By Isabelle Lounsberry
Since it ‘tis the season, I figured I’d talk about the misconceptions of horror, or rather the different types, and why they make you feel so spooked. First, we’ll start with what Stephen King likes to call “The Gross-Out.” This is basically exactly what it sounds like– the gross of horror. This is, of course, the gore classification, ranging from chopped bodies to disease and all the icky, bloody, disgusting mess. It may seem obvious why this kind of imagery is disturbing, but let’s break it down. The reason fear is so important is for humanity’s survival. It makes sense that we would want to avoid possibly harmful situations, like an infected human, or guts and gore because it signals danger. We tend to cringe away from these things, wincing, covering our eyes, that sort of thing. This is, to me, the cheapest kind of horror that I’ll be talking about because it preys on the ingrained social patterns in our brains rather than making us think, but that isn’t to say it isn’t a wonderful and creative genre of horror. Some great works in this category would be Saw, The Human Centipede, and Offseason by Jack Ketchum.
The next category is horror, which for our purposes, is the unrealistic, or unnatural in a similar sense. This is the more supernatural, paranormal spectrum. Most easily identified as ghosts, zombies, demons, or even just unexplained phenomenon, these types of media are the more “classic” examples of modern horrors, like Halloween or Chucky. They typically have a figure representing the scary happenings, like a monster of some sort, or even a disembodied, yet distinguishable being of some sort. However, this is not a defining feature. Horror is fear; regular, ordinary fear. These aren’t the types to make you run screaming, they are more for entertainment.
The final category in our list is terror, or what I like to call, the creeps. This is the worst– or best– category, depending on how you look at it. It’s the overwhelming fear, the panicked heartbeats echoing around your skull and the ringing of your ears, the overstimulating rush of heat to your face and chills down your body, which I think is much better than the other two aforementioned subjects. The other two might be scary at the moment you watch it, but this one haunts you, partly because it might happen in real life. It is meant to terrify you, like Sinister or The Descent. I also like to mush this one with creepiness– that is, the things that humans can discern as a possible threat, or a non-possible threat. Our brain ends up confused because some parts of it are reacting one way while another reacts a different way, leaving us uneasy to say the least. One example is almost-humans, better known as things that fall into the uncanny valley. Based on the way humans process aethstetics, there are some things that fall into the uncanny valley, which is basically the uncertainty of the identity of the object in question. The humanoids in this category look like humans, but aren’t quite there. Part of our brain recognizes it, but other parts see it as a possible threat, confusing the brain, like explained before, giving us that nauseous feeling. A good example of this is masks or clowns, where the identity and expressions are hidden. Another thing humans find unsettling is things we know aren’t right. That is part of the reason children are so scary. We know that kids are innocent; that adults are susceptible to do bad things, but children are not. When we come in contact with something that defies this knowledge, our brains freak out.
There are, of course, subgenres of horror as well. Some being comedy horror, like Scary Movie, point of view horror such as The Blair Witch Project, gothic horror, etcetera. These categories make it easier to find what you are interested in, what you consider scary, and what helps creators get the reactions they want from an audience.
Media doesn’t always have to fall directly into one category or another, but that is a trend. A lot of movies or other forms of media incorporate some or all of the categories into their projects, which creates a way to frighten every member of the audience. Either way, horror is a good medium, one of my favorites, and is worth exploring.