Fear causes us to regress into a childish mindset, and we have seen how this has been exploited in horror and the gothic. A social fear, such as an invasion or isolation from the modern world as seen in The Mist[1] scares the adult mind, causing us to regress back to childhood. Once we are trapped in that mental environment, we are assaulted by things that don’t scare us as adults, but did as children. This is seen in all the works studied, overgrown insects are present in The Mist, a spectral ghost that represents death in The Masque of The Red Death[2], and monsters in both Dagon[3] and The Call of The Cthulhu[4]. Although as mentioned previously, Lovecraft was criticised for his lack of characterisation, with the reasoning that a ‘good horror writer is a good character writer’[5], it is this lack of characterisation that makes the work of Poe and Lovecraft so timeless. It is easy for a contemporary reader to substitute themselves into the story at the expense of the narrator as they are given no defining characteristics. No traits or interests that would seem foreign to a reader in a hundred years are present, making them relatable no matter what year the reader is living in. Modern horror writers such as Stephen King retain this basic formula, but much like Roger Corman, are forced to improve characterisation in his novels to get the reader to invest in a story of that length. Interestingly King has written several collections of short stories, like Poe and Lovecraft before him. Only time will tell if these retain more horror for future generations than his novels.
The problem with analysing the cause of fear is that what scares us is unique to each individual. Studies can be done and theories can be made, but what frightens one may not frighten another. Artists who make their craft in the horror genre draw from popular fears when choosing what to implement in their work. Obscure phobias are seldom featured in the media, as this would narrow the target audience, limiting potential revenue, and revenue is the most important factor as far as contemporary publishers and production companies are concerned. Fortunately childhood and social fears have remained fairly constant throughout history, and are unlikely to change in the future. Timothy Evans stated that horror is ‘predicated upon feelings of insecurity brought about by cultural change, and that life as we know it is increasingly under assault by forces beyond our control’[6]. Man and technology continue to evolve, never staying still, meaning that every generation in existence will have felt this way. This enables those who create tales of horror to take these fears as a base for their stories, and simply substitute different settings and roots of fear into their stories to satisfy and terrify a contemporary market, as evidenced by the fact that Poe is still in print and influencing modern writers and film makers, over a century after his death.
We are left with the question of where horror artists of the 21st century can find inspiration with which to create fear. We have seen that films don’t necessarily have the same staying power as literature. Modern cinema is too young however for us to truly assess how well films from the last fifty years will be regarded by future generations. Although even if these films are discarded in years to come, there are plenty of other places for us to get our fix of horror. Emerging forms of entertainment have embraced the genre, literature and film continue to produce horror, and it is even visible in music, with bands such as Black Sabbath and The Misfits drawing inspiration from the genre, basing their songs on horror films. Horror is also popular genre in the video game industry, with Silent Hill[7] and Resident Evil[8] being but two popular franchises that place the gamer directly into the role of the protagonist, causing them to experience the fear directly. If Lovecraft’s writing is prescient, there is nothing to say that any of the other texts discussed will become so in time. Some social fears may change, but most remain constant. Fear is a base emotion, and as a result what causes this fear is usually base too. Once we are reduced to the childish mindset fear causes, the horror artist can easily beset us with things we fear as children, as much like social fears, what scares a child is likely remain similar no matter how far into the future we go. Horror is timeless, as Lovecraft said, ‘The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear’[9] (p. 2) and the horror tale will evolve side by side with the mediums we enjoy it on.
[1] The Mist (2007) Film. Directed by FRANK DARABONT. USA: Dimension Films.
[2] Edgar Allan Poe, The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (London: Penguin Books, 1982), p. 269-73
[3]H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of The Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories(London: Penguin Classics, 2002), p. 1-6
[4] H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of The Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories(London: Penguin Classics, 2002) p. 139-69
[5] G.W. Thomas ‘Scare the heck out of your readers—and other horror-writing tips.’ Writer, 121, 4 (2008), p. 15
[6] Timothy H. Evans, ‘A Last Defense against the Dark: Folklore, Horror, and the Uses of Tradition in the Works of H. P. Lovecraft’. Journal of Folklore Research, 42, 1 (2005), p. 100
[7] Silent Hill (1999) Video Game. Japan: Konami
[8] Resident Evil (1996) Video Game. Japan: Capcom
[9] H.P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror In Literature. [Ebook] Amazon Media, Available at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Supernatural-Horror-in-Literature-ebook/dp/B005IZD612/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334933516&sr=1-3 [20/04/2012], p. 2
The Babysitter Murders 