The Definition of Horror
by kimharrison on Jun.02, 2009, under Kim Harrison
For me, horror is the creepy feeling you get that something is behind you, something you are helpless against that has malevolent intent. Blood splatters, screams, and psychological catch-22 figures into it. So now I’m wondering, what makes up horror for you? The physical or the mental? –Kim
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June 2nd, 2009 on 1:45 pm
Hehehe. To me, Little Shop of Horrors does it. Then again, I work with some ‘Evil’ cycads known as the ‘Ferocious Blue Cycad’. Truly enough to give you shivers. Psycho is great…Ed Gein was from around these parts, and he was still in the State Mental Institution not far from UW-Madison when I was there.
Real horror is defined by Alfred Hitchcock. With no use of color initially, amazing use of shadows, and innuendo, no one could do it better. The Birds still scare the daylights out of me.
June 2nd, 2009 on 7:04 pm
For me, it’s definitely the mental. I’ve become so desensitized to violence in the media that it almost feels like old hat.
There’s nothing like a good old fashion scare or creepy house to get my spine tingling.
But, if I were to ever run into something physically horrifying in real life, I’d be singing a different tune…..maybe one from Little Shop.
As for Ed Gein, he was definitely one evl and scary guy. If Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Silence of the Lambs were loosely based on Gein, he must be evil. There’s a movie called Deranged that chronicles his life as a serial killer. Very chilling….much scarier than the one called simply Ed Gein.
June 4th, 2009 on 9:13 pm
I am much more into horror stories that play into the unknown. The sort where the characters never see what’s after them… or perhaps never encounter their antagonist. Blood and guts are certainly disturbing, but not necessarily horrifying, in my opinion. H.P. Lovecraft’s “At The Mountains Of Madness” will always be chilling.
June 5th, 2009 on 1:17 am
Stephen King wrote a non fiction book called “Danse Macabre” in which he discusses the concept of horror. I am paraphrasing the book now, but he basically says that all of us want to die in our sleep right after a good meal with good wine and good loving. Horror exploits all of those other, awful ways we could go (buried alive, eaten alive, stabbed in a shower, etc).