My view on horror.

Post Reply New Topic

So, I'm slightly intrigued as to why people enjoy horror stories. I read a thread discussing tropes found in horror films, and I must admit that I'm a bit hesitant to return to that discussion because I kept getting ads for movies with creepy dolls. As someone who absolutely hates lifelike dolls, I think I'm either going to avoid that thread from now on or use an ad blocker.

Personally, I scare rather easily. Which is interesting, since I used to write some fairly horrible stories. Usually the focus would be on teaching a lesson, or scaring the characters more than the audience. However, some of the imagery I used did get morbid at times.

Someone mentioned hating jump scares in that thread, I also dislike them but for a different reason than the one they remarked on. My mind can be obsessive. When I see a jump scare, it tends to stick with me. I'll think about it during nights when I can't sleep, or out of nowhere during a family dinner or at the supermarket.

Unfortunately, I am bad at simply moving on from things. If I see something really disturbing, it might affect my eating habits, trigger visual imagery sometimes seemingly at random, impact my mood, lead to repeating nightmares and thoughts about how I'd deal with that situation/how it could potentially be avoided. It may become an obsession until I can finally move on from it.

There are some horrors I find easier to move on from. I don't mind supernatural themes, as that makes it seem less real so there's less threat. Especially if the plot is interesting enough to make up for the horror side of it. Nothing too intense though. I prefer more mystery orientated horror, or monsters that are scary but not to the level of I'll haunt your nightmares.

I know that this perhaps comes across as childish. From my experience, I am aware that it is indeed possible for me to move on. I hate having repeating nightmares though. Since it gets to the point where it no longer scares me anymore, it just annoys me instead because I just want them to end.

There's a part of me that understands the appeal. I guess it's because of the adrenaline rush. The tension makes it exciting. Unfortunately, my mind is just too neurotic and obsessive to truly enjoy horror. Although, different people are scared of different things. For instance, clowns do not bother me. Evil robots, dolls and my thoughts coming true on screen do.

What I mean by the latter is having a rather dark thought whilst watching a film, thinking Oh wow, that was intense, good thing that's not actually happening in the movie, and almost on cue it happens. I guess the filmmakers anticipated that/had similar thoughts. Especially if I don't think it's going anywhere near that direction, yet have the thought anyway, but it suddenly does.

As I have an anthology of short horror stories published, I should admit to loving horror, especially horror fiction. I personally think horror is at its best in short story form.

https://www.amazon.com/Creeping-Shadows ... 223&sr=1-2