Horror Versus Terror

Stephen King wrote the short story “Why We Crave Horror Films” explaining why our mind gets so excited during horror movies. He continues to make the statement “the horror film has become the modern public lynching” (paragraph 6) showing that no matter what generation a person is in the excitement of gore will always exist. King proves this statement discussing emotions and psychiatric points in his work.

King, Stephen. "Stephen King -- Why We Crave Horror Movies." Scribd. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov.

Since it’s infancy at the beginning of the eighteenth century, horror has followed certain conventions that results in an awakening of the senses, evoking intense emotions of fear and terror in the audience. Horror feeds off triggering the primal fears embedded within all of humankind, creating a sense of menace that is the very substance of this genre. Furthermore, the central menace of a piece tends to enlighten the human mind to the world of the paranormal and the enigmatic, dark side of the unknown. The movie “Psycho” directed by Alfred Hitchcock is a perfect example. Infamous for its shower scene, but immortal for its contribution to the horror genre, “Psycho” was filmed with great tact, grace and art in regards to horror conventions.

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

Definitions of horror tend to emphasize the psychological effect it has on audiences. Specifically, they highlight the internal terror that arises from encountering threats to existence. According to

The horror genre has held a prominent position in culture for most of history. Beginning in folklore, used as a device to scare children into good behaviors (e.g. The Grimm Brother’s Fairy Tales), horror has integrated its way into the 21st century through film, and in recent years even video games. Yearly, primarily during the fall when the leaves start to brown and the natural eerie sense of fear fills the air around Halloween, the film industry likes to fill in the holes between its major grossing seasons by filling the audience with fear. However, it was Christmas of 1973 that defined the new age of Horror, when William Friedkin released The Exorcist. According to Julia Heimerdinger of Academia’s online journal, Horror, as a whole, can

As King argues, the horror genre serves a specific purpose to allow us an outlet to let out anticivilization emotions. These movies let us lapse into our most simplistic mindset, enjoying the pain and suffering of other people. As King says, “it urges us to put away our more civilized and adult penchant for analysis and to become children again...the invitation to lapse into simplicity, irrationality, and even outright madness is extended so rarely” (King 2). The human

The appreciation for horror and thriller films goes a long way in order to scare their viewers. There is no denying the attraction of being frightened by the many forms that fear takes. This is no different in such movies like The Shining and The Amityville Horror. They carry a familiar presence about them. An alluring presence which makes these motion pictures classic to this day. Even though these films grow in age, they never cease to grab onto the darkest terrors of the human imagination. While, Director Stanley Kubick’s The Shining and Director Stuart Rosenberg's The Amityville Horror both contain themes of renewal , The Shining is superior

“All of these analyses share one characteristic: they set the indifferent witness apart from the rest of us. Certainly not one of us who reads about these incidents in horror is apathetic, alienated or depersonalized. Certainly these terrifying cases have no personal implications for us. We needn’t feel guilty, or re-examine ourselves, or anything like that. Or should we?” (6).

Further, King goes on to state that when we watch a horror movie, “we are daring the nightmare,” meaning we are almost begging to be scared. King also states there are multiple reasons for this, but one of the main points is “to show that we can, that we are not afraid.” He then appeals to the audience experiences by making his paper more relatable and comical when he compares horror movies to roller coasters. King states, they are both usually liked by the young, but once their age reaches to the forties or fifties, “one’s appetite for double twists or 360-degree loops may be considerably depleted.” Additionally, King uses his clever collage of comparisons to explain one of the horror genre’s many intentions are to show us right from wrong. Which might also provide some of us with “psychic relief,” throwing ourselves in a place where intensive questioning is unnecessary, giving people a small break from their complicated daily life.

Horror is an opportunity for us humans to face our fears. Reading Stephen King’s short story “Strawberry Spring”is a perfect example that we use horror to “show that...we are not afraid” (King, “Why We Crave” 1). We go to prove ourselves as brave. In comparison, watching horror movies is alike “daring the nightmare” (King, “Why We Crave” 1). In this case, the “nightmare” is facing our fears, considering horror films are equivalent to going through a literal nightmare. To point out, the narrator in “Strawberry Spring” is “enchanted by that dark and mist-blown strawberry spring, and by the shadow of violent death that walked through it…” (King, “Strawberry Spring” 1). As a matter of fact, we are all enchanted by the darkness in the story just as the narrator is. Additionally, King describes this process as riding a roller coaster by reason of “a really good horror movie may… surprise a scream out of us… the way we may scream when the roller coaster

Horror is a genre that is often overlooked due to a plethora of reasons. Readers tend to think of vampires or werewolves, but it is much more in depth. Horror is a genre that if dissected properly, can help the reader understand the correspondence to society. The Horror genre has been around since the 1890’s, when Georges Méliès was credited for creating the first horror film, emphasizing the idea that horror films have a cavernous meaning. In Georges Méliès famous short film, Le Manoir du Diable, the main character confronts Satan and has nowhere to run. This represents conflict within oneself, coinciding with the idea of a deeper meaning being prevalent throughout Shirley Jackson's work. In the novel, The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley

Horror is a tool for understanding that evil can be defeated -- and it's also a tool for understanding that sometimes, bad things happen, and there are no solutions. People can't always be saved, and endings can't always be happy. Unfortunately, with the way life is, that's an important truth to learn.

There’s not quite a feeling like it; the hairs on your neck rise in anticipation and fear, goosebumps form all over your arms, your heartbeat quickens reading every single detail on the edge of your seat. These feelings only arise in one genre, horror. Archeologists and researchers noted that the earliest recorded tales contained traces of horror, thus dating the genre all the way back to ancient civilizations; however, the genre has become a more popular literature genre since the seventeenth-century. Moreover, since the thirteenth-century authors liberally used horror, in which religious beliefs largely shaped and structured the tales. Then, during the 1580s, a new type of horror emerged, such as Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Macbeth, as well as

“Horror film”. For most people, the first things that come to mind are monstrous paranormal antagonists, a plethora of gruesome deaths, and, of course, the infamous jump scares that so often drive the thrill and exhilaration of such films. While films under this genre are intended to illicit negative emotions, such as fear, alarm, and anxiety, these same aspects are ironically what attracts viewers endlessly. As an avid horror film fan myself, I have seen many horror thrillers that have shaped and developed my understanding of this particular genre. In analyzing what makes a horror film a horror film, I will be discussing three different films: “Child’s Play”, “The Birds”, and “Paranormal Activity”. While these films have their own distinct