Talk:Horror fiction

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Actually I would say that the real well-spring of the the horror genre is more likely to be Sheridan le Fanu's work, particularly Carmilla (of which Dracula is a largely plagiaristic and unsatisfactory hack) and the short story Green Tea. But hey, let's not let historical reality get in the way of comfy modern glosses over the facts in the matter :) user:sjc

Actually, the seeds of horror fiction go back even further, to late 18th century gothic novels. I've added this and will add more on this later. Michael Wells 18:00, 22 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Michael Wells is correct. Early gothic fiction is the common taproot of modern horror and fantasy, and one of the roots of science fiction as well.

Esr 08:12, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Stoker was not the father of modern horror.

After reading the article, I must disagree. Bram Stoker was by no means the father of modern horror.

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol wrote Viy in 1835 and the novel is as classical horror as it gets. It talks about witches, vampires, demons and lesser devils in a traditional Ukrainian village setting during the funeral of a local noble's daughter (who's a witch).

So I think Gogol's name should at least be added to the article. He wrote a myriad of other horror stories in his "Vechera na hutore bliz Dikanki" (Nights in the village near Dikanka).

Naming one person as the "father" of a genre is pointless. Besides, simply being the first to write a horror story doesn't mean you created the genre. Stoker wasn't the first and maybe he got alot of his ideas from earlier works...his novel is still the most popular of any of his time and prior. Most people couldn't even tell you where to find a copy of Camilla. Is it worth reading? You bet, but Dracula remains one of the most popular horror stories to date. To dismiss him as a hack as someone did previously is missing the point.Culmo80 17:47, 8 December 2006 (UTC)culmo80[reply]

New section on connections with other genres

I've added a new section on connections with other genres that reflects recent advances in SF critical theory. These have implications for our understanding of horror and fantasy which I have tries to express here.

You didn't add a new section, you replaced one. The implications you have tried to express are not only faulty, their non-informative. Stop replacing large sections of wikipedia with your personal opinions.

Link

I added a link to horrorcore (a rap genre, which is very grand guinol (sp?) in style) becuase of its obvious ties.

Subgenres

I'd like to see the inclusion of various subgenres of horror fiction with appropriate examples? What subgenres should be included? Obviously vampire fiction, psychological horror, classic ghost story, cosmic horror, gothic horror, splatterpunk, weird fiction... Any thing else? - CNichols 18:41, 19 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Puzzle Horror

Puzzle Horror is a genre that until fairly recently was usually restricted to video games, where solving puzzles is part of the gameplay (Silent Hill for example). But there's been sort of a surge of the genre in film such as the Cube franchise, the Saw franchise, and other films like Mindhunters and the French film Maléfique (which is getting a US remake). It's categorized usually by a person or group of people who are trapped in an enclosed location or situation, and the only way out is to play the game of their captors, whoever or whatever that may be. I think this would be a good addition, but I don't have any references specifically naming the subgenre that don't refer to video games, so I'm guessing people would just edit it out if I wrote one up. 74.76.142.137 (talk) 10:30, 29 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

anti-violence bias?

am i the only one who thinks the "Contemporary horror fiction" section has a POV against explicit violence? it's talking about how some authors are 'capable of' writing horror without 'resorting' to violence. aside from the fact that whoever wrote that has obviously never read "misery", i don't see why the fact that some authors write against the common style of the times should be the main focus of a section devoted to the contemporary. --dan 14:56, 5 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

okay i have fixed it myself to remove the pov, but i still think this section needs to be added to. there has to be more that can be said about contemporary horror fiction than "some authors use violence and some don't", doesn't there? --dan 09:50, 4 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see why everything in the small "contemporary horror" section is related to gore or the lack thereof.

The beginnings of horror fiction?

I've noticed that the article does not have any information on the antique horror, more specific the things which H.P. Lovecraft mentions in one of his works (loose quote, and I can not say from which of his works it originates because I do not know - all of this comes from an article in the local papers): "Petronius werewolf case, Apoleus' excerpt, short but famous letter of Plinius Minor.." Plinius Minor, whom Lovecraft mentiones, is Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (63-ca. 113), better known as Pliny the Younger. The work to which Lovecraft refers to is called (again, loose translation; I don't know what the original name is, a bit of googling might yield some results) "The Tales of Philosopher Athenodoros", written in 107. AD, and which can be found in Book 7 of his Epistulae. Does this count? Or does this article deal with works of fiction that belong to the horror genre, and to horror genre alone? In any case, this is the only mention of the early horror (fiction) I've ever encountered so far. If anyone has more information on the matter, I'd be happy to hear it. -- 10:07, 13 August 2006 (UTC) [Bob]

Other games

Seems to me it's a bit strange list of games mentioned here. Is there by any chance that Quake is more horrible than Half Life 2? And what about VtM:Bloodlines and VtM:Redemption? I think there also should be role-playing settings like Ravenloft and World of Darkness. Dreambringer 12:42, 19 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Link

I added a link to http://www.fantastichorror.com/ under horror fiction sites.Hodgson 18:34, 18 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]