Stephen King and Horror Films

As the main topic suggests, what are the types of horrors associated with media? First off, you might want to think about what your definition of fear is, what unsettles you, and what rubs you the wrong way. Well according to Stephen King, this can be broken down into three types; which is the gross-out, horror, and terror. The gross-out in this case is what it is. It’s things we as humans find disgusting, morbid, or diseased. To provide an example; picture yourself waking up in your bed, all seems normal right? You then look around and notice a severed torso sitting on your computer chair. Morbid right? Onto the next type which is horror. Stephen King places the supernatural under this category; it’s creatures or unnatural happenings that we as humans fabricate or can’t explain. It’s things such as the dead waking up from their slumber and walking around; spiders the size of man transforming into clowns, or a long slender man with no face stalking his prey. And finally, possibly the most terrifying of the three: terror. What we can describe as terror is ambiguity, the feeling of uneasiness we feel when dealing with the unknown. Quoting Stephen King an excellent example is “ When you come home and notice everything you own have been taken away and replaced with an exact substitute. It’s the insecurity you feel when talking with someone wearing a mask; you can’t visually identify their expressions, you don’t know what thinking, whether they’re a threat or not. These categories are the basic building blocks used in today's horror media today.

This topic here will cover the general types of horror we see often in video games which are the “Psychological horror” and “Survival horror”. First let’s start with psychological horror. Or...

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... general case with most survival horror games, they often punish players for acting to carelessly while rewarding players who value their characters lives.

Works Cited
"“The 3 Types of Terror: The Gross-out: The Sight of a Severed Head Tumbling down a Flight of Stairs, It's When the Lights Go out and Something Green and Slimy Splatters against Your Arm. The Horror: The Unnatural, Spiders the Size of Bears, the Dead Waking up and Walking Around, It's When the Lights Go out and Something with Claws Grabs You by the Arm. And the Last and Worse One: Terror, When You Come Home and Notice Everything You Own Had Been Taken Away and Replaced by an Exact Substitute. It's When the Lights Go out and You Feel Something behind You, You Hear It, You Feel Its Breath against Your Ear, but When You Turn Around, There's Nothing There...”." Goodreads. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.