Week 7:

King describes horror as being defined through three basic elements. Explain, using references, what these three elements are. Think of a horror story you’ve read/watched/heard that makes use of all three of these elements and show how King’s definition is at play in that narrative.

The three basic elements that define horror are said to be terror, horror and gag reflex by the famous author Stephen King. These elements can be seen in the 2019 film “In the Tall Grass” directed by  Vincenzo Natali based on the Stephen King and Joe Hill’s 2012 novella of the same name the film is a good example of how these three elements come into narrative.

Terror is the feeling of dread it is basically induced by the mind because the human mind fears the unknown. This can be seen in the film where “Becky” and her brother “Cal” panic because when they enter the field the grass randomly changes their course which leaves them in even more fear when they weren’t able to run back to the car because they weren’t able find their way back to the car. This when the terror kicks in when watching the film because the audience get to witness the actors expression of dread and fear of the unknown.

Secondly, Horror is something that humans cannot comprehend it is beyond the human imagination. This can be seen the film “In the Tall Grass” where “Becky” gets carried by the unknown grass entity who take her to the rock that has prophetic drawings on it which tells her the future about her pregnancy. This leaves not only “Becky” horrified by what is happening to her but also the audience because we aren’t able to comprehend what is going on and how its possible for a rock to tell “Becky’s” future.

Lastly, revulsion is when the audience is disgusted by the horror of certain aspects of the story having a story that can cause the audience to be disgusted has a greater impact on an audience when it is exhibited through a film because of the graphics that is produced so it helps the audience feel disgusted. We are shown this in the film where “Becky” stabs the chracther “Ross” although she was trying to escape from “Ross” who was going to attack her it still leaves the audience in disgust because of how visually grpahic the scene is.

References:

King, S. (1981). Danse Macabre.

In the Tall Grass (film). (2020, October 28). Retrieved September 26, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Tall_Grass_(film)