HORROR is a genre of artistic expression that revolves around the fear of becoming a victim of malevolent forces outside one's control. Horror appeals to an audience's fear, as it invites the audience to share in the fear of the characters as they face imminent death. The audience feels CATHARSIS (the release of built-up emotions) at every scare and a final catharsis of relief once the characters are safe again. As dealing with fear is a universal human experience, horro stories are consistently one of the five most popular genres in the world.
Along with Crime and Mystery, Horror is one of the three genres of suspense. SUSPENSE is the feeling of excited anxiety that develops when one is uncertain about what will happen next. Stories of suspense (often called THRILLERS) have conflicts dependent on solving problems, as discovering the solution relieves the suspense. In order to increase the suspense of the conflict, these stories always involve significant risk to characters, who may lose their reputation, their freedom, or even their life if the problem remains unsolved. To lead the characters and the reader toward the solution, stories of suspense use a lot of FORESHADOWING (hints at what will eventually happen) and have clear story logic. Ultimately, stories of suspense help audiences develop their own reasoning skills and their own moral conclusions, as suspense stories always revolve around ideas of justice and what people deserve.
What sets Horror apart from Mystery is the nature of the involvement of the characters: mysteries draw the character further into danger, while horror characters do whatever they can to escape the horror. While plenty of horror stories do contain an element of mystery to them (Who is the killer? Why are they doing this? How do we stop the evil rampage?), characters are driven to solve the mystery unless doing so will free them from the monsters that are threatening them. Mysteries also require a complete and satisfying resolution, while horror stories often leave questions unanswered to increase the reader's fear.
Horror is also notably different from Crime. While horror victims have awful crimes committed against them (murder, torture, captivity, and so much more), Crime stories ask the reader to follow and sympathize with the villain, while Horror rarely does this. Imagine someone saying, "That poor Freddy Kreuger. If only he could just kill all those teens then his soul could be at rest"--this sounds ridiculous. Still, Crime Horrors do exist--a great example is The Silence of the Lambs, where the horrifying cannibal Hannibal Lecter aids agent Clarice Starling in catching the equally horrifying serial killer Buffalo Bill.
Horrors are defined by eight tropes. There are the FORTUNATE VICTIMS that have atypical good luck or good lives that suddenly find that they are under THREAT OF DEATH by the UNNATURAL WICKEDNESS. The victims are ISOLATED from help in some version of a HAUNTED HOUSE, and because of their privilege, they make terrible and often deadly MISTAKES in trying to escape the wicked antagonist. Ultimately, the victims have to be brave enough to face THE UNKNOWN in order to survive the horror, with the story ending in just RETRIBUTION--the truly good are rewarded and evil is punished.
One of the most important elements of horror is the incorporation of an UNNATURAL OR SUPERNATURAL EVIL, things that do not and could not exist in the real world. Horror antagonists need to be unnatural or supernatural in order to make the audience feel like they could also be a victim, no matter how strong or secure they are in real life. These monsters also play upon specific fears and insecurities of the audience--for example, vampires play upon fears of sexual intimacy, werewolves play upon fears of one's body image and self-control, and zombies play upon fears of losing one's identity and becoming part of a faceless crowd. Even human monsters have unnatural traits--Ghostface from Scream can seemingly be in two places at once while Michael Myers from Halloween and Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th are unkillable, unfeeling, and mute.
By being unnatural and threatening the protagonist with death, the antagonists of horror stories tend to be abominable, meaning they are so evil and irredeemable that they are meant to be hated. Ironically, most fans of horror love the antagonists like Dracula, Freddy, Chucky, and Pinhead as much as their victims, yet this doesn't change the fact that, to the characters in the film, these monsters cannot be redeemed. Even villains who were undeserving victims like Candyman or Jason cannot gain sympathy with their protagonists without the protagonists crossing over into the darkness as well.
Next, the unnatural element has to threaten the protagonist with death. Said death can either be a PHYSICAL, MENTAL, OR EMOTIONAL DEATH. Physical threats can include being stabbed, impaled, burned, drowned, suffocated, eaten, or dismembered. Physical threats can also be bodily additions or mutilations, such as a protagonist gaining monstrous attributes like claws or horns. Mental death can include being driven to insanity, like the woman in "The Yellow Wallpaper" or the mind games Hannibal Lecter plays with Clarice Starling. Mental death can also be losing control over one's mind or self through acts of mind control (like in The Stepford Wives), societal control (like in Midsommar), or possession (like in The Babadook). Without a threat of some kind of physical or mental death, the stakes are too low for the audience to feel true fear.
To contrast with the abominable attributes of the antagonist, the story usually involves a group of FORTUNATE VICTIMS. They are not fortunate in that they are lucky that they are characters in a horror story--they instead come from a fortunate background, like a loving family, wealth and fame, or a "pure and innocent heart." They are typically young, beautiful, and strong--what society says are ideal bodies. Due to their privilege, they have never dealt with horrors and so become completely inept when it comes to being threatened by a menacing evil--which is why so many of these victims die. It's the horror story's way of rewarding those who have faced suffering head-on rather than ignoring it.
However, not every victim is as fortunate as the others. Often, there is a victim who has endured trauma in the past, which makes them more capable of survival and more sympathetic to the audience. Since the victim is usually teenaged and female, this character is called THE FINAL GIRL, as she is the final one standing. This is Nancy Thompson, who endured her divorced neglectful parents before Freddy Krueger went after her. This is Sidney Prescott, who endured the murder of her mother a year before becoming a target of the Ghostface killer herself. This is Laurie Strode, who was not as popular as her peers and was thought to be a nerdy bookworm before Michael Myers stalked her (hey, the trauma doesn't always have to be that extreme). While the final girl is often flawed due to neuroses involving their trauma, they are good person overall and thus deserves to live.
The other victims--not so much. Here are the most common types of victims in horror:
- THE JOCK: This character typically has an inflated sense of ego because of their athletic skill and strength, leading them to test their brawn against the horror monster
- THE DITZ: Often paired with the Jock (and often depicted as a cheerleader), the Ditz is a beautiful, naive young woman that lacks common sense or self-awareness--this is what gets her killed.
- THE MEAN GIRL: The opposite of the Bimbo, the Mean Girl is aware of everyone and everything, spitting out insults and criticism to others. Her sense of superiority often dooms this character.
- THE SCHOLAR: This character acts as an expert on everything and tries to solve every situation analytically. Sadly, the unnatural qualities of the monster mean that they are beyond logic, thus the scholar fails. Some scholars even go so far as to investigate the monster in order to increase their knowledge, and like the proverbial cat, their curiosity gets them killed.
- THE GOTH: This character is also an expert, but unlike the scholar, they are an expert on the dark and the macabre--the kind of expertise that's actually helpful in dealing with a monster. Yet the Goth still dies, sometimes as a result of being overconfident in their knowledge of the horrifying, and other times because they embrace the darkness and ally themselves with the monsters. These characters make for good red herrings in horror mystery stories.
- THE SKEPTIC: Another know-it-all character, the Skeptic doesn't believe in the threat or the monster because they are too grounded in reality and cannot conceive of something unnatural. Their lack of belief leaves them open to the monster's threats, as they do nothing to protect themselves.
- THE FOOL: This character is a natural comedian, bringing joy to others and filling their lives with laughter. While there are plenty of horror comedies, fools don't last long in horror, as a well-timed joke or positive attitude is no match for a sharpened machete.
- THE OUTCAST: While the Final Girl typically fills the Outcast role, many horror movies will have another character that is culturally different from the rest of the group. This could be group culture (like the nerd in a group of pretty and popular girls) or ethnic culture--this is what to led to the cliche of the Black character in a horror story always dying. The difference in culture causes this character to do things outside the group, leading to either their survival with the Final Girl or their death. These characters also make for good red herrings in horror mystery stories.
- THE KILLJOY: This is a character that wants to put a stop to any merriment or risky behavior, but they do so because they want to be in complete control. This includes authority members like principals and police officers. They get their comeuppance when the monster is unable to be controlled and kills them.
- THE HUNTER: This character actively pursues the monster. Hunters have different motivations: Dr. Loomis hunts Michael Myers because he wants to stop him; Creighton Duke hunts Jason Voorhees for the glory the kill will bring him; Roland Voight hunts the Cenobites in order to share in their power. The hunter occasionally succeeds and survives, but usually, their overconfidence leads them to their death.
- THE HYSTERIC: The opposite of the hunter, the hysteric panics at the first sign of danger and cannot control their fear. The hysteric typically lives longer than some victims, as their paranoia keeps them aware of danger, but they ultimately die because, when face to face with the monster, they freeze from fear and give up.
Why so many characters? In order to establish a threat of death, characters need to die. Yet it is important that we live in a world where good wins and evil loses (most of the time), so we can't have anyone too good die. Thus, privileged victims often do or say bad things because of their privileged position, which justifies their death. For example, the strong jock is a bully while the intelligent nerd is judgemental of her inferiors. These fortunate characters have moments where we see that they are not overall good, which brings about their unfortunate end.
The most common "sin" these characters commit is underage and unwed sexual activity, which has long been seen as immoral in Western society. Sex and death also make for a good pair symbolically--according to the EROS-THANATOS PRINCIPLE in part created by Sigmund Freud, humans have two primal divergent urges--to create and love (eros) and to destroy and hate (thanatos) and that these two extremes are often depicted juxtaposed together in art to show how different these two forces are despite having matching physical reactions (quickened heartbeat, sweating, shivering, pupil dilation).
So the good are usually spared and those that are sinful are slain. This is the idea of JUST RETRIBUTION. Look at the victims in the film Halloween: Annie does drugs and abandons Lindsey to fool around with her boyfriend, while Lynda and Bob use Annie's absence from the house to have sex. However, Laurie (who isn't promiscuous) survives, as well as the innocent kids under her care. Even sinful characters who don't die get their comeuppance, like the economic losses suffered by Mr. Teague in Poltergeist, who commissioned the Questa Verde development to be built on a cemetery. Just retribution allows an audience to escape the horror at the end--sure, these threats are unstoppable, but if we're good people, we'll be fine. The only wicked one who occasionally escapes justice is the monster itself--otherwise, how else could the story continue in sequels?
These deaths are not just necessary to ensure the film rewards the good and punishes the wicked, but are also used to create dramatic tension. To increase the tension, these inexperienced characters often make obvious MISTAKES. They run up the stairs instead of running out the front door. They hide under the bed instead of jumping out the window. They stay in town after people they know start dying. They split up to look for the killer. All these mistakes are obvious to the audience--one of the most familiar cries in the movie theatre is "No! Don't go in there!" It's important that the victims make silly mistakes not to show that the characters are stupid but to ratchet up the tension using DRAMATIC IRONY, or the fact that a character knows something is coming while the character doesn't. This also reflects real life, as people often make silly mistakes when panicking.
One of the most common mistakes made is ignoring the HARBINGER, a clear warning of the danger before it occurs but is ignored. Often this harbinger is a character, like Dr. Loomis in Halloween, but could also be a metaphorical sign (like the bird flying into the window and dying in The Birds) or even a literal sign (like the Keep Out signs at Camp Crystal Lake). A monster can even curse victims and become its own harbinger, like Freddy Krueger's curse upon the parents of his victims in A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Ultimately, atmosphere makes a horror story. A spooky setting that "feels creepy" sells that this is not just an average day where some things have gone wrong. You need darkness, You need age and rot. You need dirt and grime. In short, you need a haunted house.
A HAUNTED HOUSE can be anywhere or any structure--just like The Green World in comedy, the Haunted House is a metaphor for a space where everyday life is gone and characters are trapped in a space where normal rules don't matter. In a haunted house, anyone can be a killer, even the final girl defending herself against a serial murderer. In a haunted house, escape is futile, as only the wicked forces can allow you to leave alive. In a haunted house, there are objects all around that can help the victims if they can only notice them, as well as hidden dangers that could spell their doom.
While different types of haunted houses are common in horror (farms, castles, cemeteries), sometimes horror stories pick a seemingly normal location and make it terrifying, like a home invasion, to prove that the audience isn't safe anywhere. Still, there must be a sense that things change in the setting to become more sinister, like an increase of shadows or mysterious noises in the dark. To create a haunted house, characters take on wary or malicious tones, descript imagery fills the page, words convey visceral reactions in ugly and striking ways, and dialogue becomes very abrupt and fast-paced in its syntax. Horror films use mise en scene that looks old and falling apart, plain cinematography, lots of shadows and night shots, slow-paced long shots followed by tons of quick cuts, and unsettling music to create a terrifying atmosphere.
Why are all these settings abandoned? It adds to the element of ISOLATION or separation from others. Isolation is required in a horror story--the tension will not be built if the serial killer is stabbing people in front of the police station in the middle of the afternoon. Rather, monsters come out in the dark and prey upon those who are alone. This is why most settings are isolated from readily available help, such as abandoned buildings, forests, and farms. Even settings in neighborhoods are isolated by having the phone lines cut, the lights go out, and possibly the neighbors as monsters themselves. Isolation isn't always physical either: Carrie White is isolated socially, which leads to the disaster at Prom Night. Joanna Eberhart is the only wife in Stepford not turned into a machine, keeping her in a constant state of isolation.
All of these elements build suspense, the glue that holds a horror story together and keeps the reader interested. This suspense does require one element to work: THE UNKNOWN, an element that the characters or audience can't explain. It's the secret behind the monster. It's the mysterious object in the locked chest. It's the dark... seriously, darkness is synonymous with horror because the darkness hides things from characters, leaving them exposed to dangers they don't know are there.
Without the unknown pushing the story forward, the suspense has no purpose or punch. In Saw, why are the two gentlemen put in the room? Unknown. In Scream, who is the Ghostface killer? Unknown. Where did the Blob in The Blob come from? Unknown. Sometimes the audience knows the mystery that the characters don't, like where Marion Crane has disappeared to in Psycho, and the suspense is in waiting for the characters to figure the mystery out. Sometimes the mystery is as simple as wondering who will survive.
A good horror story requires all these elements in order to be effective at purifying built up emotions of fear. A good horror story doesn't even necessarily have to be scary to be effective, as not every member of the audience fears the exact same monster. I may be terrified of, say, clowns while clowns don't affect my friend in the least. In watching a clown horror film, I may be petrified and he relaxed, but the story will still engage both of us in the purging of fear. Even cross-genre piece like comedic horror or sci-fi horror help engage our emotions in fear response should the text employ all of the aforementioned elements.
- BODY HORROR: In body horror, the threat is not an outside monster, but one's own body rebelling against the protagonist, turning the person into a monster.
- SLASHER: Mostly a film genre, this subgenre revolves around suburban teenagers and an unknown mystery killer picking them off one by one. By the end of the film, the killer's identity is revealed and the killer "dies," is arrested, or escapes. The protagonist and enough characters are left surviving to mount a sequel, as slashers are always serialized.
- GOTHIC HORROR: Gothic literature is a mix of nineteenth century Romanticism and Horror. While Gothic Horror is more a literary movement than subgenre, some modern texts still use Gothic tropes like brooding castles, appeals to God and religion, and European traditionalism vs. New World liberty.
- Every type of monster has its own subgenre, as each monster has its own fans and rules for how they operate. For a full list of the types of monsters in horror, click on the link below.
Credits:
Created with images by MakyFoto - "monster devil fear" • jarmoluk - "fear way night" • Fran Rodríguez - "Ouija board on a table with candles. Concept of spiritism on Hallowen" • JordanStimpson - "dark moody scary" • zef art - "Silhouette of an unknown shadow figure on a door through a closed glass door. The silhouette of a human in front of a window at night. Scary scene halloween concept of blurred silhouette of maniac." • isabellaquintana - "clown all-in-one character"