The Anatomy of Horror

The genre horror, in its most elemental form, is the cathartic exploration of human nature--the examination of what people fear with the hope of overcoming that fear/evil through some means or another. It is there to bring to the surface the things that people in general don't like to face and force them to face it. Whether it is through this act alone that allows people to get in touch with their higher selves or whether a moral is told through specific tales of horror--the need for catharsis and an eventual epiphany through that catharsis should be the focal point of every horror. All in all, I will say that this is pretty much stating the obvious, especially to all horror fans out there. But people need to be reminded of this.

With all the horror works that come out each year, it's becoming too easy to get caught up in the gore for the sake of gore; the shock for the sake of shock, while missing the entire point of what horror is meant to be. Yes, horror movies and stories are there to entertain, but all art (even the darker forms), in my view, should be there to make us into better people, in some way or another, rather than to degrade us.