Whats Floats Your Boat?

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I recently discovered that fantasy-horror stories seem to be my niche. The genre allows me to mix sex-romance, macabre, history, medicine/psychology, and nature together. It also allows me to free-range philosophical ideas.

If horror-fantasy appeals to you, what blend of features do you prefer in terms of sex, violence, suspense, chaos, etc. ? What scares the shit out of you?

My thoughts are: DISCOVERY in one form or another & LOSS of something important.

How much sex and violence do you want in horror-fantasy?

 

[dr_mabeuse]

My own taste in horror is, I like things that make me see the horror in the everyday. Things that take your everyday frame of reference and give it a severe jolt so that suddenly things like suburban streets are creepy, or children, or what's under the lawn. They shake up your sense of solidity. Those are things that really scare the crap out of you.

I separate gore/slasher stuff from true horror. Blood and guts isn't horror, it's disgust: aversion. Anyone can write about someone getting disemboweled or having their eyeball squashed. It's identical to doing porn: all description. But that's not really horror, that's just disgust, like watching surgery. Horror is when you can make a refrigerator scary, say, or the very idea of leaving the house.

That's what made The Exorcist and Jaws such great horror films. They took that element of disgust and used it to make everyday objects terrifying. The Exorcist took all this supernatural fear and power and put it in a quiet suburban home. Jaws took the placid ocean and made it a killing field. After Jaws, people were afraid to take a bath.

Of course, you don't have to describe that gore in graphic detail. You look for the telling symbol. They say the scariest moment in the Exorcist wasn't included in the movie. It was when Regan skittered across the room on fingers and toes like a spider in a full backbend while her mother was having a cocktail party. Just the total bizarreness of that moment was shocking enough to scare the bejesus out of people reading the book.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

DOC

I agree.

Much of what I perceive out there in the world is revolting manipulation and coercion of people under the guise of helping them, especially kids.

I'm writing a story today about a man who shoots his niece, he says, because he was aiming at a snake poised to bite her, and she suddenly moved into the line of fire. But the story is really about sexual abuse and murder. The uncle exploits the girl's religious beliefs (Holy Roller) and practices (snake handling) and the community's attitude of the girl. So I have the revelation about the shooting, plus a detailed hanging at the end of the story.

 

[DeeZire]

I like believable horror with gratuitous T&A. I like it over the top, so it's almost like a satire, at least until the shit hits the fan.

While short on gratuitous T&A, the scariest movies I ever saw were the original 'Phsyco', 'The Birds' and the European version of 'Funny Games'. These were all totally believable story lines, which reinforce the point Dr M makes about the creepiness of the everyday stuff.

Just the other day I took home 'Hatchet' and 'Final Destination 2' on DVD and was bored out of my mind. Whether they were intended as horror or comedy, they failed miserably, although 'Hatchet' did have a good selection of Mardigras tits in it. What bothered me about 'Hatchet' was the fact that if I was a lonely monster-dude living out in the middle of the swamp, I'd want to play with my female victims before I killed them, much like a cat toys with a doomed mouse. I mean, couldn't he at least rip their clothes off before he tears them limb from limb? Sheesh! What a waste of 'B' grade actresses.

If anyone wants to recommend some good horror writing in short story form, I'd be interested. I'm halfway through a Stephen King collection, but nothing has really kicked my ass.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

DEE ZIRE

Harold Schacter recreates serial killings of the past. Its non-fiction but would make excellent movies. Albert Fish ate children. Jane Tappan poisoned kiddies and cuddled them as they died. Another book of his is about a child who murdered other children. Most of these people are a parents worst nightmare.

 

[Dragonlipz]

My boat floats on

a sea of suspense, titillation, plausibility, and menace.....I've written a few of those but they are so personal and close to the mark that I cannot post them.......Writing is an expression but also unleashes the Dragons.........

 

[dr_mabeuse]

If anyone wants to recommend some good horror writing in short story form, I'd be interested. I'm halfway through a Stephen King collection, but nothing has really kicked my ass.

See if you can find some old Charles Beaumont stuff. As I recall, he was genuinely creepy ala Psycho. He wrote in the early 60's so he wasn't really sexy, but he was pleasantly disturbing.

There's also a great, great story called "The Graveyard Rats" about a guy who robs graves by burrowing into them to steal the jewelry. He gets caught in a mudslide while tunneling into a grave in a thunderstorm and his flashlight goes out and he hears the squeaking of hundreds of rats coming at him. I can't remember the name of the author for the life of me, but it's probably the best horror story I've ever read.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

DOC

The rat story sounds like H.P.LOVECRAFT. He had a similar story called RATS IN THE WALLS, and he wrote some graveyard stuff.

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0601681h.html

HERE IT IS!

 

[dr_mabeuse]

DOC

The rat story sounds like H.P.LOVECRAFT. He had a similar story called RATS IN THE WALLS, and he wrote some graveyard stuff.

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0601681h.html

HERE IT IS!

I must be mistaken about the title then, because that's not the story. The one I'm thinking of involved one solo character, an overweight bald ghoul who worked alone and had a tunnel in his basement that led to the cemetary and this was to be his last grave-robbing expedition before he took off with his ill-gotten gains. He spent a lot of time creeping along these muddy tunnels, sliding over worms and maggots and falling into old graves.

There's no date on this one, but this reads like classic pulp from the 30's or 40's. The name Robert Howard's familiar too. I think he was a pulp author.

Damn! Now I'll never find that story.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

DOC

I'll see if I can find it.

LOL I spent 40 years searching for an obscure Buxtehude Organ Prelude, found it! the other day, and there's no BWV number on it. GRRRRRR