Why do horror stories scare us?
The first thing to note is that not all do and not just because they re badly written. Scare is a word that conjures images of fright, fear, terror and thoughts like I m gonna die! . All fine, honourable aims for the horror writer, but what if the writer doesn t want to conjure up fear? What if the writer was aiming for something deeper, something more disturbing, something like well horror. To be horrified is to feel the foundations of your humanity move in a manner that disturbs your security in, not who you are, but what you are. Is the human animal really so vile? And this, it might be argued, is the true aim of writing horror. Well, you can argue that if you like, but to do so unfairly discounts the value of a darned good scare. And what about a good laugh? Is it fair to laugh in a horror story? Too right it is. Humour is a close relation to fear and a common reaction. Can a horror story be written as a comedy? Of course it can and done well, you can dry your laughter tears only t
