The Many Faces of Horror...

In view of Halloween's rapid approach, and the current call for horror submissions at Mocha, I thought I'd do a post on horror fiction.

We all know horror takes many forms, appealing (and, disconcerting) in different ways to different people.  Eden Royce's anthology "In The Bloodstream" included many different paths through the dark; many different approaches to fear.  Some of the stories drew from ancient mythologies, others from modern movie-type horror, others from childhood fear and others still dealt with the living nightmare of not knowing where dark delusion ends and reality begins.

That last one is perhaps the most compelling kind of horror.  Trapped in a dark place, not knowing its parameters, desperately seeking any way out.  Sometimes, not knowing if you're asleep and dreaming...or, in hell.   It's a primal kind of fear, and often one that forces us to confront our most deeply-buried sins.  Maybe that's the most effective kind of horror; the kind that marries our inner demons to a maze of dark corridors in which we find ourselves trapped.  I tried to do something along those lines with my short story "Hellshift," in which the protagonist feels he's trapped in a nightmare, unsure of his own sanity and facing an unseen external enemy whose nature he doesn't understand. The monster out in the dark may be real or imaginary, but it's like the ghost of his own sin come to haunt him, and there's no place to run.

The writing that goes into Hollywood horror is, I'm sorry to say, growing sadly formulized.  The trend right now is demonic possession, which appeals more to the audience's desire for easy answers than anything else.

This evening, I braved the stubbornly lingering summer heat to catch a glimpse of this new bit of Euro horror:  "As Above, Below."  (I'm guessing it's not doing too well, since I had the theatre all to myself.)  Basically, the premise is "Indiana Jones Meets the Blair Witch Project."  Yes, yet another "live-action" mockumentary look at horror, where the camera joggles all over the place as screaming characters run through dark tunnels pursued by unseen horrors.  This time, the dark tunnels in question are the famous catacombs of Paris.  Which, according to this film, are actually a gateway into Hell.  (Satan's subway?)   The characters, trapped in the catacombs while hunting mysterious ancient relics pertaining to afterlife mythology, find themselves confronted in the dark corners of their labyrinthine subterranean prison by the ghosts of their innermost guilty secrets.  Obviously not the first time this has been done, and it's overdone in places, including the main character having to swim through a river of blood.  But, the all-too-familiar primal horror of claustrophobic dark tunnels coupled with the deep dark specters of guilt we all fear does make an effective combination.

Overall, maybe the most basic recipe for horror is:  Take a dark place, pour in the primal fear of the unknown, fold in a few repressed personal secrets for flavoring, sprinkle in the right number of surprise "ahas" just to spice it up a bit, and bake well with suspense.  Don't oversoak with blood, and you should get a fairly tasty treat.

Going Collective

I have always been fascinated by the fact that a group of crows is a murder. Who first decided that this was the correct name for a collection of the carrion birds? I don't know, but their imagination was so spot on.

We know--and expect--certain collective nouns. A herd of horses, a school of fish, a pride of lions. But you can really spice up your writing with some of the more unusual ones. It is always easiest to find the animal congregations. A good list can be found here. But animals aren't the only groups of nouns. There are also names for groups of people and things. Some of those more uncommon nouns can be found here.

Let's have some fun. Can you match the group to their collective noun -- without looking?

clowns                                                                    blush                                                                          
bishops                                                                   field
doctors                                                                   bench
zombies                                                                  mutiny                                                                    
boys                                                                       stench

or what about these?

baboons                                                                 romp
cats                                                                        mob
geese                                                                     tribe
otters                                                                     clowder
kangaroos                                                              skein


But not all group nouns have been given names yet, and you can have a lot of fun with those. For example, in one of my short stories, I had a group of cheerleaders, and I wanted to refer to them with a collective noun. They became a "giggle of cheerleaders." I was extremely proud of that one. ;)

Remember, a little goes a long way--especially with some of the more esoteric combinations, such as an "implausibility of gnus." This is a spice to use sparingly, but it can really add something to the mix.

(I will give you the answers next time. ;) )