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Is there even “Christian horror”? I can never tell horror from thrillers, except I suppose horror has more undead in it.
You made some good points there, about Christians aren’t allowed to be as edgy as secular horror authors, and also there’s the predictability that the good guys will always win. But what does make horror scary, anyway?
… I’m trying to think of a book that creeped the heck out of me. Turn of the Screw comes to mind. Also the Dekker/Peretti book House. The ending, good or bad, wasn’t what disturbed me–it was the freaking creepy stuff that happened in the middle. But I don’t read that genre much and I’m not very used to it.
What other Christian horror is there, anyway? Is it cliched or badly written or are the lights just too bright in it? I don’t know.
It’s a matter of semantics. Christian publishers do not like the term “horror” — probably because it invokes slasher flicks and blood and guts — so they use the world “thriller,” “chiller,” or “suspense.” But the genres are virtually the same. Think of all the religiously-themed movies that are labeled horror: The Exorcist, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Legion, Constantine, Fallen, The Rite, etc.
I haven’t read House. The only “Christian” book I’ve read that came close to really “scaring” me was probably Tosca Lee’s, Demon: A Memoir. The “horror” was more psychological than visceral. But the cannon of Christian horror is growing. Dekker and Peretti are probably the big names. Then you’ve got authors like T.L. Hines, Mike Dellosso, Anne Rice might be considered, Bob Liparulo, Eric Wilson’s Undead Trilogy, and others.
The psychology of the thriller, for me, is more horrifying than blood and guts. Remember that movie Signs, with the crop circles and the noises on the baby monitor? You never see anything, and it’s what you don’t see that scares the heck out of you.
House, though, was every horror cliche they could think of, all mashed into one book. When the rednecks came out with the meat cleavers and chainsaws, I was all, “Really?” I suppose it was scary (more disgusting than anything), but I kept choking on the cliches and couldn’t get past them.
I’ve had the same kind of cold horror evoked by books like Aunt Maria by Diana Wynne Jones. The sweet, fluffy old lady with her tea parties, who rules the town with an iron fist with her magic powers. It was so believable (and Maria so unstoppable as she sweetly killed people off) that it freaked me out.
Duran — Christians need to harness the element of “Oh you’re so f***ed” element as that ‘s what I am good at doing. When Christians get over hearing the f-bomb and start writing with it — believe me horror for Christians will be very hardcore. The Diner had these elements and it kept up with us in Tabloid Purposes and The Gazette: Issue Five. I held my own with Lucia but I held back when I appeared him. Christians still need to be able to harness a darker climate to be very convincing with it to have their faith shine but even then the Christians have the unresolved elements even when they pray it doesn’t change the circumstance.
Nice vlog, Mike! Now I feel as if I’ve met you. 🙂 You made some great points, the main one being that the good guy always win. Admittedly, I haven’t read much Christian horror because I’m a sissy when it comes to getting scared, but I believe that having good prevail over evil would be an integral part of the ending. Small battles could be lost (a great parallel to real life), but in the war to end all wars – God wins hands down. Call me naive. 🙂
Thanks for commenting, Donna! Having good prevail over evil is typically considered to be “an integral part” of Christian fiction. True, most readers / film-goers want a happy ending. I just think Christians are not as tolerant of ambiguity as we should be. While “God wins” in the end, we should not take this to nothing is lost. Which is why the Book of Revelation contains some of the most glorious images alongside some of the most horrific. So I’m not sure acknowledging a redemptive resolution necessarily means an absence of horror or ambiguity. Appreciate your thoughts.
Well — with my work, not even God will know the outcome and the endings, sometimes happy endings are nonexistent as Scared Warrior on Wicked Generation relates. I love scaring the King James Only movement and can go toe-to-toe with Hellraiser as I have a new story that’s going to engage a style that takes on the Cenobites in terms of delivery as in ISIS/ISIL. The Onlyite Movement is more Twilight Zone than Christianity where you can go H. P. Lovecraft on them and see how many shocked reactions they have — they’d think you read the Necronomicon with the way I wrote.
Hi Mike! Great points. I’ll toss in my thoughts on what *is* scary. Yesterday I read T. S. Eliot’s play “Murder in the Cathedral,” which is about Archbishop Thomas Becket. The Becket character easily rebuffs standard temptations, pleasure and power, that sort of thing — but he is deeply affected when a tempter comes at him with his own desire to be elevated as a martyr. As a Christian, that element struck me as terrifying — the subversion of one’s service to God, or more specifically, one’s motives to serve. It’s not the murder that is disturbing, but the idea of succumbing to temptation under the guise of following the will of God. The play ends with ambiguity on this point (unless I didn’t “get” it, which is possible!), and that goes back to a point you’ve made before about Christian fiction always being wrapped up with a tight bow. My opinion is that ambiguity is ultimately more frightening than blood and guts.
Wow! Great thoughts, Brandy. It reminded me of a movie I saw a while back and really enjoyed, Paranoid Park. It’s not a horror movie by any stretch. But there is one horrific scene in which someone is accidentally killed in gruesome fashion. The kid who caused it is never caught and simply learns to live with the “crime / accident.” His emotional deadness ends up being just as “horrific” as the actual crime.
I agree with the posters above, House really wasn’t frightening. In fact Dekker and Peretti aren’t very frightening to me at all. Although I wonder if Christian horror fiction NEEDS to have the forces of good prevailing at end in order for it to be Christian. If the predictability factor lies within the good guys winning, why are so many Christians still writing predictable endings? It is something that has always gotten to me. I prefer ambiguity in some of my horror stories. Likewise, in a screenplay that I am working on, I know that good won’t exactly prevail in the end but protagonist’s attitude towards the supernatural will change.
As far as frightening books are concerned, Mike have you read L. Ron Hubbard’s “Fear” or Stephen King’s “IT”? I wasn’t jumping out of my boots or anything, but both titles were enough to make me weary before heading to bed. Tim Curry’s face on the book cover didn’t make sleeping any easy.
*Any easier*
Grammar correction done!!
Very good vlog post, Mike. I’ve been by a few times and it was great to be able to both see and hear you.
I think you really nailed it. It is very easy to frighten people with my books when they don’t care to be scared, but anyone who regularly reads and watches the genre may not be scared in the least. The trick will be finding new twists and turns, and more original plots. As you rightly put it, there is only so far we can push those boundaries. As much as I would like to be considered a Christian Horror author, perhaps it would be better to find another name for it anyway.
Take care.
-Jimmy
Read the Bunker by J. Rawbone. It’s definitely edgy.
The Exorcist ws a Christian Horror and if that does not scare what will.
In response to Christian publishing and horror, Athanatos Publishing Group recently published The Devil’s Choir, my debut Christian horror novel and publicized it as a horror novel though they could have called it a supernatural thriller or even a mystery. With so many books available because of the ease of self publishing (one example) it’s so tempting try to categorize everything. The elements of horror fiction are prevelant in many books that aren’t marketed as horror and sometimes it’s the other way around. As a Christian, I think it’s important that Christian writers not run away from “horror” because we live in a pretty scary world and it’s incumbent upon us to deal with or explain our faith and put it in context. Christian horror allows us to deal with deeper subjects and faith and to ignore it would be to do so at our own risk if we are wanting to convey a message to the masses. I don’t think the good guy always has to win because in life, the good guy doesn’t always prevail. The difference is that in the end good does. And I totally agree, Mike. The Exorcist is about as scary as anything I’ve read or watched and it’s built on a pretty firm Christian worldview.
Are they looking for some serious dark scary shit? I have my story Blackened Horror Reality a cyber-slipstream going around. I will have a definite hard time getting into markets where they are faith based because I have a delivery that’s blistering, angry and scathing — I write the way real heavy metal has something to say. “It’s dark, it’s heavy and intelligent — most of all it says f*** you!” That is the aspect where I will cause a real shitstorm with Christians where I am not afraid to throw around an f-bomb and hit hard as possible. Polaroids From The Imagination and The Pattern Of Diagnosis both have frightening histories to them and also true.
Christians who explore dark, nihilistic ideas and asking if one dines on their own shit and drinks their own piss of The King James Only Movement — I guess when they see me; they call me a demon possessed coward but this one goes in and hits twice as hard as H. P. Lovecraft. Really creating something that’s downright macabre such as a snake kissing preacher shitting out his entrails when he gets bit by one.