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This is the conclusion for the horror investigation for this year. This was a lot of fun, diving into the depths of some peeps minds and figuring out what really brings out the horror experience in them.
You have given me ideas >:3
I kid, but we’re going to end this with one more look at how horror media effectively rattles your bones. For this one, I’m going to be putting out what freaks me the hell out:
This alone is enough to freak me the fuck out.
What gets me in a lot of horror media can be summed up in one word: Dread. That fear of something being around the corner, that fear of something lurking in the deep. That fear that you can feel something on your heels, but you’re too terrified to look at it because you fear that it will be upon you right there and then. This kind of fear is something I’ve experienced in many a horror game, ranging from Resident Evil, to Amnesia. It’s also what I experience when watching certain horror movies, such as The Grudge (Yeah, the American version legitimately scared the shit outta me; I didn’t know of the original at that time…I STILL haven’t watched the original version) or the original Shutter.
Every time I can feel that something’s gonna happen, I get into as much of a fetal position as I can, with my head close to my shoulders as I press on in the game. If I’m watching a movie, I move my hands up by my ears. If I’m moving through a horrifying thing like a horror maze, I walk cautiously…Isaac Clarke style. SPEAKING OF WHICH, a few examples, if you will.
I’ve gone through life looking at many a horror game and being terrified of watching what happens, but
Dead Space 1 was the one game that truly brought back that fear in me. The darkness, the cramped-ness of the corridors of the Ishimaru—the ship that you are on—the monsters…that combination was what did a number on me. Even though the monsters in that game was easy to deal with, the amount of dread that I felt as I maneuvered through the Ishimaru was heavy around my entire body. And the sounds…good god, a sound in a dark place like the Ishimaru is something that you DO NOT want to hear.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is another example, but it combines that dread with a sense of helplessness. See, even though you can see the monsters in that game, you have absolutely no way of fighting them. Your best bet is to not be seen and stealthily move away from them. The thing is, for the longest time in Amnesia, you don’t actually see a monster. This actually is a great way of building up that apprehensive feeling in the game. It gets really heavy at a certain part, being the Storage room. The place itself is unusually dark (welcome back, nyctophobia, how I didn’t miss you XD ), and the lights that you use to light areas up don’t
really light everything up very well. You hear shit up in there.
This plays up on a familiar concept of how horror is a lot more effective the less you see the thing that’s trying to scare the living hell out of you. This was utilized well in the first haunt that I went through over at the Halloween Haunt down at Great America. The Werewolf Canyon maze had numerous moments where it LOOKED LIKE something was going to jump out at you, but it didn’t happen. Walking past something didn’t trigger anything, not until the very last minute. I was on edge the entire time, mainly because my horror gaming experiences have conditioned me to quickly shift around corners as fast as possible…but that would backfire as I wouldn’t find anything around the corner…and get incredibly scared D: .
So, that’s my take on what really gets under my skin when it comes to horror media. This usually leaves me a mess afterwards…or leaves me like the picture below.
Images courtesy of gameinformer.com, nathanvsvideogames.blogspot.com, mobygames.com. Bear image screencapped by me.
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