What Do You Look For Horror?

[HGohwell]

As I'm sure you all know, Tapas has a horror genre. And as I'm sure you also all know, there are a lot of different subgenre's within horror. Everything from ghost stories and urban legends to cosmic horror. Everything from no death's, blood or violence up to the entire world ended by an uncaring god to people being brutally murdered.

So, when you go into a series marked as horror, what are you expecting? What are you looking for? And how much horror needs to be in the series? Just a few scenes or all the way through? Where to you draw the line? What are some of your favourite horror tropes to see? What are some of your least favourite?

(Please be aware this is not particularly an asking for advice thread but a general discussion thread)

[Jenny-Toons]

As someone who reads and makes horror, I want some type of background behind the horror for me to understand the weight of it.

It's why I really gravitate to cosmic horror and folk horror -- I like the idea of "there is something evil in them woods" or "people don't go to the Madison House without looking for trouble". It's that sense that something is wrong, even if the setting is generally a safe place, and people stay away if they know what's good for them. Adding to that, I also like seeing people who not only believe in that horror, but take measured steps to stop it from spreading.

Folk horror with people having protective salts around their houses? Yes.

Cosmic horror with people trying to keep certain books under lock and key? Hell yes.

Hell, even slasher comics that have off-limit areas because of urban legends.

The idea of knowing there is horror lurking and trying to combat it just draws me in. Because it kinda provides a sense of respect as well. Understanding the danger of something and trying to avoid needless death and mayhem (and maybe even failing because of human error or ignorance) is just the bee's knees.

[WillowTree]

I very, very, very rarely seek out horror. When I do, I want more of a psychological horror. I couldn't care less about reading about people being brutally murdered, I couldn't care less about about blood or violence being portrayed on page. That doesn't strike fear in me at all, it's just kind of gross.

It's the creepy footsteps that the person is hearing but there being no one behind them every time they turn around that gets me. It's when they come home and the books are out of order or a picture has been changed in a picture frame, but their friend insists that the picture hadn't been changed. It's the character feeling that sense of 'something is wrong' but not being able to pinpoint what exactly is happening until it's almost too late.

Though this is why I rarely read horror. I get freaked out really easily and I'll end up reading with my back to the wall and glancing around me the entire time.

Oh. I also only read horror if there's a good ending for the MC. If they end up dying at the end then, to me, it's kind of been a waste of my time. I feel like a good horror has the MC living with knowledge of what happened to them.

[DiegoPalacios]

I'm kinda picky with the horror stories i see, but these are the main points i have in my head:

1-A reason to care about the conflict. Some horror stories fail to achieve that by making the cast too generic and/or too dumb to live, just so they get killed.

2- Solid pacing: if it`s mostly jump scares or way too much waiting, it can become stale.

3-For the monster/killer/whatever....to be memorable.

[domisotto]

I guess, like in any other story, I want it to be interesting and be invested in the character’s predicament. Ghosts/haunted castles, necromancy in the gothic vein is more likely to attract me than anything else. Zombies/gore are the least interesting.

[WillowTree]

Have you read 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle?' It's not technically a horror (Mystery/Thriller/Gothic/Psychological are the genres Google puts it in) but it's so good and it might be up your alley!

[DiegoPalacios]

Have you seen "The shining?", it`s an old movie, but is a really well paced psychological thriller.

[HGohwell]

It's why I really gravitate to cosmic horror and folk horror -- I like the idea of "there is something evil in them woods" or "people don't go to the Madison House without looking for trouble". It's that sense that something is wrong, even if the setting is generally a safe place, and people stay away if they know what's good for them. Adding to that, I also like seeing people who not only believe in that horror, but take measured steps to stop it from spreading.

This was something I really loved in The Woman In Black, the movie did it pretty well through the first half but especially in the play and book there was a real sense of how much the locals feared her and her house for their kid's sake and were actively trying to get rid of the guy who could make her an issue again. (Honestly, the play was amazing I saw it at 16 on a school trip and ended up spending 6 months sleeping with a light on).

It's the creepy footsteps that the person is hearing but there being no one behind them every time they turn

This particular one is a really good trope. I love this one and will throw it into any story I can even if I'm not writing full horror.

Though this is why I rarely read horror. I get freaked out really easily and I'll end up reading with my back to the wall and glancing around me the entire time.

Ahh, I got this from The House of Leaves. Suddenly I was very wary of the walls and felt like I should be measuring them just in case.

[WillowTree]

I haven't! I have to be in the right mood for a horror movie. I mean once every couple of years I'll decide I'm in the mood to be scared out of my mind. The last horror movie I watched was 'The Woman in Black' with Daniel Radcliffe. I wasn't comfortable being alone in the house for weeks after that.

'When a Stranger Calls Back' is one that I always think of. She comes home and her stuff is moved slightly and she's convinced she's being stalked. Ugh. It's what I love about the genre but it's also what just freaks me and makes me unable to be a functional adult while alone in the house.

Hell, for awhile I got really into Supernatural. Then my husband started working nights and I realized binge watching several seasons of a creepy show was not the right choice for my daytime hours.

[WillowTree]

The Woman in Black still freaks me out when I think about it too much and the movie came out ages ago!

[HGohwell]

I had the advantage of having seen the play before the movie, so when I saw the movie it was meh comparatively. The play is done in a tiny theater and she just appears and disappears in the darkness and moves through the audience and it is terrifying.

[WillowTree]

Oh. My. God. I don't think I would have been able to handle that.

[domisotto]

I actually don't like psycological so much. I do love things happeing, adventure component

[malwdark]

I like psychological horror, zombies, vampires and ghost stories. My fav theme is the 'something is wrong but I don't know what'

[Abel]

A lot of blood, a lot of screaming, a lot of pain.

I love writing horror that makes people squirm, so I seek out the same with other books.
(Hellbound Heart, Let the Right One In, American Psycho, etc.)

(*￣▽￣)b

[sxxaint]

It probably goes with the name of the genre, but the only thing that's essential to me in horror is that I feel both unsettled and grimly fascinated the whole time, so obviously I'll read any kind of horror so long as it's horrible. So I want every scene to have horror elements, even if it's just strange conversations or eerie walks, but I don't want to be terrified the whole time or it wears off. Someone else mentioned footsteps and warped reality - I like this as a 'foundation' to the horror scenes, but I'd need something really horrific to kick-off to be satisfied with the experience unless the horror is separating reality and delusion and the protag slowly descends into madness, that sort of thing.

But as a favourite: gore, gore, and more gore. I love body horror, and I love cosmic horror, and it's even better when those are linked. iia on nosleep wrote one of my favourite horror series with cosmic horror, shady governmental science programmes, body horror, and fungi. I'd rather be sickened than scared with horror.

I'm also pretty partial to when normal things turn ... not normal. So cults that might actually be eldritch, spooky things in the woods, and then I haven't read the book, only seen the film, but Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door was fucking horrifying just because of how normalised it felt. I also like to see strong motifs and occult images within it.

I don't really like ghosts because they don't give me the kind of lore I like and they lay too far outside 'normal' to be satisfying that way. I'm just not a big paranormal fan.

Also pls don't give me people making stupid choices. How much scarier is a story when the protagonists make all the right choices and it doesn't make a damn difference because there's nothing they can do to escape?

(pls forgive my essay that doesn't actually say anything)

[Abel]

Also pls don't give me people making stupid choices. How much scarier is a story when the protagonists make all the right choices and it doesn't make a damn difference because there's nothing they can do to escape?

Now we’re talking.

(╯✧▽✧)╯

[surenlicious]

I'm very picky with horror, and I absolutely love the genre! I want the unexplained, the mystery...I want to be kept at the edge of my seat at a force we cannot always explains. I want to see the psychological effects it has on its victims, the constant being kept on your toes yet never seeing the force stalking you until its too late.

I don't really need them to die by the hand of whatever it is, I want them to live in utter terror of it for the rest of their lives.

[Hazumirein]

I'm weird about horror because I generally don't like visual horror--like, I won't touch horror movies or games most of the time--but I love written (or narrated) horror. I think I just prefer to imagine the scenarios myself.

More specifically, I like the eerie, unsettling, slow burn "something here is off" variety. Particularly if it doesn't really have a resolution and the end is just the characters escaping with their lives rather than like, defeating the monster. Not big on gore or jump scares. Urban legends, folk horror, psychological horror; stuff like that is usually what I reach for. Also often prefer short stories to longer ones in that genre, but that's not a hard and fast rule.

I also really enjoy horror-comedy when I can find it, but it seems hard to come by.

[ScarletDemon]

I have 1 horror novel in my collection of 6 novels, I am not picky about the horror I read or watch, but in terms of the horror I write, I take the Blood/Guts/Gore pedal and just drop a brick on it and let the car fly off the edge of the cliff. I go to extreme levels of graphic gore to the point where I claim my book makes the Saw movies and Game of Thrones look like a G-rated move. My novel is from the Bad guy POV so all of the blood and gore is from a first hand point of view. The novel is written so there's no written in stone Bad guy or good guy everyone has bad traits and good traits. Cast in point, the MC: a masterful assassin and powerful necromancer that destroys armies and tortures them for fun and to help them sleep...but at the same time, loves animals and is looking out for their home land. toss things up, get different.
What I personally look for in horror is:
-A plot line that hasn't been done a ton of times
-A pacing that doesn't feel extremely slow, but doesn't slap you across the face with murder every other page or something
-A bad guy who has a point to what they are doing: I've seen some stories where the bad guy is bad purely just because...no reason other than why not.
-Body horror is fine (monster, blood, the normal horror stuff), but you can always try other forms (psychological, natural or as stated above, cosmic). Go for stuff that you are afraid of, make it interesting.
There is lots of articles online about how to write good villains or horror or really anything, but always do what you think the bad guy would do in terms of writing it.