98 - What is Horror?

[matt]

In this dev diary, I talk about what defines the horror genre and how perspective on that helped me make a more horrifying game.



If you are interested in the book that I keep referencing, you can find it at amazon but since it's a textbook, it's overpriced, so I think I bought mine at half.com

[RightClickSaveAs]

You're Next was so much fun and I loved it, but it's definitely part of that new genre of meta, self aware movies like Cabin in the Woods. For the sake of convenience, it gets the horror label, but it plays with the conventions so much that it really isn't a traditional horror movie.

And hah, I'm glad you brought it up, because I've always argued to anyone who will listen that Silence of the Lambs is a thriller and not a horror. I've heard so many people quote it as one of the scariest movies they've ever seen, which is all well and good because it has two really effective villains and some disturbing stuff, but it's much more of a mystery/thriller. Maybe I just watch way too much horror, because I have a list of conditions that need to be met before I consider something as part of that genre.

[matt]

You might enjoy the Philosophy of Horror because it tries to determine the criteria of horror as a genre or "art-horror" as it calls it.

Cabin in the Woods was awesome. Anyone who hasn't seen it totally should watch it right now.

[gagaplex]

Remember me mentioning the horror of the mundane? This is where I diverge again from your view.
Perhaps it's because I'm rather used to blood in real life, maybe it's because I played so many games with hideous (but killable) monsters, but I actually don't find monstrous creatures that threatening. I liked your description of Hannibal Lecter, because I somewhat see worse horror in that, or in a cold, calculating torturer/murderer, perhaps with something demonic to them but something more subtle than easily visible disfigurements or the like. Perhaps only something that comes out in times of anger, anticipation, excitement and the like.

Of course, Lovecraftian horrors are different for me, but that has to do with the fact that there's nothing to be done against them. They aren't mere monsters, they are forces of nature that can sweep you away or - even if you survive their passing - leave you mentally scarred beyond repair, to the point that merely gazing upon them can drive one insane or outright kill you.

But those are very different types of horror from one another and the former I find somehow worse, because it's more... real. I'm not actually scared of a Shoggoth. But I could be of a convincing serial killer. And if you add something supernatural to that killer, that's not as obvious or over the top as the slasher killers like Jason or Freddy, but more subtle, that can add a new layer of the unknown to them.

Note, also, that in a lot of media, the "real bad guy" may be very normal on the exterior - albeit often with strange ticks or something off about them that's hard to put your finger on, or perhaps a bestial transformation still waiting to happen in a climax or something - while the monstrous and dangerous creatures are more often pawns or minions of the villain. In a way, I find that interesting. It puts a very human face on the true evil. Which says soemthing about the respective authors/film makers/game designers and their view of the depths humanity can sink to at times. At the same time, the heroes are usually human, too, putting that in contrast.

[matt]

The Philosophy of Horror tries to define what defines the genre of horror. I don't know if its definition would agree with everyone, but I think it is useful to have that definition.

Things that are monstrous on the inside, possessed by the devil, or just unnaturally evil (like Michael Meyers) still count as horror according to the book.

I don't think one horror villain is better than the other - a horrible looking monster vs. an extremely evil being, but I think the premise is there has to be something unnaturally "wrong" with the villain to truly be horror. I think Hannibal Lectre could go either way depending on your opinion.