Jennifer asked Michael A. Arnzen:

What is your favorite horror trope? Has it remained the same over the years or has it changed?

Michael A. Arnzen I have an affection for dismembered hands. In the movies, anyway. They're goofy as a concept, absurd in their gestural performance and...somehow creepy as hell. Thing from the Addams Family might as well be my favorite actor. I do a study of this trope in my upcoming study, The Popular Uncanny, which covers the icon from its first appearance in early cinema ("The Thieving Hand" was one of the first one-reelers) to the Hamburger Helper commercials today.

In fiction, I am fascinated by the scenes where writers try to represent a person passing out or dying, told from within their deep point-of-view... the "and then the lights went out" kind of moments. Probably because I find them unrepresentable and difficult to write myself.

Things have changed over the years, I suppose. I used to just like scenes or depictions of decapitation for some strange reason when I was a pre-teen. Now a decapitation has to be done in really clever an unexpected way for me to really enjoy it. More often, it just seems so...obvious.

Thanks for asking, Jennifer!

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