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Is horror a genre?
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What are the different types of horror films?
May 24, 2020 · Horror is a genre of storytelling intended to scare, shock, and thrill its audience. Horror can be interpreted in many different ways, but there is often a central villain, monster, or threat that is often a reflection of the fears being experienced by society at the time.
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Dec 6, 2023 · Horror is a genre of film and television whose purpose is to create feelings of fear, dread, disgust, and terror in the audience. The primary goal is to develop an atmosphere that puts the audience on edge and scares them.
Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare. [1] Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror, which are in the realm of speculative fiction.
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. [ 2 ] Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apocalyptic events, and religious or folk beliefs. Horror films have existed for more than a century.
- I. What Is Horror?
- III. Types of Horror
- IV. Importance of Horror
- V. Examples of Horror in Literature
- VI. Examples of Horror in Pop Culture
- VII. Related Terms
- VIII. Conclusion
In literature, horror (pronounced hawr-er) is a genre of fiction whose purpose is to create feelings of fear, dread, repulsion, and terror in the audience—in other words, it develops an atmosphere of horror. The term’s definition emphasizes the reaction caused by horror, stemming from the Old French orror, meaning “to shudder or to bristle.” Horror...
a. Gothic horror
Gothic horror, also known as gothic fiction or gothic fantasy, is a dark style of fiction that combines horror and Romanticism. Its style combines the artistic pleasures of Romantic literature with the frightening elements of horror, making it terrifying in a seductive and pleasing way. Gothic horrors stories are written both with and without supernatural elements, but are always mysterious in nature. Examples include novels like Dracula, Frankenstein, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
b. Supernatural Horror
A supernatural horror is work of fiction that relies heavily on supernatural or paranormal elements to drive the story, featuring things like ghosts, monsters, demons, aliens, witchcraft, zombies, and so on. The main source of terror in supernatural horrors is the human reaction to being faced with the unknown, usually in the midst of a serious conflict—i.e. a haunting, a possession, an invasion, a curse or omen, etc.
c. Non-supernatural Horror
A non-supernatural horror is a work of fiction that does not include supernatural elements, The terror of non-supernatural horror comes from the idea that what is happening in the story could plausibly occur in real life—usually involving the possibility of death—making it the ideal style for frightening crime or mystery stories.
In what is often considered the most important essay on the horror genre ever written, “Supernatural Horror in Literature,” horror fiction author H.P Lovecraft begins by stating, “the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” Accordingly, horror is important because it uneart...
Example 1
Short stories are an ideal and widely used form for horror literature, and Edgar Alan Poe is one of literature’s greatest Gothic horror story writers. His short stories are quintessential pieces of the genre and have been inspiring horror authors for decades. Below is a selection from his famous work, “The Tell Tale Heart”: Poe expertly chooses his words to develop an air of terror, shock, and mystery. To learn more about the victim—the disfigured but still breathing body—the reader will have...
Example 2
Not all horror has to be directly bloody or violent with its language. For example, William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” uses subtle cues and an air of mystery throughout the plotline, without truly revealing Emily’s dark side until the end of the tale— In this passage, Faulkner tells the audience what happened to a man that disappeared from Emily’s town (and the story) years before. He has been found—or rather, his skeleton, which is subtly revealed through the language: a “fles...
Example 1
Present day author Stephen King is a giant in contemporary horror fiction. For 40 years his works have been dominating the horror market in literature and have had a huge presence in film and television—in fact, hundreds of his works have been adapted for the screen. Below is a clip from the icon horror novel and movie of the same name, The Shining: This clip exhibits a scene from the film that has been a symbol of the horror genre for decades, including the infamous and often repreated phras...
Example 2
Many pieces of horror literature have become cult classic horror films, for example, William Peter Blatty’s supernatural horror novel The Exorcist and the subsequent film, for which he also wrote the screenplay. Below is a clip of a well-known scene from the film, in which the priests perform an exorcism on Regan, a young girl whose body it has been possessed by a demon: The horrifying nature of this scene is obvious—a possessed child with a grotesque appearance, the presence of a supernatura...
Thriller
A thriller is a genre of whose primary feature is that it induces strong feelings of excitement, anxiety, tension, suspense, fear, and other similar emotions in its readers or viewers—in other words, media that thrills the audience. Essentially all horrors are thrillersbecause of the nature of their content; however, not all thrillers are horrors.
In conclusion, horror is a genre of literature designed for readers who want to be frightened and have their imaginations expanded through fear of the unknown and unexpected. It can be combined with other genres and styles to develop creative and frightening tales that leave audiences on the edge of their seats.
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1 day ago · Explore the dark corridors of horror cinema with our guide on the top 17+ horror subgenres. Click the link to learn, identify, and fear them all.
Sep 7, 2021 · Learn About the Horror Genre, Plus 7 Classic Horror Novels You Should Read. Written by MasterClass. Last updated: Sep 7, 2021 • 5 min read. People read horror stories because they enjoy the thrill of being scared. But there’s more to writing a horror story than just the scary parts. What makes horror novels so appealing?
