Elements Of Lovecraftian Horror In Stephen King

Stephen King never clearly states the thesis of this essay however there is enough information provided that we can infer one. We need to keep our inner lyncher at bay by feeding ourselves with small portions of demonic, bloody, violence, found in horror movies. King writes “It deliberately appeals to all the worst in us. It is morbidity unchained, our most base instincts let free, our nastiest fantasies realized...” (Why We Crave Horror Movies, paragraph 12) and by doing so he’s implying that horror movies are like a temporary fix for our violent craves.

How could someone become famously known as an author if they have never even written a book in their lifetime? Well, the acceptance of H. P. Lovecraft as an important American writer, and as the finest exponent of dark fantasy or (Lovecraftian horror) since Poe, has not come quickly or easily. Much of this neglect was due to the rejection of “pulp” writers. The primary outlet for his stories was “Weird Tales”, a pulp magazine whose circulation barely reached twenty thousand a month although its influence on horror fiction has been enormous. His two most famous works were “The Outsider” and “The Call Of Cthulhu,” who’s contributions to the supernatural horror genre and original approach to dark fantasy revitalized the genre and influenced every important new writer in the field. (Charles 1)

In every time period there is always a writers that dominates a certain genre. These individuals are masters in their fields and can evoke the deepest feeling in their readers. There are many of these writers in every generation for every genre. In the field of horror two writers should spring to everyone's mind. Edgar Allen Poe and Stephen King. Both writers have made their marks in literature for exploring the darker sides of imagination producing writings that can leave readers shaken from freight. Although both authors are from different time periods they have similarities in writing that shows their skills.

sample, but it also appeals to population and emotion. To further explain why we crave

Come to find out we as humans do have a dark side to our personality. In fact, our brains make imaginary monsters, demons, witches, and other crazy scary figures you can think of. We are all plugged in with the positives and negatives. In why we crave horror Stephen King is correct because he states that humans crave horror to face our fears; however, he is also wrong by claiming that we as humans crave horror to establish our feelings of normalcy and to experience a peculiar way of fun.

As I was lying in bed recalling the event happened an hour before I was thinking to myself that I will never look at lightning the same way again. Thunder and lightning was still present in the night sky as I lay there in bed thanking God I was alive and well. Each flash of lightning lit the entire room and each clap of thunder rattled the windows of my hotel room. Lightning can seem much more terrifying when you’re up 20,000 ft in the mountains, and the thunder sounds a lot louder too. The sound of nature’s fury seemed to slowly descend as the night went on, but my nerves did not. I was still stunned and in shock of being stuck in a lightning storm high in the mountains. I never thought about the power and damage lightning can inflict

Wes Craven’s horror movie “Scream”, inspired the gruesome murder of Gina Castillo. Castillo’s sixteen year old son and his fifteen year old cousin killed Gina Castillo. Why would anyone wish to watch the petrifying film, “Scream”? What would trigger a person to take inspiration from the horror movie, “Scream”. Stephen King describes horror as a piece of the human condition. Author of several horror novels, Stephen King wrote an essay titled “Why We Crave Horror.” In this paper he thoroughly explains why the human species craves horror and how it makes humans feel. In this essay, Stephen King precisely claims that humans desire, horror because horror pushes them to face their fears, renew their feelings of normality, and to expose

Chills run down your spine as a breath of wind rushes past your frame. Incoherent whispering fills your ear due to the flowing wind… Edgar Allen Poe, one of America’s most prolific writers, wrote numerous horror stories that defined the genre for modern writing. Effort went into creating the style that he was known for, but was it constant from one story to the next? Despite differences in plot and length there are similarities of tone, setting, structure, narration, and character between two of his most famous stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” that allude to Poe’s true writing style.

In H.P. Lovecraft’s short story “The call of Cthulhu,” written in 1926, Lovecraft does not give his main character a name. H.P. Lovecraft does not tell the readers anything about the main character besides that his great uncle, George Gammell Angell, has died in an accident. When George Gammell Angell dies the main character goes through George’s things, finding George’s manuscript that starts the main characters investigation. The main character may not be given a name or have much development behind his character, but the main character is the narrator of the entire short story. However, there are some points of inner dialogue from the main character so the readers can understand his emotions. H.P. Lovecraft, although he does not develop the main character to a large extent, does develop the side characters to the point we know who they are and what happened to them. George Gammell Angell, as stated above, is the main characters great uncle, as well as, a professor at Brown University before his sudden accidental death. H.P. Lovecraft goes as far as describing George Gammell Angell’s death:

Chills slide down your spine as a breath of wind rushes past your frame. Incoherent whispering fills your ear due to the flowing wind… Edgar Allen Poe, one of America’s most prolific writers, wrote numerous horror stories that defined the genre for modern writing. Poe used a specific writing style, which is now well known, but was it constant from one story to the next? Despite differences in plot and length, there are similarities of tone, setting, structure, narration, and character between two of his most famous stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” that allude to Poe’s true writing style.

The emotion of fear injects the sense of dread all throughout our body, causing our muscles to tense up, pupils to dilate, body to sweat, stomach to clench, and to breathe heavily. Fear’s main intention of doing so is to warn ourselves of any potential danger we might be in and prevent any future harm done to us. (Dayton) So, for what reason might we humans want to experience fear; such as watching horror movies, when it is so closely associated with pain?

Edgar Allan Poe’s influence on American literature was nothing short of great; not only was he the creator of the detective story and the horror thriller, but he also influenced many great writers, among those William Faulkner and Fyodor Dostoevsky. While Poe is best known for his horror thrillers, being the creator of that particular genre, he has also fashioned two other literary genres, like the detective and the science fiction genre. Throughout his life, Poe read, reviewed, and critiqued many books for various magazines and papers. Poe did not hesitate to attack what he deemed inferior. “Is purely too imbecile to merit an extended critique,” he once wrote of a novel. Because of his readiness to attack what he believed to be unworthy,

Stephen King's The Boogeyman was my favorite piece of gothic literature that we read. I was trying to figure the story out all the way until the end and had to re-read some of it to fully understand. It was suspenseful, scary, but also had a good story to listen to. The Boogeyman was full of gloomy settings, monsters, characters in distress, and intense emotions. These 4 things are just a couple elements that make up gothic literature.

The first classic element is the incorporation of setting in an old castle, with secret rooms scary passages, underground burial vaults. Seeming abandoned but sometimes occupied. Stephen King modernizes these elements by using a big hotel that is seemingly abandoned but sometimes occupied by scary ghosts, Kings Novel the underground burial vault takes form of the boiler room in the basement

Horror stories focus on creating a feeling of fear and shock using many sources. There are many sources of horror besides monsters and there are more factors involved in making stories part of the horror genre, including supernatural elements, hubris, and setting. Stories including the “Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Outsider” by H.P. Lovecraft, and “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs include these elements.