Why horror? Why not?: A horror fan explains

Why Horror? 

I was asked this by one of the regulars at the Tuesday Terrors book club recently. 

It’s quite the question.  

I’ve always felt safe with the macabre. The dark holds an unending fascination for me, be it books, movies, art - hell, I'm listening to blackened death metal as I type this out.  

Horror provided a safe space as a kid, losing myself between the pages where the horror was something I had control over, unlike the world outside of the pages. That’s not changed.

Turns out I’m not alone with this, fellow Librarian and horror fiend, Becky Spratford asked a range of contemporary horror authors why they love horror for her blog RA for all: horror which she compiled into the brilliant Why I Love Horror book. They all said the same thing, horror and books are their safe place.

It can feel like a Hellscape out there - a world of uncontrollable, unrelenting anxiety: climate collapse, political polarisation, massive wealth disparity and overwhelming access to anything and everything on the internet. Parking up with a book slows that down. Parking up with a book that gives you the endorphin rush of a good fright? Well, that’s a straight up good time. There’s a comfort in the quietude of a book, and a fear that's easy and uncomplicated - the dopamine of darkness maybe? 

Unlike ‘proper literature’ (its po-faced pretentious sibling) horror is the Poe-faced sibling that knows some arcane rituals to ward off evil. Lurking in the pages of a book, fear is contained, controllable. There is a beginning, a middle, and a final girl. By engaging with fictional monsters, we find a cathartic release for the very real terrors we have no control over out there. 

This is by no means a deep dive into why horror, just a casual glance into the void... you don't want to linger there too long though. 

I’ll not tempt fate but will leave it with a quote and a poem from a couple of folks who can articulate horror better than I will ever.

 "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” 

(H. P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature, 1927)

Alone

From childhood’s hour I have not been
As others were—I have not seen
As others saw—I could not bring
My passions from a common spring—
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow—I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone—
And all I lov’d—I lov’d alone—
Then—in my childhood—in the dawn
Of a most stormy life—was drawn
From ev’ry depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still—
From the torrent, or the fountain—
From the red cliff of the mountain—
From the sun that ’round me roll’d
In its autumn tint of gold—
From the lightning in the sky 

As it pass’d me flying by—
From the thunder, and the storm—
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view—

(Edgar Allan Poe, 1829)

We all come to these things in different ways but at its most simple, for me... That’s why horror!  

Why not more horror?

• Books about Horror literature
• Horror fiction reading guide - Recommended reads
• Tuesday Terrors Horror Bookclub - Horror fiction book club held at Tūranga on the last Tuesday of the month

Mike
Reader Advisory Librarian
Tūranga