Classic Horror Stories
What is a Classic?
● A story that has withstood the test of time
● Shows artistic quality
● Has universal appeal
What is Horror?
● Involves elements of the horrific to elicit a
response (usually fear, horror, "chills")
● Defined by the emotion it produces
What is Horror?
● Contains the following elements:
○ Setting
○ Suspense
○ Believable Characters
○ Just Enough Description
○ Great Ending
Bram Stoker's Dracula
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Bram Stoker
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1847-1912
Irish
Manager of the
Lyceum Theatre,
London
Dracula published
1897
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Dracula
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Epistolary format
Dracula moves
from Transylvania
to England to
create vampires
Stopped by
Abraham Van
Helsing
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
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Mary Shelley
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1797-1851
English
Married to Percy
Shelley
Frankenstein
published 1818
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Frankenstein
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Victor Frankenstein
creates a creature
using a science
experiment
The creature is
intelligent but has
an evil streak
Gaston Leroux's
The Phantom of the Opera
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Gaston Leroux
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1868-1927
French
Journalist and
writer of detective
fiction
The Phantom of
the Opera
published 1910
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The Phantom of the
Opera
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A hideous but
brilliant composer
lives under the
Paris Opera House
Obsessed with an
opera singer
Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart
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Edgar Allan Poe
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1809-1849
American
Writer, poet,
editor, literary
critic
The Tell-Tale Heart
published 1843
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The Tell-Tale Heart
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The narrator
commits murder
Believes he hears
the heartbeat of
the victim coming
from under the
floorboards
Character
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Character Traits-how a person feels and acts
Includes physical characteristics
Changes throughout the novel
Examples: Jonathan Harker from Dracula, The
Phantom from The Phantom of the Opera
Character
● Worksheet-Character Descriptions Organizer
● Quotes and Clips for Jonathan Harker
● Quotes and Clips for the Phantom
● Create your own character!
Setting
● Where a story takes place
● Can affect character's mood or feelings
● Exampes: Arctic (book) and graveyard
(movie) in Frankenstein
Setting
● Setting worksheet
● Quotes and clips for Frankenstein
● Describe your own setting!
Mood/Atmosphere
● Sets the tone of the story
● Setting and events can change the mood and
atmosphere
● Examples: Beating heart in Tell-Tale Heart,
the Phantom's lair in Phantom of the Opera
Mood/Atmosphere
● Mood/Atmosphere worksheet
● Quotes and clips from Tell-Tale Heart
● Quotes and clips from Phantom of the Opera
● Describe the mood/atmosphere in your
story!
Climax
● Everything leads to this
● Most important event in the story
● Examples: Dracula dies in Dracula, the
Creature kills Victor Frankenstein's wife in
Frankenstein (book), dies in a fire (movie)
Climax
● Climax worksheet
● Quotes and clips from Dracula
● Quotes and clips from Frankenstein
● Describe the climax in your story!