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My sister and I tend to have interesting conversations. The book I bought today to reward myself for surviving an interview is "Ghost: 100 Stories to Read with the Lights On", editted by Louise Welsh. It's basically 100 ghost stories arranged in chronological order from Pliny's "The Haunted House" ca. 113 AD and runs up to recent publications. (I have read a surprising amount of the classics before, despite horror having never been my main go-to genre). On the back of this, we ended up talking about what types of horror scare us more. I tend to favour ghost stories, stories of madness, and cosmic horror stories, while she tends more towards serial killers, zombies and the evils that men do.
I think it comes down to, I am more afraid of unknowns and things that affect the mind, while she's more afraid of physical dangers and things that affect life and limb. I've never been overly disturbed by vampires or serial killers, anything you can potentially stab with a stake or brain with a rock to take care of the problem (however successfully the attempt might go), and zombie stories tend more to either bore, disgust or depress me. But ghosts, intangible things that inspire dread and that are much more difficult to disperse, and absolutely anything at all regarding madness, mental deterioration, gaslighting, psychological abuse, external control and extrusions of unknown factors that simply cannot be dealt with rationally, those scare the pants off me. I don't mind adrenal, action-based fear, but seeping, paralysing dread and a loss of control or comprehension do it for (or rather to) me every time.
I suppose it really is what you're most basely afraid of that defines what sort of horror works best for you. Heh.
I think it comes down to, I am more afraid of unknowns and things that affect the mind, while she's more afraid of physical dangers and things that affect life and limb. I've never been overly disturbed by vampires or serial killers, anything you can potentially stab with a stake or brain with a rock to take care of the problem (however successfully the attempt might go), and zombie stories tend more to either bore, disgust or depress me. But ghosts, intangible things that inspire dread and that are much more difficult to disperse, and absolutely anything at all regarding madness, mental deterioration, gaslighting, psychological abuse, external control and extrusions of unknown factors that simply cannot be dealt with rationally, those scare the pants off me. I don't mind adrenal, action-based fear, but seeping, paralysing dread and a loss of control or comprehension do it for (or rather to) me every time.
I suppose it really is what you're most basely afraid of that defines what sort of horror works best for you. Heh.
