What makes you like horror?

[malko]

I like horror because I'm an awful coward and everything scares me.
As soon as I overcome one fear (heights, the dark)
I get another one (relationships, jobs)
Horror is the only genre where the genuine weirdness of everyday life is admitted.

Horror books are usually written in quite a relaxed style, too.
They are cosy to read, friendly human huggable things,
not all big and scary like they pretend.

A scary book would be a really long read
and then the last page is suddenly made of polonium,
how much exposure did you get?

 

[j d worthington]

I like horror because I'm an awful coward and everything scares me.
As soon as I overcome one fear (heights, the dark)
I get another one (relationships, jobs)
Horror is the only genre where the genuine weirdness of everyday life is admitted.

Horror books are usually written in quite a relaxed style, too.
They are cosy to read, friendly human huggable things,
not all big and scary like they pretend.

A scary book would be a really long read
and then the last page is suddenly made of polonium,
how much exposure did you get?

I'm not sure I quite accept your premise here... but oh, my, I do like how it is expressed! I'm definitely going to have to remember that last bit... full credit given, of course....

And -- welcome to the Chrons!

 

[KateWalker]

I tend to enjoy movies that are more "haunting", then just "gore".

I enjoy psychological horror. Movies like Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Halloween, etc, were great as a kid, but as I grew older, I wanted more sophisticated horror.

Things like Silence Of The Lambs, Misery, The Shining, The Ring, etc.

When it comes to horror books, I feel the same. I enjoy more "mental trauma" done to characters then physical trauma. I do enjoy some gore, but only if it's done a certain way.

 

[Nesacat]

Like Hoopy I too truly like horror and will always volunteer to watch a horror movie; whether with company or alone. Sometimes alone works best of all. At home. There's a storm. Turn all the lights out; light some candles and put a movie on. The Shinning maybe or the first or second Hellraiser. Recently it's been Dagon, Nang Nak or Dark Water.

The books I've been hooked on ever since I was very little and it's still a habit to tuck a really scary book under the cushions on the sofa, face-down. If it cannot see me then it cannot come look for me. Or can it?

I like the slow build up. How ordinary things are not so ordinary anymore when looked at differently. How the most terrible things lurk under the loveliest surfaces. It could be a person or it could be a place. It could be the back of a hand you thought you knew better than anything else.

I love the tales that accept and allow for the vast and frightening mysteries of the universe in which we are tiny, tiny little specks. Tales which show us the terrors hidden the genius of art and music.

Nothing is actually stated or graphically displayed or explained. Things are hinted at. Small things start to change. You get insights along the way into people. The atmosphere slowly changes. For me the things that go bump in the night will always hold a special place.

 

[brsrkrkomdy]

I liked horror and still do, whether it's movies, books, and comics. I liked the thrill and the suspense. The characters that make me care about them. The dark atmosphere, the weirdness, things that disrupt the natural order of repetition, tranquility, and the ordinary, and things that go bump and crash in the night. Be it supernatural, psychological, or just plain surrealistic. Didn't matter. Blood & gore, or the absence of it, is irrelevant, merely secondary IMO. Whatever themes there are, gothic, contemporary, ecological, or Twilight Zonish for want of a better term, propell these stories, and novels to any conclusion, whether good, bad, or ambiguous. These often explore the human condition in many guises and forms. Even the political is no exception. "1984" anyone?

 

[Saffy]

when it comes to horror i always feel like the guy who KNOWS there's a serial killer in the basement and the lights don't work but is still compelled to go and look anyway. I watched the ring once in the middle of the night and afterwards i vowed never to watch horror again, especially at night, but i never kept that promise. Mabey i'm secretly addicted? or just deadly curious.

 

[KJ Pixie]

I like horror because of the unusualness involved with it. In other words, how can a normal day in everyday life be transformed into something truly unbelievable and unsettling at the same time.

 

[Barney]

I like horror because of the unusualness involved with it. In other words, how can a normal day in everyday life be transformed into something truly unbelievable and unsettling at the same time.

I had to bring this thread back from the graveyard that is page 2 because the original poster's question is one I have been thinking about lately and can't really find a satisfactory answer to.

The quote above probably comes closest to describing my own personal attraction for horror. Also Curt's post about horror subverting "the natural order" seems to tick the same boxes. I suppose in a way horror brings a sense of magic and mystery to the mundane. But then so does fantasy, and I don't really count myself as a fantasy fan. Probably because traditional fantasy is set in a fictional universe. The horror I like is set in a universe that is recognisably this one.
Also the tropes of horror fiction allow for a lot of subtextual/allegorical/metaphorical stuff, which potentially gives it a lot of resonance and layers of meaning.

 

[j d worthington]

Also the tropes of horror fiction allow for a lot of subtextual/allegorical/metaphorical stuff, which potentially gives it a lot of resonance and layers of meaning.

This is also true of fantasy, and there are no few fantasy writers who have produced work every bit as rich. The difference here, as you state, may be the concept of "traditional" fantasy (something which is much more limited in scope than fantasy genuinely is itself); but it may also be the primary emotion evoked. Where fantasy may be aimed at evoking anything from humor to awe to vicarious excitement, horror is chiefly aimed at awe, wonder, terror, or fear (individually or, in the best the field has to offer, often simultaneously).

 

[Barney]

This is also true of fantasy, and there are no few fantasy writers who have produced work every bit as rich. The difference here, as you state, may be the concept of "traditional" fantasy (something which is much more limited in scope than fantasy genuinely is itself); but it may also be the primary emotion evoked. Where fantasy may be aimed at evoking anything from humor to awe to vicarious excitement, horror is chiefly aimed at awe, wonder, terror, or fear (individually or, in the best the field has to offer, often simultaneously).

I think genre distinctions dissolve when you have really good writing. The "awe and wonder" that horror buffs like us keep searching for is often provided to me by so-called mainstream literary fiction. Dickens, Nabakov, Greene, Orwell, are non-genre writers who give me the same "hit" as horror writers, as in showing you the darker side of people and forcing you to think uncomfortable thoughts at the same time as admiring the prose.

I suppose I am saying that really good horror writing shouldn't be ghettoised as "horror". Viva la revolution!

 

[AE35Unit]

I think we all like to be scared as we have no natural predators. We can hunt our deer and game safe in the knowledge there's no beasties out there scenting our blood. Probably the same reason we like scary fairground rides,tho I won't go near them bloody things!

 

[BAYLOR]

Good overall story telling.