We all know the factors that come into play during a horror movie; creepy music, dark settings, subtle breathing of the monster. But cinema isn’t the only medium for horror; far from it, but how does an author instill fear in the reader, when really all that is there is words on a perfectly ordinary page? In truth, there are many single elements that contribute to the atmosphere of horror literature but it is the combination and execution of these elements together that result in a truly terrifying or horrific story.

            Language and setting play large roles in horror fiction. Obviously if you have a dark and stormy castle; there is already a sense of unease or unknown lurking about even before the main characters have entered. And language comes into play for the description of the areas and people. For example, when we see a man in a black coat it doesn’t really scare us, but then start getting down to creepy details like long sharp nails, blood red lips, elongated teeth, and ghastly pale skin and we start to get creeped out. Some everyday sight is suddenly made frightening just because of a few simple but effective descriptions. This is very apparent in the short story The Colour out of Space in which the horror described is nothing more than a color: “The colour, which resembled some of the bands in the meteor’s strange spectrum, was almost impossible to describe; and it was only by analogy that they called it colour at all. Its texture was glossy, and upon tapping it appeared to promise both brittleness and hollowness” (Lovecraft 105). At first glance this isn’t very creepy, but the more and more we learn and see of this color it becomes apparent that its coming signifies something bad and thus we begin to fear it. Even after I have read the story I cannot picture it literally, but the idea of it is still unnerving.

            Going into the more literal cause of horror would be the horrific element, or monstrous element, in the story. This is often times supernatural, like the colour out of space or Dracula, but sometimes it can be real horrors in our minds or world that are horrific for the very reason that they actually exist. For example, when you finish reading Dracula you don’t look around corners expecting a vampire to jump out and bite you; however, after reading The Fall of the House of Usher you really become concerned that people like this could exist. Maybe not exactly how Poe described it, but inbreeding and insanity do exist in our society and they are not pretty. But the horrific element can also be something that isn’t outwardly horrific. For example, in The Mortal Immortal the real fear here is a question; how long will he live and what will happen to him in the time leading up to the end? I was fascinated by the question this story raised: what is half an eternity? Because you really can’t measure it, so if you drink half of, or an unfinished, immortality potion, then what are you? Needless to say, you are a mortal immortal, and the thoughts and images that this question brings up are the horrific element in that particular story.

            Finally, an important element for horror is the concept of knowledge versus ignorance. We as readers know what Dracula’s plan is long before the characters do, and their ignorance in the matter puts them into horrific situations that frighten us because we know how big a mistake they are making. One particular scene in Dracula that hit me was the first time Van Helsing put garlic in Lucy’s room. He was so pleased at his discovery that he and Dr. Seward left Lucy by herself. During the night her mother had come into the room to check on her, and upon discovering the smelly flowers, removed them and opened the window. At this exact spot my eyes grew wide and I just wanted to yell out: “You moron, you just invited Dracula into her room!” but she could not understand and Van Helsing couldn’t tell her, and it was through this action that the horrific factor got to me.

            But also knowledge and ignorance can play out in the characters alone, not involving the reader. For example, in the short story Duel, the main character has no idea why this trucker is trying to kill him: “Boy, oh, boy, oh boy, he thought. This was really one for the books. That son of a bitch had meant for not only him to be killed but a totally uninvolved passerby as well. The idea seemed beyond his comprehension. On a California highway on a Thurdsay morning? Why?” (Matheson 161). He is also in an area that he isn’t familiar with. So basically he is ignorant of everything but himself and near the end he is starting to fall off his rocker. But it is his lack of knowledge that is truly frightening for him and thus, the reader.

            These are of course general concepts used in many horror stories, but each one has its own distinct themes and ideas that can be broken down for that specific story. I would have to say that the two biggest themes in Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula are gender and technology versus the supernatural. Gender is the easier theme to see and define here because it is represented blatantly throughout the book. I must say that I was rather shocked at some of the basic pre-conceptions for women. One particular instance I remember well was when Mina was leading Lucy back to the house and she was worried that someone might see her bare feet: “As we passed along, the gravel hurt my feet, and Lucy noticed me wince. She stopped and wanted to insist upon my taking my shoes; but I would not. However, when we got to the pathway outside the churchyard, where there was a puddle of water remaining from the storm, I daubed my feet with mud, using each foot in turn on the other, so that as we went home no one, in case we should meet anyone, should notice my bare feet” (Stoker 130). I remember thinking “Who the hell cares if someone sees your feet, there is a vampire about!” but apparently at the time this was improper. Another notable example is when Van Helsing states “Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man’s brain – a brain that man should have were he much gifted – and a woman’s heart” (Stoker 320). He doesn’t say she has a good brain or a smart brain; he says she has a man’s brain, and it’s as if a woman having a brain as smart as or smarter than a man’s is rare and bizarre.

            Basically there are three types of “new” women in this novel; one is Mina, the progressive and intelligent woman who this age’s men want women to be. The next type of female is the weird sisters, the opposite of mina, being aggressive, sexual, and against life. And last is Lucy, who is somewhat of a mixture of Mina and the weird sisters; she is trying to fit the mold of the typical female of the time but at the same time she throws it into question, asking things like: why can’t I marry three men? It is pretty obvious which one of these women the men of the time favored, given that Mina is placed high on a pedestal, the weird sisters are displayed as revolting and terrifying, and Lucy dies because how easy of a target she is. What is interesting is that even while displaying what the new woman should be, Bram Stoker posed the question of what if in terms of the weird sisters. Johnathan Harker is disgusted by them and at the same time intrigued. It is a role that women of the time weren’t meant to play, but Stoker suggested would it really be that bad? In the end he tries to emphasize that Mina’s character is the better way to go, but the fact that he raised the question alone was enough to get the attention of readers.

            The theme of technology versus the supernatural poses a very interesting question; what do we do when technology fails? And this doesn’t just pertain to medical science being unable to cure a vampire, but in a technology heavy era what would we do should technology fail to explain something or just fail in general? I would expect panic and chaos. Maybe that is a bit extreme but this book, written way before the computer age shows us that these technologically dependent people were thrown for a loop when placed in a lesser setting with elements they could not explain. Harker became weak and imprisoned all the while questioning his sanity, and poor Dr. Seward just couldn’t grasp the concept of vampire no matter how much Van Helsing spelled it out for him. I just wanted to yell at him “She is a vampire, now go kill her already!” If Dracula were to suddenly appear in modern day London wouldn’t we all act like Dr. Seward? I know I would, even though I could probably put the pieces together that she was a vampire, I still wouldn’t believe it. This theme helps to show us that the old world shouldn’t be forgotten so quickly. It is the old superstitious methods that work to kill Dracula and without those we would be powerless. It is important to remember the past so old problems don’t rise again, no pun intended.

            It is interesting to go back and read a novel like Dracula after being so used to modern day horror. For example before I started this class my idea of horror was Freddy, Jason and that clown from It. But this is really a bad idea to have of horror because as I stated earlier it is the combination of elements that makes a story horrifying not just some cartoony monster that kills everybody. Having read Dracula and other stories with monster like elements such as the Colour Out of Space and Duel I am really beginning to see that the horror genre is much more than the cookie cutter monster and, more so in modern day, the cookie cutter monster is the one more often elevated to popular status. A great example is the universal pictures version of Dracula, hell even the new version of Dracula with the stupid hair is a disgrace to the original man himself. And yet it is these cartoony depictions that become popular, at least in the movie scene, and I am truly glad that I got a chance to see the story behind all the makeup and read Dracula the way it was meant to be read. There is so much more to horror than I had previously thought.

            Whether the monster in the story is a dirty old truck, a seemingly harmless color, or the madness in ones own head, they all fall into the category of monstrous, supernatural, or unknown and they are the heart of truly good horror stories.

Works Cited

Lovecraft, H(oward) P(hillips). “The Colour Out of Space.” The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Garyn G. Roberts. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003. 101-119.

Matheson, Richard (Burton). “Duel.” The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Garyn G. Roberts. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003. 158-173.

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2003.