Horror is not Gore (mostly)

Horror is not the same anymore. I mean scary is still scary, mind you, but I think the delivery has changed yet once again. Prior to the great explosion of B-rated horror films of the 80s into the early 90s, horror had a certain mystique to it whether written or filmed. The horror didn’t have to be right in your face to scare you and later that day having you double-checking the shadows for nights to come, no. They also didn’t have to gross you out to drive the fear home, which later, well, that is what became the association/fascination: blood, savage gore and lots of it.

During the late 90s there was a reemergence of ‘classic’ horror tropes, where the fear was in the words in regards* to literature or the lighting and music in films. Take The Blair Witch Project for example, which to this day is one of the scariest films in my book, and why? Because all the horror oozed from the film's dread, and yet not one drop of blood was required (albeit there was a long scene of oozing clear snot). 

But audiences don’t want that anymore, do they? Readers of the spooky don't seem like they want that either.

Nope.

In this age of desensitized citizens who watch brutal car crashes and gangland hits freely on social apps, a story about a witch one never sees isn’t for them. Also, for the average bear, it was perhaps too smart as well. You see, we are used to now being handed ‘The Everything’ when it comes to films that we don’t need to think, and if it’s a smart-thinking film, it may get prestigious awards and write-ups but for the producers their coffers are in the red.

The same goes with books, let me tell you.

“But you’ve used gore! I’ve read it!”

Yes, I do and you have, but only when it is absolutely necessary and when the story warrants it. To gore for gore sakes is a Splatterpunk subgenre I don’t get my kinks with. There’s only so much blood, sinew and guts inside the human body, and well, if done without necessity, it’s like putting a hardcore sex scene in your story just for kicks.

“Oh! What’s that upside cross doing there?” she gasped, clutching her phone. “Is that Tabitha with a fence post driven through her?!”

“Don’t worry about all that toots, there's nothing to worry about, so, drop them panties!” he growled lustily.

You, see? Silly, and then right after it gets hot-n-heavy, usually right after the T-n-A exposure, they get chopped up like so many rented Friday the 13^th movies, so let’s lay the fact down on the slate:

GORE does NOT equal HORROR

You've heard the phrase 'Being loud doesn't make you right', so, in equal weight, divided by two, one can argue that dumping a bunch of gore into a story doesn't mean it's scary. It just means the story has become quite uncomfortable, and often that's the goal, but if it is not delivered with the fear—the Horror—then you were simply being loud, not (f)right. 

So, no, gore does not equal horror regardless of who tried to convince you otherwise, so then, what is Horror?

Well, first of all, what does it mean to you? What scares YOU as a horror author? That’s always the important factor, and as a horror author, you must first be afraid of Something to write about scary Anything. So, what scares you? Is it shadowy hallways which seem to swallow even the most luminous flashlight (torch)? Is it little-wee-things with sharp clicking teeth, scurrying about and darting behind furniture as their little beastie feet patter? Perhaps the fear is deeper, darker, brooding; the sort that festers until the cancer inside spews forth and death always follows?

*Shrugs*

Could be one or all those, or you have your own Kink-O-Fear Meter^TM that races your pulse. Once you have it—and yes, blood tends to coincide with horror—take what your meter tells you and write it down.

The thing is that horror is the embodiment of anti-joy; the complete antithesis of love, safety and calm. It comes often slowly, preceded by a point of being with an end-goal that may or may not be easily seen. Horror breathes dread and drips anticipated jumps leaving a non-jump perhaps the most frightening thing in the end because the reader knows that the author still has something special in mind for them. This genre waits for the reader to dare to turn the next page whilst reading in poor light, and if written correctly. It builds like a spicy dish which just grows in ‘heat’ levels as you consume it while allowing you to still taste the meal.

The core element of horror is what you must truly understand if you are to see the difference between gore and horror. Horror becomes an infected parasite inside the very psyche that controls Fight or Flight; it delivers the trauma initially and then goes dormant so to fester, often breathing slowly awaiting that moment when you enter a dark stairwell or walk alone at night. That’s when it rises from slumber and attacks the mind once again. Sometimes slowly, subtly; other times viciously with jagged claws that rips away the very tissue of calm. The attack can happen at any time or any place, something so irrelevant to the situation you are in and that story comes flooding back in. What’s worse is that the situation might be different from the original horror, but that doesn’t matter at all. It needs just enough. This sound, that shadow, them off shapes amongst the familiar and then BLAM! it all comes flooding back in.

That’s Horror, and it can happen from the slightest exposure like so much little radium to make the bones brittle. This is how the genre haunts you, and to prove this, I will take a quote from award-winning fantasy author K. J. Simmill’s write up she did about me as an author on July 3^rd, 2015:

“So far this writer’s work has indeed plagued my rather active imagination, and in broad daylight no less. Just this morning I read ‘The Attic’ and thus far it has been the most horrifying yet, although I am not reading his work in any particular order. After reading it I had to visit the hospital, and as I walked the long empty corridor, carrying my son, I heard a strange scraping sound from above. It didn’t take much for my mind to return to the story and wonder what horrors lay within the crawl spaces above, waiting for the right opportunity to lore their prey into their trap, pulling them into their own version of this story as below, people walked by unaware, or even dismissive, of what may be causing the strange noises heard from above.”

You can read the entire write-up here: K. J.'s Athenaeum

Bookmark her page and visit often. She has a lot to say.

“Ah! But ‘The Attic’ was not subtle, and it was gory AF!”

Yes, both true, but how else would one write a story about an injured man chased into an attic with little creatures with chitinous hides and sharp claws and teeth? The point of the comparison and the quote is how the little details are what woke up in K. J. Simmil’s mind is the key. The gore didn’t come back to her, nor were there an inference of her daytime event to warrant reimagining the blood. No, it was the little details, the “…scraping sound from above…” which invoked the horror and that’s what matters in the end.

To give one more story before I end this for you to understand, I will reflect upon my wife back when we were just distance dating. I lived in Chicago and her the Orlando area, and after my insistence, she read my short story “Theo Waited”. Okay, if you have read that particular story, you know there is no gore, just subtle horror with dread building by the sentence. BTW, to this day, Theo Waited is my albatross story; one I never really liked but so many do, and I am guessing that’s why my publisher wanted it to be a part of Bedtime Stories: Michael Frost Presents.

Anywho, moving on and back to the example.

Now, at the time, she lived in a gated apartment complex, and she would go to the onsite gym early mornings before work. The night before she read my story, and that next morning she went down the stairs to the ground level. It was early; 4:30am, dark and quiet, and along the walkways towards the gym building were nothing but rows of hedges. Tall hedges. Shadowy hedges.

Understand, Theo hid in the hedges… No one ever knew Theo was hiding in them.

Welp! She did an about-face headed back upstairs and NEVER exercised in the wee morning hours ever again.

See? Subtle, but FOREVER. Yes, I got an earful for it, and she brings it up from time to time and for the rest of my life I will be paying penitence for insisting she read that story. It's not my fault she read it at night!

Pfft!

So, you see, horror has the dark magic of haunting whereas gore just gives you the gross-out and leaves you troubled. That’s a big difference.

For the author of the genre or those wanting to delve into the darker realms of literature, never forget the difference between the two and never question whether or not your works are ‘scary enough’. They are, trust me. Granted, one might read your works and have a perfectly pleasant night sleep. Some might even comment, “Yeah, it was creepy, but I wasn’t scared!”

Forget them, they were, even if their conscious minds weren't, it doesn’t matter. You planted the parasite into their psyche, and even if it went dormant immediately, it’s waiting; waiting for that one little reference point so to wake up and spread, and then once it does, your horror has done its job.

You have my heart,

Michael Frost

*If you do not like the fact that I use the British Regards instead of Regard, please see The Hedgehog to file your complaints, or mail your grievances to: The Hedgehog, c/o Suck-It English Standards, 1313 13th St., 13th Floor, Jabberwocky Center, IL. 60666