Horror Mania

Horror fiction is, broadly, fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle, or horrify the audience. Historically, the cause of the "horror" experience has often been the intrusion of an evil—or, occasionally, misunderstood—supernatural element into everyday human experience. Since the 1960s, any work of fiction with a morbid, gruesome, surreal, or exceptionally suspenseful or frightening theme has come to be called "horror". Horror fiction often overlaps science fiction or fantasy, all three of which categories are sometimes placed under the umbrella classification speculative fiction. See also supernatural fiction.

Horrific situations are found in the earliest recorded tales. Many myths and legends feature scenarios and archetypes used by later horror writers. Tales of demons and vampires in ancient Babylonian, Indian, Chinese and Japanese folklore, and tales collected by the Grimm Brothers, were often quite horrific.

Some modern practitioners of the genre use vivid depictions of extreme violence to shock or entertain their audiences, often recalling grand guignol theatre (see splatterpunk). This development has given horror fiction a stigma as base entertainment devoid of literary merit.

Horror fiction does not confine itself to literature, however. Countless horror-themed movies have been released in the 20th century, notably Dracula, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Night of the Living Dead. Even computer and video games have used horror elements in their plotlines, such as Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Quake, the Ravenholm chapter of Half Life 2, and the Doom series, especially Doom 3. Also there are some horror-based role-playing settings such as Ravenloft and World of Darkness.


Source : http://en.wikipedia.org

Hammer studios, having more-or-less exhausted the Dracula franchise by 1970, decided to freshen up their tales of vampirism by bringing in a lesbian angle. The result was "The Vampire Lovers", a decent horror flick taken from Sheridan Le Fanu's story "Carmilla". The film breaks no new ground in terms of horror, but in terms of eroticism it probably raised a few eyebrows back in 1970, with its frequent nudity and explicit lesbianism. There's more to it than just the erotic stuff though - Ingrid Pitt and Peter Cushing are in commanding form; Tudor Gates's screenplay is pretty good; and there are some gruesome moments - including several decapitations - to satisfy gore-hounds.

Elusive vampiress Carmilla (also known as Mircalla and Marcilla - and played by the luscious Ingrid Pitt) escapes death at the hands of an Austrian vampire hunter. Carmilla fakes an accident to win the sympathy of the Morton family - nearby aristocrats - and soon she has been taken into their noble household. One thing to which Carmilla is quite partial is the blood of female victims, and pretty soon she has befriended Emma Morton (Madeline Smith), whom she hopes to entice into a lesbian love affair before vampirising her. However, Emma's father Roger (George Cole) and his friend Von Spielsdorf (Peter Cushing) realize that something isn't quite right and eventually uncover Carmilla's sinister secret.

The film is handsomely photographed and nicely directed by Hammer veteran Roy Ward Baker. There's not much here to distinguish this one from all the other Hammer horrors, other than the stronger-than-usual sexuality. However, fans of the Hammer style films will not mind that, as the "sameness" of the studio's films quite often adds to their charm. I can't really bring myself to recommend this film whole-heartedly. Let's just say that if you like Hammer's period horror films - or if you're a fan of Pitt or Cushing - you'll find plenty to enjoy here.

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The upsurge in horror fiction produced specifically for children in the past four years is a phenomenon. In terms of sales, titles and sheer cultural penetration, the American Robert Lawrence Stine must be accounted one of the most successful authors in the entire horror genre. For the 'Goosebumps', 'Hair-Raisers' and 'Creepers', the 'Spooksville' and 'Graveyard School' books and their like are horror, openly, self-consciously and successfully. They identify with the genre, they use its icons; they use horror as a selling point and it is working. Throughout Australia and the United States, bookshops and libraries everywhere have a lurid, green and dripping section that never existed before.

The look of the books is very important; it identifies them as part of the trend. They are bright, glossy and dramatic. On the covers, something is always happening, and that something is usually the monster, displayed and central. But then, with titles like Return of the Mummy, suspense was always going to be a bit of a moot point. The iconography is familiar; the mummy, a ghost, The Werewolf of Fever Swamp, an executioner with an axe, a giant spider, the Bat Attack. In fact, with each one carefully numbered, they look like trading cards; the 'Goosebumps' have started coming in boxed sets, numbers 1-4, 5-8 and so on. They have no internal illustrations; the exception is the series which in fact contradicts every statement made so far, the Gary Crew edited 'After Dark'. These covers are dark and suggestive, like the titles, of places which conceal secrets; the Bad Places, The Bent-Back Bridge, The Barn, The Well.

These days, the concerns of people that something may be not quite trustworthy tend to be expressed in terms of desensitising children, and indeed anyone else, to violence. As we have seen, the grue of the books comes under close scrutiny from educators and authors alike. The 'Goosebumps' may be considered alright compared to some, because they are not too 'horrible'. However, children's horror also attracts another specific kind of concern, expressed famously in a report made by the American Library Association in 1989. 'Any title with the word 'witch' in it may be replacing abortion, evolution and secular humanism as the focal point of conflict.' During that phase, the most notorious targets of the activists concerned were The Wizard of Oz, general collections of fairy tales, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, all in some way considered to be exposing children to the 'occult'. Occult in this sense must be taken as referring to some actual canon of Satanic material, equivalent to the Christian biblical canon. Ghosts, inhuman entities and any form of magic all count as references. It was this view that was at the base, along with a specific Christian-affiliated lobby group, of the Australian attempts, in the state of New South Wales, to ban a group of 'strange games' for children in 1992. A young boy had suffered pattern nightmares for two months, seeing apparitions in his bedroom and saying that he couldn't help drawing 'evil things', after playing Nightmare, the video boardgame (now known as Atmosphere -- 'A Couple of Cowboys' & Village Roadshow). Heroquest and the ubiquitous Dungeons and Dragons were also associated. The then state member for Londonderry, Mr Paul Gibson, made a formal request for a Parliamentary inquiry after 'receiving letters from concerned parents around Australia', which was never taken up. So this concern pre-existed the present craze, but has fed into it, as demonstrated by the 'top ten' list for 1995, of 'People For the American Way', who are actually an anti-censorship watchdog group who keep annual tabs on which books come under the most pressure for their removal from the United States school system. In 1995, number one was an extremely popular anthology, Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark, by Alvin Schwartz. More Scary Stories, and Scary Stories III: Tales To Chill Your Bones also made the list, (outing 'Goosebumps' from somewhere at least). The reason given was their 'supernatural' content.

These books have not existed before. The children reading them are not the ones who will read the original Dracula and Frankenstein at age eleven, in secrecy if necessary, then discover Lovecraft or Stephen King and go on from there. Perhaps it is just a passing craze; it will die down, the readers will go onto other pastimes, now considering supernatural horror to be childish. And in the playground, something else will arise which will be questioned with total seriousness and the best of intentions.

In any case, it should not surprise us that some very fine writing is presently coming out of such a vibrant and complex cultural idea as scaring the children.

Source : http://www.tabula-rasa.info

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Night terrors are distinct from nightmares in several key ways. First, the subject is not fully awake when roused, and even when efforts are made to awaken the sleeper, he/she may continue to experience the night terror for ten to twenty minutes. Unlike nightmares, night terrors occur during the deepest levels of non-REM sleep. Even if awakened, the subject often cannot remember the episode except for a sense of panic, while nightmares usually can be easily recalled. After the night terror is complete, it can often result in a seizure, which is commonly a tonic-clonic type (although the subject may not be epileptic). The subject often has no recall of the dream, nor the fit.

Unlike nightmares, which are frequently a scary event dream (e.g. a monster under the bed, falling to one's death, etc.), night terrors are not dreams. Usually there is no situation or event (scary or otherwise) that is dreamt, but rather the emotion of fear itself is felt. Often, this is coupled with tension and apprehension without any distinct sounds or visual imagery, although sometimes a vague object of fear is identified by the sufferer. These emotions, generally without a focusing event or scenario, increase emotions in a cumulative effect. The lack of a dream itself leaves those awakened from a night terror in a state of disorientation much more severe than that caused by a normal nightmare. This can include a short period of amnesia during which the subject may be unable to recall his name, location, age, or any other identifying features of himself. This state generally passes after only one or two minutes.

While each night terror is usually different, all episodes of the same person will generally have similar traits. One of the most common qualities of night terrors is a strong sense of danger. For these people there is always a being, tangible or otherwise, who wishes to hurt the sleeping person, or the sleeping person's loved ones. Many sufferers of night terrors are reluctant to speak of them because of their violent and often disturbing nature.

source : http://en.wikipedia.org

Survival horror is a video game genre in which the player has to survive an onslaught of opponents, often undead or otherwise supernatural, typically in claustrophobic environments in a third-person perspective. Horror movie elements are used liberally. The player is typically armed, but not nearly as well-armed as the player in a first-person shooter. The player's goal is generally to escape from an isolated house or town that is inhabited mostly by zombies and/or monsters through fighting and puzzle solving. Isolation is generally one of the most recurrent themes within this genre.

Survival horror is possibly the only video game genre that is defined as much by theme as gameplay style. Though most commonly associated with the Resident Evil mechanics described above, games where the player is made to feel underpowered, generally fighting alone for the bulk of the game, with limited supplies (especially ammunition and health - hence "survival"). They also deal with dark, violent and supernatural themes typical of horror movies. This helps to define the genre more than any specific gameplay mechanic.

One detail a player may notice is the character always has a reason for being there, and more often than not the character does not originate from the said area. This makes as if the character has no real association with the area, or does not know the area. This way the character seemingly doesn't know his way around. Perfect examples can be found in any game, such as the Silent Hill series, the Resident Evil series (except RE 3 and the Outbreak series), and even the Doom series, although the list is not limited to these.

Because of this, the genre is also home to beat 'em ups (Nightmare Creatures), role playing games (Sweet Home), first-person shooters (Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, Condemned, Hungry Ghosts). Other games such as the Doom and Blood Omen : Legacy of Kain series include horror elements, but give the player a sense of being very powerful. Such games are not typically considered survival horror because horror is not the defining game play characteristic. However, the subjective nature of such discrepancies can make survival horror a difficult genre to classify.

source : http://en.wikipedia.org