Horror
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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[[Image:Cover of Sweeney Todd, published by Charles Fox in 48 numbers.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[Sweeney Todd]]'' ([[1846]]) is a [[Fictional portrayals of psychopaths in literature|fictional psychopath]]/[[cannibalism in fiction|cannibal]]/[[pulp fiction]] [[anti-hero]].]] | [[Image:Cover of Sweeney Todd, published by Charles Fox in 48 numbers.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[Sweeney Todd]]'' ([[1846]]) is a [[Fictional portrayals of psychopaths in literature|fictional psychopath]]/[[cannibalism in fiction|cannibal]]/[[pulp fiction]] [[anti-hero]].]] | ||
- | [[Image:Heliades's metamorphosis into a tree.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Heliades]]' metamorphosis into a [[tree]]. [[Metamorphosis]] is a common [[horror|horror trope]].]] | + | [[Image:Heliades's metamorphosis into a tree.jpg|thumb|right|[[Heliades]]' metamorphosis into a [[tree]]. [[Metamorphosis]] is a common [[horror|horror trope]].]] |
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- "Objects which in themselves we view with pain, we delight to contemplate when reproduced with minute fidelity: such as the forms of the most ignoble animals and of dead bodies." --Aristotle from the Poetics.
- "Fear is the most powerful emotion in the human race and fear of the unknown is probably the most ancient. You're dealing with stuff that everybody has felt; from being little babies we're frightened of the dark, we're frightened of the unknown. If you're making a horror film you get to play with the audiences feelings" -- John Carpenter
Horror may mean:
- Horror (emotion), the physical and mental sensation
- Horror art, art focusing on horror themes
- Horror fiction, the general genre
- Horror film, the genre in film
Horror tropes
Horror as a genre started with gothic fiction. Its tropes include terror (both psychological and physical), mystery, the supernatural, ghosts, haunted houses and Gothic architecture, castles, darkness, death, decay, doubles, madness, secrets and hereditary curses.
The stock characters of gothic fiction include tyrants, villains, bandits, maniacs, Byronic heroes, persecuted maidens, femmes fatales, madwomen, magicians, vampires, werewolves, monsters, demons, revenants, ghosts, perambulating skeletons, the Wandering Jew and the Devil himself.
Modern subgenres and tropes include bio horror - body horror - carnivorous plants - Count Dracula - erotic horror - exploitation - fantastic - Frankenstein - freaks of nature - gore - ghost - gothic fiction - grindhouse - magic - Mondo film - monster - phantom of the opera - psychological horror - slasher films - snuff films - vampire - video nasty - werewolf - zombie
Related vocabulary includes terms such as bizarre - blood - controversial - cruelty - dark - death - demon - devil - disgusting - disturbing - evil - fantasy - fear - gothic - grotesque - hidden - inquisition - macabre - midnight - night - occult - offensive - pain - phobia - prison - repugnance - secret - shocking - sadism - sick - strange - sublime - supernatural - surreal - terror - torture - ugly - violence - visceral - war
Towards a theory of horror