Thursday, February 23, 2012

My Kind of Horror

Horror is a genre often discussed among my Christian writer friends. They say: can horror be Christian? Is it edifying? Should we read it? What makes it horror rather than thriller? I do not participate in such topics. I stand on the other side of the room with a look in my eyes that says: "Stay away from me, you freaks."

I, obviously, don't like horror. As an example of this, the following conversation occurred recently:
Friend: Do you not like scary stuff?
Me: No. Hate it.
What I realized, upon reflection, is that this is a complete untruth. I love scary stuff. How many times have I been told "the ending was horrible!" or "don't you ever write anything happy?"

What is more "scary"? A creepy monster crawling out of a graveyard or the prospect of a loved one dying? Which is more horrifying; a ghost appearing in your bedroom or a paper you're forced to sign, agreeing to allow experiments to be conducted on your mind?

I write horror, of the most chilling kind. You won't find the unbelievable hair raising elements commonly associated with the genre, but what you will find won't be so easily forgotten. What you'll find is not the dark ravings of a lunatic but the cold calculations of a perfectly sane mind.
“You hate me,” she said finally. “Because of what I am. What I could do.”
“No,” he said swiftly. “Never. Don’t say that. It’s not your fault.”
“I’m not human,” she protested. “I’m just a… a thing.”
Dorus swore. “You’re far more than a thing,” he said brokenly. “What they did to you was an atrocity, an outrage, but it doesn’t change who you really are.”
That is my kind of horror; the brutal reality of what is, or could be. The perversion and wrong-doing that can be imagined by the human race. Ethical and moral dilemmas of the sort you hope never to have to face. Which would you rather face; a mad man wielding a blood stained sword or the betrayal of the person you trusted most in the world?

If we must die, let it be at the hands of strangers, for a friend can make us suffer so much more!

And what can be more truly horrifying than the prospect of Eternity... alone? 

1 comment:

  1. Scarist episode of Doctor Who(or one of them): Midnight. Because it's parnoid people who are the real threat.

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