Skip to main content

Subgenres in Horror

So last time I posted a horror blog I talked about the 3 main categories of Horror, but there are even more subgenres of horror that can fall under any of the 3 main categories.  I can't possibly list them all, but I will go through some of the most popular ones and some of my favorites.
Rural Horror: This one is pretty self-explanatory but what makes this unique is it tends to also include local legends, or myths, or superstition.  I'm a huge fan of this one.  I'm sort of regretting having my current project be set in the city, but it just can't work any other way.  However, all of my short stories take place in rural America.  There is just something scary about the middle of nowhere country that I love, even though it's kind of a cliche.
Apocalyptic Horror: This deals with the end of the world. Not much more to say about that.  My current project has hints of this.  It isn't apocalyptic in the sense that the world is destroyed and in ruins, but rather its the end of the world in  its current state.
Crime Horror: Combines horror elements with detective and crime elements.  The horror is created by the criminal villain and the horror comes from the tension of the chase. It's very much a good guy vs. bad guy kinda horror.  Also known as 'Thriller'. 
Occult Horror:  This is probably my favorite horror subgenre and I am incorporating a lot more of this in my current project and future projects.  This focuses on exorcism, cults, curses etc.  This is also the scariest type of horror to me.  I'm not sure why, but its something that I've realized recently. 
Psychological Horror: This is a very internal form of horror and usually revolves around the internal feelings of the protagonist.  Oftentimes there is no villain or monsters, but rather you are simply left questioning whether or not what is happening is real, or whether the protagonist is emotionally stable.
Visceral Horror:  This is gore.  It's full of blood and brutality.  I think visceral can work.  I think it can't be the only thing.  But, I do think it can work well if done right.  I haven't been able to really master this yet, but I did a pretty good job in my most recent short story that will be coming out this fall.  But even then, I only had one visceral moment and used other things to create horror during the rest of the story. 
Anyway.  There are MANY other subgenres of horror but these are some of the major ones that even the most casual horror lover will come across.  I'm not sure what my blogging schedule will be like next week.  I have a BUSY week.  I have like 4 meetings, plus my 2 jobs so.....posts might be really short next week. 
Til next time. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Deep Waters and Deep Writing

Get ready folks, this is gonna be kind of a long one. Also, for those who only prefer to read about my writing and not so much my political and spiritual life, scroll down.  I'll get there eventually. So I've been thinking a lot about water lately.  My dreams have been full of it, I've been drinking a lot of it, and since it's January in Oregon, there's just a lot of it around. Water has a lot of symbolism. America's new President was sworn in earlier this week and as it was happening, it started to rain.  Many people thought it was a sign from God.  A positive thing.  Of course the reason behind this wasn't something divine.  It has to do with precipitation and clouds, I remember at least that much from public school science class (I also did an interpretive dance about the water cycle in Outdoor School when I was in 6th grade). But even so, the first thought I had was a divine one.  I thought about John 11:35: "Jesus Wept." Counter th...

Inspiration: Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway

Sometimes you just have to reread something to remember why you love it. I was shelving books in the little library I work at, and I picked up a collection of short stories by Ernest Hemingway.  I haven't read Hemingway in a long long time and as I was holding the bookand remembering a short story that I had read in college when I was working towards my undergrad. I flipped through the book looking for the story: "Hills Like White Elephants" and found it.  I re-read it, and I realized why, after it had been 5ish years since I first read it, why I remembered it. It is just so damn good. I will do my best to not spoil it for you here, you have to read it for yourself. The premise is really simple: two people (a man and a woman) are talking at a Spanish train station while waiting for their train.  That's it.  But it is WHAT they are talking about that makes this story so powerful.  And not just what, but also how.  Again, I don't want to spoi...

2018!

It is 2018! There will be some exciting things happening here on the blog. New Things: Book reviews! If you're not following me on Goodreads yet, you should be.  I will be posting reviews of the books I read both on Goodreads and here on the blog.  If you wanna be a writer,  you gotta be a reader. More Flash Fiction! I'm on Scribophile now so if you want small tastes of my spooky short writing - you can find it there or here on the blog. Updates: Twice weekly posts! These will be updates, movie reviews, video game reviews, horror history, and whatever other nonsense I want to post. They will be Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am going through this book  so I will record my progress here on the blog too during those Tuesday or Thursday posts. Last thing: 2018 is the year of the (online serial) novel! The first chapters will post THIS YEAR. More teasers to my online serial novel later. Share in the comments what your reading & writing go...