Nicole+U

http://web.utk.edu/~wrobinso/590_lec_horror.html 5/14/08

Horror fiction has these common elements: The key ingredient in horror fiction is its ability to provoke fear or terror in readers, usually via something demonic.. There should be a sense of dread, unease, anxiety, or foreboding. Some critics have noted that experiencing horror fiction is like reading about your worst nightmares. There is some debate as to whether "horror" is a genre or, like "adventure" an aspect that may be found in several genres. Horror is a certain mood or atmosphere that might be found in a variety of places. Traditionally, horror was associated with certain archtypes such as demons, witches, ghosts, vampires and the like. However, this can be found in other genres, especially fantasy. If horror is a genre, then it deals with a protagonist dealing with overwhelming dark and evil forces.
 * Highly improbable and unexpected sequences of events that usually begin in ordinary situations and involve supernatural elements
 * Contrast the oddness of these events with the minutiae of daily life so readers identify with the characters
 * Explores the dark, malevolent side of humanity
 * Main characters are people we can understand and perhaps identify with although often these are haunted, estranged individuals
 * Lives depends on the success of the protagonist
 * Mood is dark, foreboding, menacing, bleak and creates an immediate response by the reader
 * Setting may be described in some detail if much of the story takes place in one location
 * Plot contains frightening and unexpected incidents
 * Violence, often graphic, occurs and may be accompanied by explicit sexuality
 * Most stories are told in the third person
 * The style is plain

Myth and Legend
Many of the myths and legends associated with various cultures feature stories of supernatural creatures. Greek mythology is a good example in our own culture. There is a long tradition of such stories and the belief by many that events don't just happen but that something is responsible. Supernatural events and creatures are often encountered in myth, legend, and folklore. Mary Shelley's **Frankenstein** (1818) and Bram Stoker's **Dracula** (1897) have become legends of their own.

What Would I do?
Some people enjoy imagining what they would do if they were placed in a situation similar to that of the main character in the work. Horror stories often depict "ordinary people dealing with extraordinary threats. They like to imagine, what would I do if a dark shadow with glowing red eyes appeared in my bedroom at night?

Excitement
Horror is rarely boring. It often has an immediate emotional response. Horror appeals more to the emotions than to the intellect. The setting of most horror stories creates an environment that is very special; it creates a special sensation. Ordinarily life is mundane while horror fiction involves us with the unexpected and the unnatural.

Rejection
Since horror fiction is often rejected by many adults that may make it more appealing to some readers who see it as a literature of protest and one that challenges ordinary conventions and normality. Horror fiction then is a forbidden attraction. This may be why many teens are drawn to horror fiction and films.

Atmosphere
The dark, brooding, threatening atmosphere becomes the main character in many horror stories. Thus, mood and setting are as or more important than plot and characters. The atmosphere is often portrayed in considerable detail so it become alive and immediately threatening.

Sub Genres
As is true of other genres, many horror readers will prefer to read in a sub genre such as vampires or ghosts. The ability to identify works by type of horror is important.

http://www.horror.org/horror-is.htm 5/16/08 Webster's Collegiate Dictionary gives the primary definition of horror as "a painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay." It stands to reason then that "horror fiction" is fiction that elicits those emotions in the reader. If we accept this definition, then horror can deal with the mundane or the supernatural, with the fantastic or the normal. It doesn't have to be full of ghosts, ghouls, and things to go bump in the night. Its only true requirement is that it elicit an emotional reaction that includes some aspect of fear or dread. Alice Sebold's //The Lovely Bones// is therefore just as much a horror novel as Stephen King's //Salem's Lot//. Tim LaHay's //Left Behind// series is just as full of horror as Dan Simmons' //A Winter Haunting.// By this definition, the best selling book of all time, the Bible, could easily be labeled horror, for where else can you find fallen angels, demonic possessions, and an apocalypse absolutely terrifying in its majesty all in one volume? In his 1982 anthology //Prime Evil,// author Douglas Winter stated, "Horror is not a genre, like the mystery or science fiction or the western. It is not a kind of fiction, meant to be confined to the ghetto of a special shelf in libraries or bookstores. Horror is an emotion." He was correct and his words have become a rallying cry for the modern horror writer. What makes horror literature so pervasive is that its need to evoke the necessary atmosphere and sense of emotional dread is utterly dependent on who we are as readers -- as people. As children, we might be afraid of the shadows looming from a half-closed closet door or of the monster we believe lies under the bed. Terrors of the imagination run wild at that age. As adults, our fears become more sophisticated, more grounded in worldly events. They become the death of a loved one, the terminal illness of a small child, the fear of our lives running out of our control. Horror, by nature, is a personal touch -- an intrusion into our comfort levels. It speaks of the human condition and forcibly reminds us of how little we actually know and understand.

http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html 5/16/08

Horror films go back as far as the onset of films themselves, over a 100 years ago. From our earliest days, we use our vivid imaginations to see ghosts in shadowy shapes, to be emotionally connected to the unknown and to fear things that are improbable. Watching a horror film gives an opening into that scary world, into an outlet for the essence of fear itself, without actually being in danger. Weird as it sounds, there's a very real thrill and fun factor in being scared or watching disturbing, horrific images. Whatever dark, primitive, and revolting traits that simultaneously attract and repel us are featured in the horror genre. Horror films are often combined with [|//science fiction//] when the menace or monster is related to a corruption of technology, or when Earth is threatened by aliens. The [|//fantasy//] and [|//supernatural//] film genres are not synonymous with the horror genre, although [|//thriller films//] may have some relation when they focus on the revolting and horrible acts of the killer/madman. Horror films are also known as chillers, scary movies, spookfests, and the macabre. See this site's [|//Scariest Film Moments and Scenes//] collection - illustrated, including //Entertainment Weekly//'s selections for the 20 Scariest Movies Horror films, when done well and with less reliance on horrifying special effects, can be extremely potent film forms, tapping into our dream states and the horror of the irrational and unknown, and the horror within man himself. (The best horror films only imply or suggest the horror in subtle ways, rather than blatantly displaying it, i.e., Val Lewton's horror films.) In horror films, the irrational forces of chaos or horror invariably need to be defeated, and often these films end with a return to normalcy and victory over the monstrous.
 * Horror Films** are unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films effectively center on the dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming events. They deal with our most primal nature and its fears: our nightmares, our vulnerability, our alienation, our revulsions, our terror of the unknown, our fear of death and dismemberment, loss of identity, or fear of sexuality.