Halloween, Psycho and Other Horrors
So, I'm still working my way back into the swing of things, but I thought now would be a good time to talk about my favorite holiday and the things we watch to spook us.
With Halloween and IT coming back into pop culture so hard, I was thinking about what kind of things I like to view and read to freak me out.
Stephen King—probably the biggest name in horror today—talked about the three types of terror:
So, with these new (?) horror movies coming back into the current zeitgeist, I thought it'd be fun to try hanging my hat on where everything fits. Just remember that these are my own thoughts. But I naturally welcome any discussion.
Horror is scary because of what we don't know. Showing the xenomorphs in Alien is scary because they're these critters we have no frame of reference for. Their blood is acid, and their tongue is another mouth. What the hell is that thing? We can't put it in any boxes, because we have nothing to compare it to. It is the Unknown, and is therefore scary. Where did it come from? Why is it like this? Are there more? Halloween is freaky because Michael Myers is someone we don't really see, but he's here to slaughter us all. Who is he? Why is he doing this? Where did he come from, and who is he going to target next?
Another reason horror is scary is because we are not in control. We as people like to control things—or at least feel like we're in control. Ask anyone who hogs the remote to the TV or swats your hand away when you try fiddling with the car radio. They're in control, and that's a safe situation to be in for them. In horror, we lose control, or realize we never had it in the first place: Freddy Krueger invading dreams and terrorizing you when you can't fight back is terrifying because there is literally nothing you can do to stop him. The climactic scene in Hitchcock's Rear Window fits here, because the guy with the broken leg is absolutely powerless to fight off the hulking guy coming to kill him. Then there's Lovecraft: pretty much any protagonist in his books will realize at some point that the universe is much bigger and more indifferent/malicious than he ever thought possible, and the control and understanding he had to that point is an illusion.
The last thing I can think of is vulnerability. When we're out of our element, we're scared. Whether we're in a cold, dark cave or trying to have a difficult conversation with a spouse. It's not something we're comfortable with, and we're therefore terrified when/if something happens to throw us further out: we're vulnerable in the shower because we're naked and unsuspecting of anything. We're humming to ourselves until Norman throws open the curtain and jams his knife into our chest. We thought it'd be fun to go out into the forest at night. Everyone says this place is haunted, but we're smarter than that. Wait. What was that sound? Now we realize just how exposed we are. A raven flew into my window, and is going to poop on the statue? But now it's speaking to me when I'm at my worst, thinking of the woman I lost, and it sounds like it's reminding me how I'll never get her back.
All these things—the unknown, lack of control and vulnerability are all aspects that can bring out a good scare because they're universal constants. These are all things that every person on the planet tries to avoid. We try to learn things, we try to control things, and we try to be confident, all to avoid the darkness around us, feelings of helplessness and feelings of being exposed. As a writer of dark SF/F and Horror, these are all things I try to capitalize on to try to scare a reader—or barring that, to give someone the creeps. If I can at least make your skin crawl a little, I'm satisfied in my work.
Until next time, stay scary.
Thanks for wreading!
Jeff
With Halloween and IT coming back into pop culture so hard, I was thinking about what kind of things I like to view and read to freak me out.
Stephen King—probably the biggest name in horror today—talked about the three types of terror:
Another voice, that of H.P. Lovecraft also gave a good description:The Gross-out: the sight of a severed head tumbling down a flight of stairs, it's when the lights go out and something green and slimy splatters against your arm. The Horror: the unnatural, spiders the size of bears, the dead waking up and walking around, it's when the lights go out and something with claws grabs you by the arm. And the last and worst one: Terror, when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It's when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel its breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there's nothing there...
The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. And the oldest and strongest kind of fear is the fear of the unknown...I simply define terror as spiders. But I digress.
So, with these new (?) horror movies coming back into the current zeitgeist, I thought it'd be fun to try hanging my hat on where everything fits. Just remember that these are my own thoughts. But I naturally welcome any discussion.
Horror is scary because of what we don't know. Showing the xenomorphs in Alien is scary because they're these critters we have no frame of reference for. Their blood is acid, and their tongue is another mouth. What the hell is that thing? We can't put it in any boxes, because we have nothing to compare it to. It is the Unknown, and is therefore scary. Where did it come from? Why is it like this? Are there more? Halloween is freaky because Michael Myers is someone we don't really see, but he's here to slaughter us all. Who is he? Why is he doing this? Where did he come from, and who is he going to target next?
Another reason horror is scary is because we are not in control. We as people like to control things—or at least feel like we're in control. Ask anyone who hogs the remote to the TV or swats your hand away when you try fiddling with the car radio. They're in control, and that's a safe situation to be in for them. In horror, we lose control, or realize we never had it in the first place: Freddy Krueger invading dreams and terrorizing you when you can't fight back is terrifying because there is literally nothing you can do to stop him. The climactic scene in Hitchcock's Rear Window fits here, because the guy with the broken leg is absolutely powerless to fight off the hulking guy coming to kill him. Then there's Lovecraft: pretty much any protagonist in his books will realize at some point that the universe is much bigger and more indifferent/malicious than he ever thought possible, and the control and understanding he had to that point is an illusion.
The last thing I can think of is vulnerability. When we're out of our element, we're scared. Whether we're in a cold, dark cave or trying to have a difficult conversation with a spouse. It's not something we're comfortable with, and we're therefore terrified when/if something happens to throw us further out: we're vulnerable in the shower because we're naked and unsuspecting of anything. We're humming to ourselves until Norman throws open the curtain and jams his knife into our chest. We thought it'd be fun to go out into the forest at night. Everyone says this place is haunted, but we're smarter than that. Wait. What was that sound? Now we realize just how exposed we are. A raven flew into my window, and is going to poop on the statue? But now it's speaking to me when I'm at my worst, thinking of the woman I lost, and it sounds like it's reminding me how I'll never get her back.
All these things—the unknown, lack of control and vulnerability are all aspects that can bring out a good scare because they're universal constants. These are all things that every person on the planet tries to avoid. We try to learn things, we try to control things, and we try to be confident, all to avoid the darkness around us, feelings of helplessness and feelings of being exposed. As a writer of dark SF/F and Horror, these are all things I try to capitalize on to try to scare a reader—or barring that, to give someone the creeps. If I can at least make your skin crawl a little, I'm satisfied in my work.
Until next time, stay scary.
Thanks for wreading!
Jeff
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