I’m a fan of horror.
I love horror stories, no matter how they’re told and I know I’m not the only one.
Stories in their entirety allow us to be entertained but to explore facets of ourselves and understand all of the elements that make us human. We can see tales of what it means to be human in situations of wonder, of love and family, but when the terror begins to build, the light we shine on ourselves is brightest and can expose realities we may never have considered.
Horror is a big genre but it’s far too easy to be dismissive of it as nothing more than tales of the oogidy boogidy man meant to keep children in line but there’s a vast continuum of ways to scare and unnerve. Gothic horror of the likes of Dracula are very different tales to examples of Body horror, think The Fly. Zombie hoards or slasher stories, alien attack and psychological horror all show us our fears but in different ways.
Are we scared of the ways that our body can break down or be corrupted? Of a very real violent murder? What would we do if aliens landed tomorrow? Would they be benevolent or subjugating?
One of my favourite films is Hellraiser and the character of Pinhead, or Hell Priest as was originally intended, was such an interesting monster. Well spoken with an educated mind, this creature wasn’t being evil just because. He wasn’t being evil at all. He was just showing others that which he so loved and allowing them to REALLY go beyond their limits. He was more than a revenge killer or a religious character. He wasn’t a generic demon out doing demon-y things, he had more depth to explore and you knew that you couldn’t write him off as one dimensional.
I first saw the film when I was in my early teens and it scared me a whole heap but I also read the book that it was based on, The Hellbound Heart, and that scared me even more. And I read it in my thirties!
Horror explores the darker reaches of who we are and gives us a good chance to explore those things without putting us in real danger. Films and books can terrify us but horror is everywhere if we’re willing to give other options a chance.
Watch all of these.
Long may the horror continue.
Owen Elgie 