What qualifies as Horror?

[micah]

I've noticed some lurking but not a lot of posting. It's been a while since we had a nice debate here so I'm going to toss in the secret spice and stir the pot.

What qualifies as horror to you? If it has a supernatural element, is it automatically horror? What about if that supernatural element is only included as a love interest? Supernatural Romance, Urban Fantasy, whatever the Hell they're calling tramp-stamp vamps these days...

Flip the question around. Does it have to have a supernatural element? People can be just as, if not more, horrifying than vampires, werewolves, et. al. Just look at the newspaper. Does a human killer mean it's a thriller? I'm looking at you, Hannibal.

Final talking point: do we, from a marketing standpoint, want to be more inclusive? If we snatch Sookie back from the Fantasy section Horror could be a top selling genre. Do we want to get moved to the front of the bookstore if it means having to embrace undead that sparkle?

Discuss.

[sjp]

In my opinion, since we're talking stuff like Twilight and its various knock-offs and such, I would say definitively that those are NOT horror, and the reason why is that the PURPOSE of Twilight is not intended to be frightening. Sure, there are "vampire" and "werewolf" moments, and there are elements of danger, but the point of the novels as a whole is not to frighten, but to have teenage girls practically buy stock in Little, Brown. If you had to say there was any horrific element, it would probably be Bella herself, since she is truly the worst monster in the whole book. I mean, 90% of all the bad stuff that happens is because of her, and she has no remorse for any of it.

As a side note, I haven't read the books, but I know people who have, and they've told me enough that I don't HAVE to read them to know how horrible a person Bella is.

And this actually moves into the next question: the horrific human. And a human killer CAN be horrific, but again I think purpose is part of this as well. I would say, in a thriller, the focus may be on a serial killer who kills his victim in horrific ways, but it's more about the investigator stopping the killer before he strikes again. The horror comes in more when the focus is on WHAT the killer does. Look at the Friday the 13th movies versus something like "Kiss the Girls." Both could be considered horrific, but Friday the 13th is more about Jason chasing people and bumping them off one by one, while Kiss the Girls is more about finding the killer and the clues followed that lead to his downfall. Same thing with Manhunter (or Red Dragon), Silence of the Lambs, and so on...again, there's some messy, gory things going on, but these are more about the tension of the hunt, the chase, than on the horror of the killer's intentions. It's that whole "intent is 9/10ths of the law" sort of thing.

And as for marketing, I don't think it matters what is included or not. I think the best stories are those written from the heart, and if you include stuff in your stories to please an editor and not yourself, it's only hurting the work, even if it sells more. Of course, being a rich hack might not be that much worse than being a poor purist, so it's really up to you which you'd prefer.