What Scares Us?

Writer Robert Bloch, the author of Psycho was asked the tired old questions: why he wrote horror fiction. Bloch, always a quick wit, thought for a moment and replied, “I have the heart of a small boy… and I keep it in a drawer at home.”

I think all of us who write in the genre can relate to that statement. I don’t have any interior anatomical parts lying around the house but I do have enough skeletons in my closet to inspire stories for the rest of my unnatural life.

But what about the rest of you? Thos of you who don’t write horror fiction but read it, watch it, devour it and generally, live for it? I have a theory about you which I will share. Only don’t get me wrong; I’m one of you, too. I see every film, every television show, I read the genre magazines anything that has even the slightest propensity to horror. I mean for me, it’s research, right? I have to know the market know what sells. And horror has been selling for years and years.

Down through the ages, there has always been at least one type of horror fiction: monsters. In the legends of every land, the mythology of entire civilization and even the Bible, you find monster. Gilgamesh, Goliath, the Hydra and the Gorgon are just a few that come to mind.

What changes is the types of monsters each generation find terrifying. And each generation has its own special creatures that terrify and astound them. Let’s take a look at what scared our parents and grandparents. Starting with Mary Shelley’s creation, the Frankenstein monster, who since its inception, has appeared in countless films and television shows. This monster, created on a bet and a whim, has endured for almost two centuries because of it pathetic and misunderstood nature. In that sense, it’s a story we can all relate to even if we find the underlying story of being sewn together from unrelated parts a bit grotesque. The monster shows us a part of ourselves that we seldom recognize. The vulnerable innocence within and the child like take on the world. And as we all know, children can be the cruelest of all.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula, on the other hand, came right out of the history pages. Fashioned after a Transylvania dictator – Vlad, the Impaler – Dracula is based on a real charter more terrifying than the book. The vampire legend has existed in Europe for centuries so why did Dracula who, like our friend above, has spanned generations of film and incarnations, become so popular? There is something sexy and aloof about the vampire, a dark seductive presence that thrills as well as chills. And its evolution foro the scary Nosferatu to the menacing yet charismatic Bela Lugosi, to the sensual portrayals of Frank Langella and Gary Oldman, have taken the character from the grotesque to the sublime.

The Werewolf was another character steeped in legend and a true malady that plagued victims from the Dark Ages on, Lycanthropy, the disorder known for wolf-like tendencies, is a true illness that manifested well in the 19th century. Again, there is something seductive and mysterious about being lupine, a topic well explored in the Howling series. Benicio del Toro’s remake of the original Wolfman film is a stunningly beautiful film.

One other monster comes to mind when I think about what frightened my parents: the mummy. Today, a limping man wrapped in rages makes for a feeble terror but according to my mother, in the days of the silent film, this monster could be horrifying effective. I’ll just have to take her word for it.

But what about us?

If we speculate that every generation has its own monsters and ideals of what scares us, then let’s take a look at our contemporaries. Arguable, one could say the current generation of horror began with the release of The Exorcist, a classic movie that was both thrilling and disturbing. Next, again arguably, the film that captured the same atmosphere would be The Omen. It’s interesting that both of these films had as the monster of choice, a young child. As I said earlier, the cruelest of creatures.

In 1979, John Carpenter helped us celebrate Halloween with the movie of the same name and introduced us to Michael Meyers, a madman who hid behind a Captain Kirk mask. Through (fill in the number) films, we watched him terrorize the small town where he was born and although the original film started its own sub-genre, its sequels have been less satisfying.

Next came Friday the 13th and Jason. Truthfully, I never understood the attraction for Jason and his incredibly bad sequels. A supernatural being running around in a hockey mask, Jason rambled through a plethora of slice and dice flicks with the monster going from one incarnation to the other. I learned on very sound piece of advice: never go to camp, especially with a bunch hormonal driven teenagers.

Our third guest of honor brings us to the late and lamented Wes Craven’s creation, Freddie Kreugar. The Nightmare on Elm Street series also starred teenagers in peril but these teens are intelligent and most have a fighting chance against Freddie. Besides Freddie had one of the most sarcastic wits on film and his dark humor rivals mine. With a face even a mother couldn’t love, I like him and his films. It is interesting and telling that the original glove, shirt and hat from Freddie are now housed in the Smithsonian.

Our fourth monster is bit different, though. The creation of the brilliant Clive Barker, the Hellraiser series is perhaps the most literate and intelligent of our 80’s monsters. Pinhead is, despite what his creator thinks, extremely seductive. Yet his cruelty knows no limits. There is no compassion, no room for negotiation and no reasoning with him. His world is as black and white as it comes. And he was our first high tech monster replete with leather, vinyl and hardware, to usher us in to the 21st century. Yes, the later sequels are terrible but the first four films are very entertaining and visually stunning.

As everything comes full circle, and that is just as true of the horror genre, at the turn of the century you have Buffy, Angel, and True Blood. Then the zombies took over and although the Walking Dead may be one of the best series to ever hit the TV screen, it has spawned some really bad cookie cutter films and series.

And there you have it/ What does this say about our values and need to be frightened? I’m not really qualified to say but looking back, I wonder if all generations have monsters that fit with the innocence or lack thereof, of the particular generation? As each generation grows more sophisticated and jaded, so do our monsters. And the monsters of today will probably become just like the monsters of the past, clichéd vehicles for mundane and banal jokes.