Scare Theory

I love horror. Horror in the forms of books, films, games and where it meets real life.

And due to this - I have a theory, that I've had for a long time, about horror. Which pretty much breaks down the different types of fear we experience. Each of the categories have many sub-types as different kinds of fears that we have, but they can all pretty much be put into four categories:

   1. Screamers
   2. Anticipation
   3. Suspense
   4. Disturbance

Allow me to break them down:

• 'Screamers' are the least skilled of a horror type. It is where we get a massive adrenaline boost from something unexpected. This is something very difficult to do in book form - but is oh so common in cinema. These are things that jump out when you're not really prepared and you jump in fear either very lightly, or out of your skin, or just freak out from it. There is not much skill in causing it and any media with just this is really not worth a look. However, very rarely mixed in with other types - this can be a brilliant and effective method of keeping you on your toes.

• Anticipation is the waiting. This could be waiting for a screamer, or just waiting to know what is going to happen to someone. This is most commonly the fear of the unknown when you are only temporarily in the dark. A fundamental part of anticipation scare is that you know that something is going to happen, you just aren't sure what or when. Anticipation can accompany screamers, if done well, to keep you hanging on to the fear. It can also be used with disturbance.

•  Suspense, is a similar feeling to anticipation. But it is 'on the edge of your seat' type of fear. This is the fear where you don't know if something will happen or not. Half of the reason this is scary is because it is inward - you can be torn between being scared just in case something does happen, and hiding it because you don't want to embarrass yourself if nothing does happen. This works with a humiliation factor and happens most commonly amongst other people.

• Disturbance is sickening. While it does not include gore (because I don't count gore as 'horror') is encapsulates things that aren't making you linger on the edge of your seat or pumps your adrenaline - but confuses you. Something you can't figure out (also known as a 'mind-fuck') and unsettles you. This comes in the form of mangled physical things to plain insanity unnerving you.

Now, if we were to use all of these in the right formulae - then you have, on your hands, a very good horror hub. But using them badly will really cause it to fail miserably.

While I don't really get scared by much these days - there are many things that I can still appreciate for it's horror skill. Also, if you look at any of the top horror films or games compared to the worse ones - you can see the difference in how they use these four categories of horror.


If anyone else is interested in horror or would like to say anything about my theory - please do contact me in one form or another. I would love to hear from you :)