The unparalleled sensation of authentic fear or unease found in horror literature is truly incomparable.
For eons, the unknown has fascinated people.
Life after death, supernatural beings, aliens, serial killers.
Horror has been ingrained in the human experience throughout the entirety of history.
Every single group of people around the world harbors stories of demons and creeping creatures.
In the modern day, horror is largely misunderstood.
People consider horror a childish genre of literature.
This idea couldn’t be farther from the truth.
The Cathartic Experience of Fear
For adults horror is a way to experience the monster in the closet, the creature under the bed genuinely and terrifyingly.
Fear and the experience of unease are cathartic experiences.
Not in the sense that seeing blood and gore is satisfying, although that’s certainly its own dark niche.
However, it’s the supernatural films and creature features that allow adults to recapture that same childlike sense of cluelessness.
Having an experience of insignificance is truly enlightening.
Like looking into the night sky, consuming horror writing gives a contemplative experience of mortality.
Gratitude
You WILL die.
It’s a fact that’s incredibly challenging to ponder.
An experience of no longer being a part of the world that you are the center of IS terrifying.
No matter what you believe happens after death this fact is the same.
It’s easy to forget this fact.
We navigate through the routine of our lives, moving from day to day, week to week, year to year, only truly glimpsing our ultimate fate when those around us begin to grapple with the inevitability of death.
Inevitably, when that moment arrives, it’s an incredibly confronting experience.
There is a sense of power when you purposefully creep yourself out.
Knowing you have complete control of how many scary things you can see is greatly empowering.
This control allows for gratitude in what you do have control over.
Being able to control what happens to you is an experience that no one is familiar with.
Horror gives you that feeling.
Finding Your Own Truth
Immersing myself in horror literature and films is a thought-provoking experience that prompts me to reflect on my beliefs and convictions.
Every sort of media is a reflection of human interactions.
By consuming social media, cinema, and novels you are simulating experiences with people who you have and will never meet.
Experiencing an alternate life like this is a way to hide from our own reality.
That’s precisely why media is so addictive; moreover, you get to learn without the need for firsthand experience.
Consuming and writing my own horror content is the best way that I can deal with my own day-to-day life.
It’s an incredibly healthy way to do this I believe.
Horror Recommendations
I highly recommend any of Stephen King’s novels if you’re confused about where to get started with reading horror.
My favourite of his is Pet Semetary.
If you are looking for short stories you can’t go wrong with H.P Lovecraft or Edgar Allan Poe.
Movies?
For your introduction to horror movies I would reccommend Get Out, The Blair Witch Project, or Split each of these movies are creepy in their own way and aren’t too intense for the beginning horror enthusiast.
In the End . . .
I hope you can find as much enjoyment and appreciation for horror content as I do.
Thank you for reading.
Goodbye, Goodluck, and Get Writing 🙂
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