The monster mash

[Conceptulist]

I've either written a story based on that fear or I am developing something based on those fears, though their probably extremely rough compared to the professional standard I am trying to achieve.

Would it be bad to mention you should have used "they're" in that sentence?  Wouldn't normally do that on an online forum, but this thread is about writing and aiming at a professional standard.

Actually, I applaud you. Thanks, I didn't notice that typo.

[Conceptulist]

I often find people who do nothing but stand and stare at you to be quite terrifying. I think the movie It Follows used that kind of thing very well in its story. The idea of being stalked by someone who says nothing and does nothing but walk towards you is very creepy in my opinion.

So, you're afraid of a creature that isn't fazed by being noticed and enjoys tormenting it's prey? Like Jason Voorhees or Mike Myers.

[TordelBack]

Mike Myers.

Scare-edelic baby, yeah!

[Mardroid]

To Madroid:
Do you read many of Stephen King's novels? I only ask because I read 'IT' and I found it to be pallid after 300 pages, which was a shame considering it had a really tense atmosphere before hand, hence I was wondering if Stephen King tends to go into too much detail in a majority of his novels.

I think I've read the majority. He is probably one of my favourite authors, actually.

I don't find most of his work all that scary though, ironically. I think it's mainly the characterisation and the fantasy element that gets me.

But....


He has his moments. Particularly as I've said, Salems Lot, Jerusalem's Lot (the short story- sort of but not quite prequel) and One for the Road, a short story, sort of sequel. Now that one IS scary! The little girl standing on the snow. Not IN the snow ON it. That creeps me out to think of, even now.)

The Shining. That's another scary one, but ghosts are another thing that scare me. Partly because I think they might actually exist. (I don't freak out at night in the house or anything like that. I'm quite happy to move around in the dark, etc but I've never taken well to ghost films.)

I liked IT. It's actually quite scary in places, although not so much near the end, for me.
Stephen King can be quite verbose, but I don't find his style boring. I wouldn't say he is overly descriptive, (depending on what he is describing) although he has moments when he will take a lot of effort to describe an environment.

[Conceptulist]

Ah, I might give him another crack then. My main problem with 'IT' is when Stephen King goes into the past life of the kids, for what felt like a thousand pages, but I found the writing in the present day to be intense and profound.

[Conceptulist]

Mike Myers.

Scare-edelic baby, yeah!

Groovy!

[The Legendary Shark]

I've never really found horror films or books scary, they were all just fantasy films to me. The only time I ever came close to being so scared I nearly ran out of the cinema was Jaws - but even then, as soon as the guys got out on the boat chasing the shark I changed from fear to absolute enjoyment. Zombies, vampires, werewolves and all those guys are just entertainments to me.

Fear, for me, comes from the real and the mundane. The civil servant you never meet who, with the stroke of a pen or the use of a telephone, can deprive you of your property, your family, your life - while your friends and neighbours just avert their eyes and let it happen.

For me, true fear stems from the mundane malignancy of people who believe they are doing the right thing, not in fantastical creatures but in real things; the hungry shark, the virus, the zealot.

As an example, the police are supposed to be here to help and protect us, but if you're driving along and a police car slots in behind you, what do you feel? Do you feel safe and protected, or do you feel fear and anxiety? Fear, like Hell, is other people.

[Dandontdare]

I've never really found horror films or books scary, they were all just fantasy films to me.

This ^^^. I always suspected that people who found horror films such a Frankenstein or Dracula genuinely scary were just putting it on for effect (with the exception of sudden "shock" moments - you can't fake those!)

However, whenever I have that archetypal dream of trying to run away from some evil but unable to make your legs work, or trying to hide knowing with absolute certainty that it's going to find you any second; almost every time, the thing chasing me would be a Dalek. They are scary little beasties, as whatever they are saying or doing, that gun is always pointed at you, and tyou can't reason with thme or appeal for mercy. Brrrr

[Satanist]

Love horror films and have seen loads over the years. The only one that caused me to lose sleep was "The Entity" when I was about 15. The thought of an invisible force which you couldn't fight scared me shitless.

[blackmocco]

Not so much the obvious incarnations of stuff like werewolves, vampires, banshees, etc., but the idea that these mythologies are perhaps based on something true and older. I'm not explaining this very well already, but I guess the idea that there are leftovers from an older world still wandering around in the shadows of ours gets me going.

Alternatively, there's this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tbXhu09m5s

[Conceptulist]

Not so much the obvious incarnations of stuff like werewolves, vampires, banshees, etc., but the idea that these mythologies are perhaps based on something true and older. I'm not explaining this very well already, but I guess the idea that there are leftovers from an older world still wandering around in the shadows of ours gets me going.

Yeah, I understand what you're saying. In fact, it's pretty cool how civilisations, that had nearly no contact, had very similar mythologies, the vampire, for example, pops up all over the world's history.

[Conceptulist]

Fear, for me, comes from the real and the mundane. The civil servant you never meet who, with the stroke of a pen or the use of a telephone, can deprive you of your property, your family, your life - while your friends and neighbours just avert their eyes and let it happen.

This is actually one of the reasons why horror is such a popular genre; it turns true fears into something almost cherishable, so that the fear seems less intense, and you can say to yourself: I just faced my fear head on, and I'm still alive. Examples for this lay throughout culture, but a specific example that has sprung to mind is 'Alien', which was meant to target male sexual discomfort (as well as female sexual discomfort, but the makers said they specifically wanted to engender male viewer's masculinity to be placed in an alien (no pun intended, I swear) situation).

[LukaszKowalczuk]

Didn't think that comic book horror can scare me, changed my mind after first volumes of Wytches and Outcast (both were available in new Image Humble Bundle).

[Conceptulist]

Didn't think that comic book horror can scare me, changed my mind after first volumes of Wytches and Outcast (both were available in new Image Humble Bundle).

Ah, yes, Wytches! That's a brilliant horror comic, but the comic actually didn't creepy me out, it was Scott's paragraphs at the end that did. Somehow he was able to paint a perfect picture of a real life Wytch staring at him from behind a tree with very few words.

Having said that, I've always wondered: why did Scott make his title Wytches, instead of Witches? Was it a method to make the creatures seem unpredictable, or perhaps a way to say that the creatures weren't the same witches you've heard of?

[M.I.K.]

Probably to differentiate from all the other films and books using the proper spelling, plus spelling it with a 'y' looks sort of old fashioned, (but isn't).