Amme ([info]ammepyre) wrote,
2005-01-30 09:31:00

Horror

*crosspossed from Evolution since I know there's not too many horror writers over there currently and I am interested in seeing people's thoughts on this*

Horror Rebirth

So, in the eighties horror was strong and then in the nineties it died among the popular publishers. Now, once again it's starting to be okay for publishers to print books with horror printed along the spine of the paperback. No longer do we have to dig through general fiction sections hoping we can spot the horror titles hidden among the rest of them.

There's also been a huge increase in horror movies coming out - four at least that I've seen advertised this month alone.

Do you think it's tied together and if it is - is the sudden siege of movies at the box office going to help or hurt the book genre at all?


Horror is still very much under-appreciated as a book genre, in my opinion, but the popularity of it in the visual media is making me a bit worried that just as horror is taking off again it might be, well, done to death in the public's eye before it really has a chance to shine.

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    switch

    Your IP address will be recorded 

     
    Help
  • 4 comments

[info]writes_marisa

January 30 2005, 07:42:25 UTC 7 years ago

Hmm, I don't read many (any?) horror novels, but I always thought there was more horror movies in the theaters than anything else.

Friday the 13th part (whatever it is now), Nightmare or Elm street, Silence of the lambs, Hannibal, and a good half the science fiction movies have at least some horror elements.

I don't know; perhaps my views are skewed because I'm not a big horror fan.

[info]stephsw

January 30 2005, 08:13:41 UTC 7 years ago

There were actually quite a few horror films in the 90's, but they weren't as recognized or thrown together in the huge pot of infamous boogeymen we had grown so familiar with in the eighties.

In the eighties, we had Jason, Michael, Freddy, Pinhead, etc. And we got close to these characters because the flms never really ended. There were sequels, LOTS OF SEQUELS. ;)

In the nighties, psychological horror was all the rage. We had films like Seven, The Sixth Sense, Stir of Echoes, Jacob's Ladder, etc.

We also had some great classic style flicks like Scream, Urban Legend, I Know What You Did Last Summer, etc.

I can't forget Misery, The Blair Witch Project, or From Dusk Til' Dawn. ;)

I think we see more of them now because we really notice them. All of the remakes (which is happening in all genres) have made horror stand out more than usual.

[info]spaceoperadiva

January 30 2005, 09:19:29 UTC 7 years ago

Even with all the Steven King made into movies, I really think of Horror literature and Horror movies as being seperate genres. Most really good horror novels are not translateable to film. On the other hand, I would have never guessed that anyone would try to make Cold Mountain into a film, and yet they did. Haven't seen it. (Not a horror novel but I would have sworn equally untranslateable onto film.)

I always think of Horror as a sub-genre of Lit fic or Art fic, and I think like any other Art, its popularity tends to go in cycles. I know everyone else on the entire Face of the Planet groups Horror with SF/F, but hey, I'm weird. Monsters alone do not make for a SF/F story. :-)

So anyway, do the trends in Horror movie popularity (lots of big budget horror film) track with popularity of Horror on the bookshelves? I remember fondly a lot of Horror Lit from the '80's, but I remember quite a few horror films in the 90's as well. It would be interesting to do some research and see if they're actually closely related.

[info]baka_kit

January 30 2005, 10:43:28 UTC 7 years ago

I don't think it will make much difference, the reason being that I don't think there's all that much crossover between the audiences for horror movies and horror books.
Create an Account
Forgot your login or password?
Facebook Twitter More login options
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…