The "Man Behind the Curtain"
I Run This Ghost Ship of a Blog, But That's Not All I Do
Aside from loving the horror genre, and how I like to stay somewhat current in today's media, you can also learn more about me here:
But Stay Awhile. Read Some of My Goodies. And I Promise I'll Be Good to You.
The Definition of SCARY
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Scary is when you can feel the chills go up and down your spine as the hairs on the back of your neck stand up from the rush of adrenaline -- typically due to a traditional jump-scare or the rise of a suspenseful dissonant musical score heightening up to some hideous climax. Scary is when you're so engulfed in a story and its characters that you almost forget you're in a theater or sitting in your favorite chair in front of a fireplace as you read about a serial killer stalking a young, fresh teen from the corner of a back alley. Scary is when you almost feel like you want to close the book or turn off the TV, but a part of you wants to keep reading or watching just so you can see what happens....
Scary Is All of Those Things, All Rolled Up Into One
And it's hard to get that definition of scary in full force, man. The right mixture makes the grade. Anything less or imbalanced, and that verisimilitude gets lost in translation, and you've got what's typically called a "horror-comedy" where the scares actually make you giggle and eat popcorn versus holding onto your seat for dear life.
It's not easy getting that mixture right. And that's why the greatest masters of horror -- Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Jack Ketchum, Wes Craven, Guillermo del Toro, Clive Barker -- they're geniuses of the written word in the best way.
They Get the Mixture Right
And they tell the story with the exact intention they're going for. That's rare in storytelling. Because typically it's a good thing to just tell a story, and everyone's experience of it varies. But a story that only has one intention -- to scare the living Hell out of you -- is truly masterful, and the perfect definition of scary.
A fair question to ask, really.... What does the concept of fear have anything to do with enjoyment. Well, ask yourself the same question when going on a roller coaster....
It's the Adrenaline Rush -- the Feel That You're on the Brink of Something, But Deep Down You Know It'll Be Okay
Why People Love Horror
A fair question to ask, really.... What does the concept of fear have anything to do with enjoyment. Well, ask yourself the same question when going on a roller coaster....
It's the Adrenaline Rush -- the Feel That You're on the Brink of Something, But Deep Down You Know It'll Be Okay
The thrill. The scare, even. That adrenaline rush is like a drug. And it freaks you out, but then you get euphoric when you realize everything's okay.
Horror films, horror books: that's exactly the feel you get. You get immersed in those dark worlds, but then you come out of it unscathed (mostly), and it's that rush of good feelings completing the experience for you.
This is why horror to this day is still quite the popular sub-genre of media. With such small-budget films like "Lights Out" and the original "Insidious," "Paranormal Activity," "The Blair Witch Project" and the original "Sinister." Look at any mega-budget Marvel, Lucasfilm or Disney feature out there, and while they're making billions of bucks, a low-budget screamer can recoup nearly five times its investment in the production --
And all because it really makes people scream. You don't need fancy graphics, CGI, or even three hours worth of storytelling. Just a quick hour and a half, people peeing in their pants, and money's made.
And That's Why I've Made This Site: to Celebrate Horror in All Its Darkness
Horror. Suspense. Thrillers. Ghost stories. Vampires. Werewolves. Serial killers. Splatterpunk. These are the stories reminding us that we are, indeed, human. And that's why people love horror.
