Exploring Horror
I've always been a horror fan. Ever
since I was a teenager, the genre was intoxicating. It was a
forbidden fruit, a window to the secret horrors that adults knew
existed, but children were protected from. Of all the different types
of movies and books, horror was the one that all but guaranteed a
glimpse of the two most dangerous excitements: Sex and violence.
As I grew up, I realized that horror
wasn't that simple. Sure, slasher movies like the Friday the 13th
series always held a campy titillation, but they don't define the
best of the genre. I explored more intelligent horror films and
books, only to discover that the best available seemed to frequently
shy away from that title. There was a stigma surrounding the word
'horror'. Authors often shunned the label, insisting that they wrote
suspense or thriller books. Horror flourished in the late seventies
and early eighties, but before the nineties came around it seemed to
have passed its zenith.
Horror was arguably born with Mary
Shelley's Frankenstein. The original book was an allegory to the
dangers of science, but it taps into a visceral fear as the
protagonist is relentlessly hunted by their own undead creation.
Horror existed before the doctor's creation, but it was usually tame,
gothic ghost stories. Interestingly, the impetus for Frankenstein was
when Shelley and her friends dared each other to write a gothic tale
after reading German ghost stories all night.
Shortly after Frankenstein, we were
given the works of Edgar Allen Poe. No one in literary history has
defined a genre as perfectly as Poe was able to do with his
unsettling tales. His works are magnificently creepy, and has served
as inspiration for authors since they were first published.
Horror was given another gift with
Jekyll and Hyde, where Robert Louis Stevenson again used science to
explore the evil that dwells within. This also, in my opinion, was
the novel that helped the genre graduate from gothic tradition to a
more relatable setting. Then Lovecraft tore apart our expectations by
opening portals to the most creative universe of nightmares that has
ever been explored.
Once movies lit up screens across the
world, horror had a new hurtle. It was one thing to rely on a
person's imagination to conjure up the disgusting images that horror
revels in, but would the public be able to handle it on a screen,
projected for them to see in all its terrifying glory? Without a
doubt, yes! Horror swept into cinemas swiftly, from Nosferatu to the
Wolfman, movie studios discovered that audiences were longing for a
glimpse of the macabre.
And then came Hitchcock. This master of
suspense picked the genre up from its cartoonish movie monster mire
and delivered it to audiences complete with all the thrills that he
was famous for. It seemed that the genre had been reborn, ready to
delight and terrify audiences for decades to come.
Stephen King has to be lauded for
reinvigorating horror literature, and his name has become synonymous
with the genre. At the same time, the film industry began churning
out cheap slasher films that dominated the landscape and
unfortunately altered the public perception of what horror had to
offer. Each new group of teenagers that got slaughtered was another
step in the wrong direction. While I sheepishly admit to loving these
movies, I also recognize that they debased a genre I love. They
provided the evidence critics needed to disregard horror all
together. Today, if you tell someone you're going to see a horror
movie, they have a specific expectation for what you mean, and it
rarely involves an intellectually stimulating exploration of fear.
The most recent evolution
(de-evolution?) of horror is what has come to be known as 'torture
porn'. These movies delight in letting us watch the vilest
explorations of pain imaginable. They test our endurance as flesh is
torn open, eyeballs are plucked out, and bones get sawed through.
This is horror that rarely has a redeeming quality, and is only there
to push our limits beyond what we can handle.
Sadly, we've now entered an age for the
genre where some of its most prolific artists are hesitant to be
labeled as such. Horror isn’t a title that exclaims quality, and
instead seems to assure mindless fun. I abhor this fact. I
desperately want to see the genre regain its credibility. I want
horror movies to return to the halcyon days of Hitchcock, and horror
novels to be as highly regarded as they were in the days of Poe.
I've tried for a long time to properly
define what horror means, and how it can differentiate itself from
other genres. The best definition I can give is this: It's a thriller
when a child is scared of what monster might be in the closet, and
it's horror when the monster gets out. Horror is an exploration of
our worst nightmares, and for that reason there is an endless area
for us to explore. Our worst nightmares shouldn't be limited to an
axe-wielding maniac that chops up groups of teenagers, or a sadistic
killer with a slew of torture toys.
Horror deserves better than that!
Deadlocked
Book
1
By
A.R. Wise
BLURB:
David
was caught in the middle of the city when the zombie outbreak
started. His wife and daughters were at home, stranded on the roof as
zombies waited below. He would have to fight through hordes of
undead, merciless other survivors, and a series of death defying
stunts to get home. However, even if he makes it there, how can he be
sure they're safe?
Deadlocked
puts you into David's head as he struggles to get home. Then a final
confrontation occurs that could guarantee his family's survival, but
at what cost?
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AUTHOR
BIO:
A.R.
Wise was born in Hammond, Indiana, just outside of Chicago. He's
spent time in several states throughout the years but now resides in
beautiful Colorado, near the Rocky Mountains. He is the proud father
of two adorable, beautiful girls that inspire him everyday, and is
married to an unreasonably understanding and loving wife. He has been
writing since he was a child, but the ebook revolution is what
finally convinced him to offer his work to the world.
Thanks for posting this article! I appreciate it.
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