Horror Aficionados discussion
Why Horror?
Because horror books asks questions other books fear to ask. I like fantasy for much the same reason. In horror you can question and dream unashamedly and unapologeticaly.. you just don't get that freedom with a lot of other genres
I'm a big ass chicken but I like to experience from the comfort of my armchair how characters in horror stories overcome or deal with an evil, be it supernatural or human. Since childhood horror has been my escape and comfort.
Mod
All of the above reasons. And also because I get a little rush when I'm reading a good horror book. My heart beats a little faster, the pace of my reading speeds up- I may even have a bead of sweat on my brow. All indicators that I'm reading something good and loving it. :)
I grew up on horror. It's honestly just one of the things I've always loved and one of the few times I'm not a chicken about things I fear. It sort of gives us a peek at death and so many ways of seeing life that other genres don't present too.
Mod
For me, this quote always said it best...
"That gentle melancholy which leads one to love books and solitude, all attributes which Nature seems to grant only to individuals for whom it is keeping unhappiness in store." Marquis De Sade.
Horror resonates with us because it's the ultimate good vs. evil story. Most of us grew up listening to parables in Sunday school about good men battling evil, or were told the Grimm fairy tales by our parents. Contemporary horror tales this to a whole new level.
Simply put, I grew up loving horror flicks and the only novel s I was able to get into at an early age was horror. Now it's just a personal search to find something that will actually scare me; although I'll pretty much enjoy any horror sub-genre if done well. If I'm not reading horror, I'm likely reading nonfiction.
I've always been drawn to horror because of the werewolves, vampires, monsters, and of course the covers have always drawn my eye. I've read some really bad horror novels and a couple that have scared me. But most are just good fast paced reads. I've never read IT by STephen King and yet I've heard its the most scariest novel almost everyone has read. I downloaded it the other day I'm going to find out if I can get past the spooky clown cover.
It is all about the escapism for me. I love reading a scary story about something that is outside the bounds of reality and possibility.I gave up watching the news after the Casey Anthony verdict; the real horrors that happen to real people are too much for me. I know these things go on, but it is better if I just don't hear about them. So I also try to avoid reality-based horror, if I wanted the cringy, wincey, excruciating details of torture and murder, the news is there for me.
So, I stick with supernatural theme horror. I love a good ghost story and architectural horror. (Architectural horror is a moniker I apply to haunted house-type books, which to me is different than a ghost story. Examples of architectural horror would include "The House Next Door" by Anne Rivers Siddons......the house is new, there are no ghosts, and yet, horrible things happen to everyone who lives in the house and those who engage with the owners. The Bramford in "Rosemary's Baby" is another example of architectural horror; the Bram isn't technically haunted, and yet it provides the menacing atmosphere around Rosemary throughout the whole novel.)
I also avoid paranormal romance (sexy vampires bore me) and zombie novels (I already feel like I am living in a world populated by zombies, I see them out there, breathing through their mouths as they waddle around the big box stores in their pajamas at 2 pm)
Goodreads in general and H/A in particular has been a very helpful resource in finding new literature and authors. Many selections on the H/A bookshelf have gone straight to my "To Read" list. Thanks for the reviews and recommendations, everybody!
Lot of heartfelt passions shared in the above for the horror genre, so I hope my utilitarian observation doesn't detract.I've always enjoyed horror, and have also been aware of how its fans are often looked at askance by outsiders suspicious of our motivations as to why we love it. To add to the sentiments already expressed, I think that horror fiction serves a practical, as well as an aesthetic, purpose. By experiencing the nightmare scenarios its authors present us with, we're emotionally better equipped to deal with real life horror when it intrudes on our lives, reducing the liklihood we might 'freeze' and become a victim like the ones we read about. I suspect we know this intuitively, which to me explains why we 'need' it so.
Just one person's opinion. (The other voices in my head think, well, differently...)
Well said, Walter.Thanks to my love of horror, I will NEVER be the one holding a flashlight pointed down the stairway of a dark cellar asking if anyone is down there. :)
I never saw it as a conscious choice. I read a lot of things, but when I write, I tend to write about darker things. I don't set out to write horror, and I don't think anyone should, really. The best, the most honest writing, is usually personal - either insight, belief, fear, experience. I've been slowly writing a book in pieces for years now about writing... "Writing What Hurts". I think Jon nailed it when he said that horror is honest, though it's not always true, of course. Crappy horror is just that...very good books that just happen to BE horror are what I love most.
For me, I perhaps like everyone else like and enjoy a good scare. I like scary and gory coming together. I like my characters running from something or taking on something vile and sinister, with a torch in hand and getting scared s#%tless because they have no clue whats around the corner. Horror is a feeling you can really enjoy, its like a thriller except it can branch out into so many different things. I enjoy it because aside from reading it it gives you good ideas to write about as well.
I think we read horror because it puts things in perspective. It's the reminder that things could always be worse. Reading or watching a good horror movie with the monster chasing people through a haunted forest or deserted castle, suddenly, your looming deadlines at work aren't really so bad.
Everyone has that co-worker or neighbor or ex who they would love to chop up in tiny pieces, and killing someone in reality is against the law... Is that too twisted?
I like horror because I like a creepy, spooky atmosphere. I always have. Disney's Haunted Mansion is pretty much my dream house! I also like autumn, and dark colors, and landscapes with deep water -- things mysterious and dark and a little melancholy but not in a wussy Little Nell way so much as a "werewolves are going to eat you" way.
I love horror for many reasons. I wrote an article about it, if anyone cares to see. But mainly from growing up with it, where my brother was a big influence, both my parents loved scary movies. WHY I LOVE HORROR:
http://bberntson22.wordpress.com/2013...
I was actually not a horror fan as a teen because I'm a big wuss. I jump at everything, especially loud noises and cheap scares. But I did watch violent movies so gore doesn't bother me. I started watching more horror movies in my 20's with friends. I became unemployed in my early 20's and my sister gave me The Stand to read during the summer while I had a job at the local pool. I really loved it and found other King to read. I read IT next and watched the movie. I always tell people I started watching horror movies as a way to deal with the fear and anxiety I had for being unemployed. My first horror movie by myself was Saw 3, I sat there telling myself I wouldn't leave through the whole movie, even though I was scared. It helps that I've always been fascinated by movie makeup. I'm a theater geek.
I'm not sure. I started watching horror movies around age 7-8 then started reading adult horror books around age 10. I've always been drawn to the raw emotions of horror. Unlike most females, I have never read a romance or any type of book like that. My parents were always saying I was going to be a serial killer or mass murderer. lol
I love Horror simply because of the stakes. They're life or death, all the time. And with the villains/monsters, death is really horrible and frightening. It's far more exciting than contemp and even most other spec-fic genres.
I've enjoyed horror ever since I was 13 or so and one of our local channels aired "Creature Features." I read horror for escape--to get my mind off problems.
I'm not exactly sure. I've enjoyed horror/suspense for as long as I can remember. As a child I would try to "sneak" and watch movies my parents didn't want me to watch. I loved the horror books designed for kids (Goosebumps, The Scary Stories Treasury, etc), and I liked to make up my own scary stories. I like to be thrilled, shocked, and surprised I guess. I also find horror to be an interesting study of human nature. What do people do when they are thrown into the most dire situations? They show their true nature. Some become heroes, some shut down, and some become villains.
I also made up ghost stories as a kid and read the Fear Street books and The Scary Stories trilogy. So maybe my love of horror actually started earlier than I thought. I also love "Are You Afraid Of The Dark?".
Megan - I totally used to sneak downstairs when my family were sleeping and watch horror movies on TV. They were awful "Creature of the Black Lagoon" type things, but I loved them. To this day, I'll watch most Horror movies, no matter how bad. I just love the imagination that goes into the stories and the monsters.
I love horror because I was afraid as a kid - I "saw" things in the dark. I would wake up in the middle of the night and call for my parents because I was scared...then I got "the belt" or the barber strap. Well, it was more than 50 years ago...that's the way it was back then for many of us growing up.I love reading and writing horror - maybe I owe that to Pop and his belt.
For me....well I've always been attracted to ghosties and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night. Seriously....I don't remember a time in my life when I wasn't. Even my favorite picture books as a child were about a ghost named George.
As a child, Halloween was my favorite holiday; better than Christmas. (Halloween is still my favorite holiday, but years of working retail and my aging dislike of cold have taught me the virtues of July 4th as #2 holiday)
Halloween has always been my favorite holiday as well. Always loved dressing up.
I think its because we all like the adrainlin of reading it and that feeling you get when you try to sleep after reading it, we are the kind of people who just need more to spook us
Kilgallen, Georgie! I loved those books! I still do. The voice and the art were wonderful -- well, that was a fine how-do-you-do ... I also loved Dorrie the little witch, with her cat named Gink and her stockings that never matched.
Wow Cathy....nice to meet a fellow fan! lol
Great reasons, everyone. I concur, and don't really have anything new to add!
I blame my dad! lolFor whatever reason he use to have me sit with him and watch those late night horror movie shows like Tales of The Crypt or the Drive In Theater show (I think thats what it was called) that would show all those classic and B horror movies. And I adored all the different hosts. I had to have been at least 4 or 5 at the time but I think he knew I'd enjoy them.
For me its what it makes me feel. Horror is the genre that elicits the most powerful responses and emotions in me and will send my mind into overload (because my imagination is too damn overactive). I guess like everyone else I'm terrified and fascinated by the unknown, the dark and spooky...and I must like scaring myself to death
The better question is why not horror?
I always found ghost storys so interesting even if they freaked me as a child. I remember being tucked in a back room of my fathers fish and chip reading a book called Encyclopedia of ghost and spirits. Next step was Goosebumps which had some scary novels in the series. My first adult horror novel was magic cottage by James herbert. So although i continued to read other genres my childhood interest for ghost and horror natually continues to call me. Maybe i like the goosebumps on my arms and the tension and fear. maybe its because my mum brought me and my brother up on hammer horror and my auntys against my parents wishes shows us Nightmare on elm street when we was to young. Maybe it was me and my brothers interest in creepy tales after visting london dungeons, and our interest in Jack the ripper. Who can say, but horror is still one of my fave subjects to read :-)
Nothing has ever really intrigued me like horror. Fantasy, thriller, suspense, romance, mystery, is all fine, but there is something a little more about the cemetery in the moonlight, the creaking door, the claw under the bed. There's a thrill there like no other that cuts a little deeper than anything else. I guess, a lot of it has to do with what you learn. Darkness is a great teacher, if not one of the best, and it takes a certain sort of perspective, maybe even lunacy, to appreciate that. But it also takes a certain fearlessness to walk down those corridors. Facing your fears is a true test of grit and courage, and horror allows us to face those fears in a safer environment: through the pages of a book or a movie.
Well said Brandon, its true. horror often looks at the dark side of human nature, or even ours knightmares and fears. Whether they be afterlife or end of the world. I think thats why horror and sci fi often have some great mixes, such as island of dr Moreau and I am Legend and many more !
Mod
I agree with you completely! i'm a big ass chicken too!lol! like with ghost, i'll watch movies, read about them even look at your ghostly findings but I will not go ghost hunting!
Kilgallen wrote: "For me....well I've always been attracted to ghosties and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night. Seriously....I don't remember a time in my life when I wasn't. Even my favorite picture book..."This would be my draw too. I just find that kind of stuff exciting. I remember when I was a wee one and the Thriller Music Video was big. As a little kid I would become so excited when it came on.
I enjoy horror because I like being creeped out. Plus anything supernatural and / or not of this world is a big attraction for me. I like how horror opens the window on other worlds, often hiding unseen just beyond the normal one that we're all familiar with. It's fun to take a journey into the unknown, never sure of where you'll end up or what will bump into you along the way. Throw in a little old-fashioned good vs. evil conflict and the experience is complete!Stephen King's Dark Tower series will always be one of my all-time favorites as it pretty much combines all of the above into one giant epic thrill ride.
Darkness has mystery. Everything is hidden. Horror is the same. Anything could be lurking. I often go for walks at night in the woods near my house, the woods are innocent enough, but my imagination makes it something else. The sound of a mouse in the undergrowth suddenly becomes a sinister witch or troll or demon.....
Appropriate (IMO) posting Ian. H-Day looming.
Because fear is a very primal and core emotion. Horror is relatable even if you've never seen a demon or psychotic clown in real life. And I like being scared. Almost nothing is more impressive to me in a book than a horror story that can really scare me.
It's the other side of the coin...and those that dont live through horror/horrors feel safer reading about it. Everyone rubber necks at an accident on the side of the road. My question...or an interesting study would be...how many people that have lived through severely horrific experiences read horror as a genre (if they are/were readers)?
Ian wrote: "Sorry for posting this here but didn't see where i could post it.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tYtL...
Neil Gaiman All Hallows Read."
Ian, on the main HA page at the bottom there's a place where members can share videos. You could place this there, too.
Scott wrote: "It's the other side of the coin...and those that dont live through horror/horrors feel safer reading about it. Everyone rubber necks at an accident on the side of the road. My question...or an..."
Good question, Scott!
My day job puts me in close contact with the most horrific monsters I can imagine. Ghosts, demons, devils etc can be scary, but nothing comes close to human nature.
I still love horror, both reading and writing it, even with the above in mind.
I think what I love about horror is that so often the protagonist is just a normal person confronting an extraordinary (and scary) antagonist. Unlike fantasy, where the hero is often extraordinary, in horror the hero could be me, or someone I know, and that brings the story to another level. And horror is just fun, fun, fun. Blood, guts, sex, it's all there.
Traci L. wrote: "Why do you love horror? ..."..because I shouldn't... at least that is how it started at age 10-11. I read the requisite romance novels and teen angst books, that we girls love so much... but i needed something with substance... something with meat. Horror, when done well; makes you wonder at the possibilities and sets your, once dead; imagination, right again.
I snuck Stephen King in and he never left. He even introduced me to more disturbed authors .... life is grand.
Horror Aficionados
Books mentioned in this topic
Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion (other topics)Scary Stories Treasury (other topics)
For me Horror is the truest form of 'Fantasy'. It should never be boring. It should never be safe. And should never be predictable. There are no rules. No boundaries. Anything can and will happen. It can make you afraid. It can make you disgusted. It can make you think.
Why do you love horror?