or not supernatural events depicted were real or imagined by a typically unreliable, tortured narrator. For example, the ghostly shenanigans in Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw (1898). In early Gothic fiction, the horrifying aspects (such as ghostly apparitions) tended to stem from characters’ tortured psyches. Even stretching beyond that, into gory myths and legends such as Grimm’s folktales. Modern horror stories’ precursors were Gothic tales, stretching back to the 1700s. Horror, like most genres, has evolved substantially. 27 (Kindle version) A brief history of the horror genre ![]() I believe it’s this feeling of reintegration, arising from a field specializing in death, fear, and monstrosity, that makes the danse macabre so rewarding and magical … that, and the boundless ability of the human imagination to create endless dreamworlds and then put them to work. There was that magic moment of reintegration and safety at the end, that same feeling that comes when the roller coaster stops at the end of its run and you get off with your best girl, both of you whole and unhurt. Writes King in his non-fiction book on horror, Danse Macabre (1981), about the release from terror in reintegration:įor now, the worst has been faced and it wasn’t so bad at all. Horror often gives readers or viewers the sense of relief by the end of the story. The horror genre is speculative or fantastical fiction that evokes fear, suspense, and dread. We explore what horror is, key elements of horror, plus tips and quotes from masters of horror film and fiction. The genre contains storytelling elements that are useful beyond it. Learning how to write horror is a useful for any writer.
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