GATHER ROUND CHILDREN

I want to take a hot sec to talk about horror (both movies and books)

Particularly why I think it’s such a powerful genre and why, despite how much of a huge BABY I am, I’ve found myself increasingly obsessed with it over the last few years

Fiction in all forms are ways to explore facets of humanity, but different genres tend to be more predisposed to certain ones

I can’t remember where I saw this (and cannot find it again and can’t credit the person OR EVEN GET IT 100% ACCURATE FORGIVE ME)

But I saw someone explain

That while sci-fi is generally accepted as the genre of ideas and “what if”s

Horror is the genre of emotion

That stuck with me. And suddenly my increasing draw to horror throughout college and beyond

In the midst of my mental health truly nosediving for the first time

Was...not so shocking.

I’ve always, always been drawn to dark stories. Dark emotions. Dark actions. Dark thoughts. Ever since I was very young (thank god my mother just ROLLED WITH IT bless u mom)

But up until about senior year of hs, I couldn’t get past whatever I watched or read HAUNTING ME for days

(seriously, my now husband was watching TWD in hs while I just passively did something else in the room, and that night when I got home I sprinted from my car to the door and legit almost started bawling when I couldn’t get the door open MY DEFENSE PANIC MODE IS FLIGHT OKAY)

And while I still will avoid going out into the dark the same night I watch a horror movie (don’t judge me)

I’m almost exclusively watching horror movies at this point, and have found myself being drawn to horror elements in MS’s, even if they’re not horror themselves

Why?

1) movies in particular offer an emotional release, and when depression/anxiety/PTSD have me feeling stuck and out of control, it’s an easy way to get that emotional release

2) but mostly, it’s because of the emotions and aspects that are dug into with horror

For example, grief is one that’s very often explored in horror, in ways that most other genres don’t. Not that other genres haven’t explored grief—but horror lays out the ugliest bits of it, the pieces no one wants to look at, and gives them tangible shape

It gives space for things—awful, terrible, painful things—to exist in a way that palpably expresses them.

The Babadook is the first movie that comes to mind, simply bc grief was so personified there, as an ACTUAL monster they couldn’t fully get rid of

Whenever I think of the Shining (the book not the movie don’t even get me started)

I don’t think about dead ladies in bathtubs or the giant hotel

I think of this one scene where Jack finds a wasp nest in Danny’s bed and calls back to something he’d wanted to leave behind

but couldn’t. That this thing he thought he’d buried wasn’t gone, and the absolute terror of realizing he wasn’t free from it and would never be

(I read this years ago and can’t remember if it was his alcoholism or abusive dad or what BUT YOU GET THE IDEA)

Horror is a way for traumas and mental illness and the most terrible and painful aspects of being human to be given shape

It’s a way to tangibly express the terror and absolute hurt we all can experience

And while yes, not everything in horror is meant to mean something beyond a scare, that’s where the fiction comes in.

i.e. yes Hereditary has supernatural aspects not directly tied to grief—but that movie is ABSOLUTELY steeped in experiencing grief and strained family dynamics

And it’s THIS that I crave when I ask for horror. THIS is what I want when I dive into a horror novel.

(I will admit I do watch some horror movies simply bc scare but I go in acknowledging they’ll be terrible and use it as an escape rather than a deep dive into emotion)

I want horror that doesn’t just exist as a scare. I want horror that takes a difficult, painful aspect of humanity and flays it wide open. I want to explore grief, and trauma, and guilt, and mental illness, and toxic relationships.

I want the scares, I want the horror—but more than anything I want that exploration of something deeper. Want to explore the pains and the hurts and the dark emotions.

As I typed this thread I realize this sounds slightly masochistic bc who the FUCK wants to live in extremely painful emotion all the time right

BUT

It’s also a way to process our own hurts. To have them, even briefly, outside of ourselves. To have them be tangible.

Idk how to wrap this up this is literally just me rambling and plastering my thoughts on the internet but

IDK JUST SEND ME EMOTIONAL ASS HORROR OKAY

IT’S AN AMAZING AND OFTEN UNDERUTILIZED GENRE AND I JUST WANT ALL OF IT

( #MSWL I guess??)