Mr. Glisch
Room 120
Journal:
Why do people read horror and watch
horror films? What makes people enjoy
being scared?
Responses of various literary critics:



June Michele Pulliam: "Life is scary and uncertain, and
horror at least allows us to experience the emotion of fear in
a controlled setting.”
William Patrick Day: “People are simply repulsed and
attracted to horror.”
Terry Heller: “Horror gives people a safe adrenaline
rush…and, in a sense, to come face-to-face with mortality
and walk away.”


Carol J. Clover: “In slasher films, audience
members are at various times encouraged to
view the world from the perspective of both
the monster and the victim…[thus giving] the
horror fan the chance to experience fear
vicariously from different points of view, and
to emerge unscathed from the theater.”
Others: It “entertains and teaches.”

The word monster stems from the Latin words
monstrum—meaning, “a portent or omen, often
a divine warning”--and monere—meaning, “to
warn.” Thus, on the most basic level, a horror
text is one that contains a monster, whether it is
supernatural, human, or a metaphor for the
psychological torment of a guilt-ridden human.
The monsters, of course, can take on various
forms:



snapshot: the walking dead, the living-impaired
who stumble around aimlessly chanting, “Brains!
Brains,” and snacking on anyone in heels who has
the misfortune to trip on the terrain.
snapshot: the vengeful ghost of a child molester,
horribly disfigured through the vigilante justice of
outraged parents, and fully equipped with twelveinch razors for fingernails and the ability to invade
his victims’ dreams, cracking jokes as he slaughters
the innocent.
snapshot: the angry strippers, the once abused
wives and mothers, who will now rid the world of
men who would batter those they should protect.


snapshot: the hideous and therefore unlovable
creations of mad scientists who fancied
themselves greater than God, but are nothing
more than deadbeat dads creating beautiful
immortals who are physically, emotionally,
and intellectually superior to the envious
humans among whom they live, but who must
nevertheless drink the blood of their admirers
for survival.
In essence, horror fiction is difficult to define
because it is not all of one type.


Douglas E. Winter: “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 the ghetto of libraries or
bookstores…[H]orror is an emotion.”
June Michele Pulliam: “Tragedy is when I cut my
finger. Comedy is when you fall down the sewer
and die. Horror is when you return from the dead
and haunt me for laughing at your nasty trip down
that sewer.”
1764: The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole is considered the
first horror novel
--about a family curse, a damsel in distress and a giant
helmet that crushes humans
1796: The Monk by Matthew Lewis
--about a well-respected clergyman tempted by Satan; a
chilling character study of the degeneration of a
human being and his soul
Early 1800s:
some American gothic authors:
Charles Brockden Brown
Washington Irving
1817: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Mid 1800s: emergence of two American
authors considered the “literary ancestors” of
today’s horror fiction:
 Edgar Allan Poe
 Nathaniel Hawthorne


1897: Dracula by Bram Stoker serves as the
“mother of all vampire texts”
1930s: resurgence of horror fiction comes
from pulp magazine publications. Two
authors emerge:
 H.P. Lovecraft
 Arthur Machen
 Most
sightings, if not all, are the result of an
overactive imagination
 Haunted
the mind
 Usually
living
houses may be interpreted as symbols of
the ghost functions as a warning to the
 Haunted
houses are usually victims
1) Something happened in the house
2) Something happened on the site on which the house is built







Golem:
a being without a soul, made into
human form from clay
a parallel to God’s creation of Adam
original golem is from medieval Jewish
folklore
most famous golem is in Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein
golems often seek to destroy their
maker
the creator is punished for trying to do
what only God can






*The dead, in fiction, usually rise to
take revenge upon the living
*The dead come back (usually) in 2
ways
1) They are purposefully
reanimated
2) reanimated accidentally
*When the dead rise, they are
(usually) dangerous
*Psychologically speaking, people
raise the dead because they can’t
accept death

Werewolves come from traditional vampire folklore (vampires
could take the form of wolves)

The werewolf is the alter-ego of the suave, sophisticated vampire

Werewolves represent our bestial desires (food, sex, violence, etc)

Vampires
Vampires are probably the most popular of all monsters


Vampires range from bestial murderers to suave, sophisticated,
intelligent superhumans
Most famous vampires:
 Nosferatu from Varney the Vampire
 Dracula from Dracula (by Bram Stoker)

Vampirism is often seen as a sort of dark godhood because of their
potential immortality

Vampires often possess extraordinary powers:






Hypnotize victims
Control the weather
Shapeshift (bats and wolves usually)
Super strength and speed
Fly
Vampires appeal to audiences in two ways:
 Strength and invulnerability
 Weakness and vulnerability

Vampires are almost always suggestive of the erotic

Vampires are unholy
 They are repulsed by crosses and holy water
 Vampires use blood in a completely different way than Jesus
 Jesus gives his blood
 The vampire takes it
 Holiness = light
 Vampires cannot stand light
Dracula
Dracula was inspired by a real-life prince
- Vlad Tepes – a Romanian known as Vlad the
Impaler
The name Dracula comes from “Dracul” which means
“dragon” (the dragon was Vlad the Impaler’s
insignia)
Horror Writers are constantly rewriting the vampire
myth

Arguably the oldest horror subgenre

Tales of demonic possession go as far back as the Bible

Most famous novels of demonic possession:
 The Monk, M.G. Lewis
 The Exorcist, William Peter Blatty


Most possession tales involve the possession of an
innocent person (that’s what makes them scary)
The possessed characters are forgivable because they
were not responsible for their actions while possessed

Nearly every religion and mythology has its
monsters or evil gods
 Examples: Kali the Destroyer (India), Medusa &
Cyclops (Greece), Lucifer (Christianity)



Most cultures have in their belief systems a
humanoid being that is monstrous and destructive
These mythologies are essentially the basis for
modern horror fiction
The monsters of the old stories are divine
warnings about the consequences of human action



Monsters are symbols of what we all fear,
whether it is the monster within us or some
mystery of the outer world
Many authors write about mythological
monsters from ancient religions and cultures
H.P. Lovecraft (an American writer of the 20th
century) created a mythology populated by
horrifying cosmic gods
 Called the Cthulhu mythos

In many horror stories, the old gods are ever
present and can be summoned any time, even
accidentally.
Sociopath – a person whose criminal behavior is
shaped by social forces and is the result of a
dysfunctional environment
Psychopath – a person suffering from mental
disorders, especially one who perceives reality
clearly except for his/her own social and moral
obligations
-generally not the result of upbringing or
environment
Common features of socio & psychopathic behavior:
-often charming
-manipulative (con others)
-pathological liars
-lack of remorse, shame, or guilt
-incapable of love
-unable to feel for the victims
-unable to control their behavior
-create hopelessness in their victim
-believe they are all-powerful and all knowing
-don’t accept blame
-histories of sexual abuse
-secretive
-paranoid
-tend to look normal
-ultimate goal is the creation of a willing victim





Humans usually believe we have mastery over the animal
kingdom.
From Genesis:
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the
earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.






As a result of our belief that we master nature, we
often destroy nature in the process
Mother Nature’s vengeance reminds us that we must
face the consequences of our harming nature
Usually killer animals act (attack) out of revenge
Sometimes animals just attack because it’s in their
nature to do so, such as in Jaws
Sometimes the animals are endowed with
supernatural qualities, as in “The Hound” by H.P.
Lovecraft
Horror authors like to remind readers that humans
are perhaps NOT the ultimate, supreme hunters that
we think we are

Most famous novels in this subgenre:
 Jaws by Peter Benchley
 Cujo by Stephen King
 The Birds by Daphne du Maurier


Psychological horror stories usually deal with mental torment,
emotional instability and mental illness
These stories challenge the fictional “reality” that the writers
create

In other words, the horror is often only in the character’s head

The characters often suffer in hells of their own making



Sometimes characters are unable to break away from a harmful
situation because they are unwilling to do so
Characters often have their deepest, darkest desires and fears
come to life
Almost all horror tales contain some element of psychological
horror





These tales scare the reader into the realization that there
are places where “normal” civilization does not rule
There are isolated communities and individuals that are
untouched by modern values, technology, and logic
The isolation of these places makes them a perfect setting
for horrific events because “no one can hear you scream”
These stories remind us of our powerlessness within
society and of our dependence upon the others who make
up the community
Small-town horror reminds us that small towns sometimes
(always?) have deep, dark secrets




Technohorror questions the worlds of science (including
space travel), medicine, the government, and the military
by exposing their dark sides
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is one of the first examples of
the subgenre
--Victor Frankenstein plays God by creating a
man/golem
--his experiment backfires, unleashing a horror into the
world
Some popular Technohorror subtopics:
--weird science
--medical horror
--military experimentation horror
--technology-gone-destructive horror
Technohorror taps into modern-age fears



Potentially positive discoveries can easily be
transformed into means for destruction
(example: Einstein’s theory of relativity, which
eventually led to atomic bombs)
These tales often play on the modern fear of
technology dehumanizing the world
Famous Technohorror novels:
Farenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton
Firestarter, Stephen King
Boys From Brazil, Ira Levin






Hypnotism is when someone can get others to do
something through mind control
Hypnotism used to be called mesmerism because it was
popularized by Dr. Anton Mesmer
Horror stories of hypnotism are often about evil people
using their mental powers to control others
One of the 1st fictional examples of this is Count Dracula,
who could hypnotize his victims
Through hypnosis, hypnotists have access to one’s
unconscious mind…
…this can be helpful in curing psychological problems,
but it can also do great harm if the hypnotist has evil
intentions




Telekinesis is another type of mental control
Someone with telekinetic abilities can move
objects with his or her mind
Stephen King’s Carrie is an excellent example.
When her classmates play too many jokes on her,
Carrie uses her telekinesis to destroy most of the
town and its citizens
Horror tales about mental control remind us that
the loss of our free will is always possible,
sometimes with catastrophic results

Also known as “extreme horror”

Graphic sex and violence extremely common
 Normally due to the indulgences of bored mortals and
immortals, not excesses of monsters that must be
stopped.

Often use punk, alternative, and heavy metal
music in the background





 Humor and horror often go hand in hand
 Laughing at our fears goes back to very early horror
texts (example: the Old English epic Beowulf)
 Even Poe, the father of modern horror, wrote several
comic horror tales
 Some horror writers choose parody (making fun of
someone or something) as their mode of expression
 Often, authors (and especially film makers) use a funny
character(s) for comic relief to break up the seriousness of
the story’s tone