Daily Archives: June 18, 2009

What Is Horror?

What is Horror?

Horror and our fascination with it go back as far as human memory stretches.  Ghosts and devils and all manner of evil deeds are fundamental elements in our story telling traditions. While this genre is not respected in main stream fiction or in mass media it has a power that transcends critics and fads.
What horrifies us is a deeply personal affair. The story that chills one person to the bone leaves another bland and unmoved. We all have our different psychological triggers and horror works best when it presses on one of the triggers in an unexpected fashion.  Horror is much like pornography; tough to define we know it when we see it. Despite the individualistic nature of our responses there are some comment elements to horror and in these we might find an answer to what is horror really?

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