2. "The oldest and strongest emotion of
mankind is fear, and the oldest and
strongest kind of fear is fear of the
unknown." ~ H. P. Lovecraft
3. "This predilection for art that promises we
will be frightened by it, shaken by it, at times
repulsed by it seems to be as deeply
imprinted in the human psyche as the
counter-impulse toward daylight, rationality,
scientific skepticism, truth and the "real." ...
And this is the forbidden truth, the
unspeakable taboo--that evil is not always
repellent but frequently attractive; that it has
the power to make of us not simply victims,
as nature and accident do, but active
accomplices." ~ Joyce Carol Oates
4. Horror has these common elements:
Highly improbably sequences of events
that usually begin in ordinary situations
Contrast the oddness of these events
with the minutiae of daily life so readers
identify with the characters
Main characters are people we can
understand and identify with
Mood is dark, foreboding, menacing,
bleak
Plot contains frightening and
unexpected incidents
Violence, often graphic, occurs
5. ANCIENT EVIL
Stories where ancient evil,
often hidden for centuries,
awakes and threatens
civilization. Lovecraft is a
notable author.
10. NATURE HORROR
Stories in which other
living things become
evil or attack humans.
Examples might include
microbes, rats, birds, or
killer plants.
11. POSSESSION
Stories in which a character
is taken over or controlled by
another. That other might be
a demon, some other evil
force, or another human.
12. PSYCHOLOGICAL
HORROR
Stories that rely on the
psychological problems
of the characters to
generate horror rather
than the use of external
supernatural elements.
15. WERE CREATURES
Creatures, often
wolves, who are shape
shifters changing from
person to animal when
certain stimulus is
present.
16. Appeal
To discover the possibility of something
creepy within myself
To discover the possibility of something
creepy about my perfectly normal-looking
neighbors
To tantalize my suspicion that the world
can't possibly be as orderly as it's
advertised to be...
To discover an external cognate (in the
imagination of the artist) to what I think of as
my own dark secrets...
For plain old-fashioned entertainment and
escapism
17. Some Important Dates in
the History of Horror
1235
An order comes out of the Vatican, authorizing
the commencement of an Inquisition to re-
establish the orthodoxy of the faith. The charge
of heresy soon becomes entangled with the
charge of witchcraft, and in this form took until
the seventeenth century to die away.
18. 1307 – 1321
La Comedia, or The Divine Comedy as it came to be
known, of Dante Alighieri is written in Italy. This semi-
autobiographical poem sets forth one of the most influential
descriptions of Hell in the literature
1456
Vladislav Basarab of Transylvania gains the crown of
Wallacia for the first time (until 1462, and again briefly in
1468). From his father he earned the nickname 'Dracula',
son of the Dragon, but he earned for himself the name
Vlad the Impaler, for his favorite method of execution.
19. 1470 - 1516
The Dutch artist Hieronymous Bosch
in this period produced paintings of
religious theme and nightmarish
impact -- the best known is The
Garden of Earthly Delights. They
came to the attention of the
Inquisition after his death, but
powerful patrons protected the
collection.
20. 1667
Paradise Lost is John Milton's epic poem of the fall from
Heaven
1692
Not the largest or most gruesome of the witch trials, the
events in Salem, Massachusetts are definitely the most
famous. A group of young girls began to claim local
women were bewitching them.
21. 1776
The Japanese student of literature and critic
Uneda Akinari, publishes Ugetsu Monogatari, or
Tales of Moonlight and Rain. Drawing inspiration
from popular myth, this collection of romantic
and chilling stories includes 'The House Amidst
the Thickets', 'The Chrysanthemum Trust' and
'The Carp that Swam in my Dreams'.
22. 1781
Henry Fuseli, the then
professor of painting at the
British Royal Academy,
paints The Nightmare. He
was considered insane by
most of his
contemporaries.
23. 1784
Donatien-Alphonse-François de Sade, better known as the Marquis
de Sade, writes Les 120 Journées de Sodome, ou l'Ecole du
libertinage (The 120 Days of Sodom), 'the most impure tale that has
ever been told since our world began whilst incarcerated in the
Bastille -- though the uncompleted novel wasn't properly published
until 1931.
25. 1832
The German folklorists, Jakob and Wilhelm
Grimm publish the fruits of their research in
Kinder und Hausmarchen. It includes 'Hansel
and Gretel', 'Snow White' and 'The Bone
Flute'.
26. 1833
The Baltimore Saturday Visitor publishes MS Found
in a Bottle by the unknown author Edgar Allan Poe.
Between here and his death in 1849 he publishes
many short stories, including 'The Fall of the House
of Usher' (1839), 'The Masque of the Red
Death' (1842), 'The Pit and the Pendulum' (1843) and
'The Cask of Amontillado' (1846).
27. 1867
A depressive and alcoholic young composer,
Modest Mussorgsky, produces his masterwork.
Ivanova Noch' na Lïsoy gore, popularly known as
A Night on Bald Mountain, describes the
adventures of a man who, stranded on St John's
Mountain observes the witch's sabbat.
28. 1885
After an initial setback Robert Louis Stevenson
publishes The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and
Mister Hyde.
1888
One of the world's most infamous crimes occurs with
the murder of at least five London prostitutes. While
the police received hundreds of letters purportedly
from the killer, only one is believed genuine, signed
Jack the Ripper.
29. 1897
Abraham 'Bram' Stoker publishes Dracula, or The
Un-Dead.
1910
The first Frankenstein movie is made, directed by J.
Searle Dawley and with the involvement of the
innovator Thomas Edison
30. 1923
The first issue of Weird Tales is
published, the first all-fantasy
magazine in the world, it survived
thirty-two years without ever
showing a profit.
Universal Studios produce a silent
Hunchback of Notre Dame
starring Lon Chaney Sr, 'the man
of a thousand faces
31. 1927
Bela Lugosi, a Hungarian actor and former
cavalry officer, appeared in the American
version of the Dracula stage-play
1930s
This was the decade of the Universal monster
movies, Tod Browning's Dracula James
Whale's Frankenstein, The Wolf Man
32. 1938
Panic was caused across America by the broadcast of
Orson Welles' report-style radio dramatization, Invasion
From Mars, based on The War of the Worlds. Many
people tuned in from another popular radio show and
missed the opening explanation, believing it to be a real
invasion.
33. 1939 - 1945
The British Board of Film Censors
banned the screening of horror
films, both local and imported, for
the duration on the grounds they
would affect morale.
34. 1939-1945 Continued
It was a time of atrocity. The Nazi
Movement in Germany, under the
leadership of Adolf Hitler, attempted the
genocide of the Jewish race, creating
one of the enduring symbols of the Bad
Guy. Meanwhile, on August the 6th and
9th of 1945, America showed the world
a new type of Horror; its canvas:
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
35. 1947
William Gaines takes over his father's
publishing business and changes the name from
Educational Comics to Entertaining Comics. As
well as SF and action titles they would also
produce America's first and most famous horror
comics, the likes of Tales from the Crypt, Haunt
of Fear and Vault of Horror
36. 1953
Vincent Price appears in the
film that truly established his
horror reputation, House of
Wax
37. 1954
Godzilla: King of the
Monsters. Over fifteen
films (and counting)
have been devoted to
the exploits of Godzilla.
38. 1960
Psycho
1964
The Adam’s Family and The Munsters
1968
Night of the Living Dead
Rosemary's Baby
1970
Release of Black Sabbath's first album
1973
The Exorcist
39. 1973
Rocky Horror Picture Show
1975
Jaws
1976
Anne Rice releases interview with the Vampire
1978
Halloween
1980
Friday the Thirteenth
40. 1986
The word 'splatterpunk' is invented by David J. Schow
at a party, and refers to fiction that pushes the limits of
taste into gory and sexual excess, a cousin to the SF
cyberpunk movement, both of which were anticipated
by John Shirley.
1991
Jonathan Demme's adaptation of The Silence of the
Lambs is released to popular and critical acclaim and
much debate.
1993
The X-Files
41. 1996
The Scream series at the
cinema and Buffy the Vampire
Slayer (1997) on TV provided
the new look of horror --
media-savvy, slick, self-
referential, hugely popular --
and occasionally scary
43. QUESTIONS
Why do we want to "escape" with a genre that stimulates fear
and anxiety as it considers horrible events?
Some people argue that horror causes people to think and act
in unhealthy, morbid ways.
How would you respond?
Could this be true of other genres too?
What relationship, if any, do you see between violence in real
life as reported in the mass media and interest in horror
fiction?
Between horror film and horror books?
Is horror really more about shock value than telling a good
story?
