Image from IT, New Line Cinema, 2017
“The scariest part is just before you start.”
So says Stephen King, a name that should be familiar to most readers, whether they partake in his brand of titillation or not. With over fifty books under his belt, many of which have been adapted to the big screen, Stephen King is one of the world’s best-known living authors, as well as one of the best-selling authors of all time. This is particularly surprising when you take into account that King’s writing has, by and large, explored the genre of horror, a genre that doesn’t typically have the same kind of market power as romance, action, or drama.
King is talking about writing in his quote, but with reading horror, the exact opposite happens, doesn’t it? It’s not the anticipation of reading a book or watching a movie that scares us- it’s the experience that frightens us, and then, as we meditate upon the implications of what we’ve just experienced, it’s our own imaginations that terrify us with nightmares which we know in our rational minds to be incredible to the point of impossibility. Yet, still, some small corner of us, some remnant of childhood maybe, that little piece of us still seeks out the fantastic, the horrifying, the terrible, the mythical evils told of in stories throughout time- and then we find that we cannot look away.
Or maybe even worse- we find that we are drawn in.
Image from Nosferatu, Prana Film, 1922
Why is it that horror sticks with us in such a way? Why are we fascinated with the supernatural, the evil, the deadly, the dangerous?
As a lifelong horror fan, the genre has always captivated my attention, but I never bothered to wonder why. What separates horror from the other genres? How do the various creators out there manipulate words, to stimulate the sense of imagination and elicit emotional responses from an audience? Why does the audience seek it out?
And what really IS horror, anyway?
That’s what Simply Shocked is setting out to explore- the genre of horror and its various tropes, themes, motifs, and recurring characters. The intention is to explore horror as thoroughly as possible, spending each week focusing on one particular horror story or book and its movie adaptation.
While the intent is to explore the work of the great horror creators of the past on both page and screen, we’ll also be posting some original horror fiction, sharing reviews of newer work, helping to promote indie horror creators, and, of course, podcasting.
But for now, we are at the beginning, and beginnings can be oh, so scary.
Welcome to Simply Shocked.
-Z
Categories: Blog
Leave a Reply