The American Edgar Allan Poe is famous for his horror stories.
Terror is a very intense feeling of fear . Fear is defined as a distressing disturbance of the mood due to a real or imagined risk; When it overcomes brain controls and the subject cannot think rationally, terror appears.
Terror can cause cold sweats , paralysis of the body and, in the most extreme cases, death from cardiac arrest . The key to mastering fear and terror is self-control . Psychologists recommend trying to breathe slowly and try to clear your mind.
Horror as a genre
On the other hand, horror is a literary and cinematographic genre , which brings together those works that seek to cause fear in the recipient. Thus we find, for example, horror stories written by authors such as Edgar Allan Poe or Stephen King , or horror films such as "Friday the 13th." ( "Friday the 13th" or "Tuesday the 13th" , depending on the country).
As a genre within forms of entertainment, horror usually presents a series of characteristics, depending on the tendency of each author. First of all, the most common characters are usually ghosts, supernatural monsters, and psychopaths ; beings that are difficult to understand, with unpredictable minds and who generally have an insatiable thirst for death and revenge. Not knowing what will happen in the next few seconds, when the killer will jump on his next victim, is an element of suspense, which is closely related to terror.
Monsters, ghosts and zombies are common characters in horror stories.
Other type of resource
On the other hand, there is an opposite resource, which can be equally effective: giving the viewer, reader or player (depending on the format of the story) absolute and constant knowledge of the enemy 's location and intentions. Citing the phrase "ignorance is the basis of happiness", it is easy to understand the nervousness and anguish of an audience that knows at all times where the murderer is .
Returning to the kinds of characters that usually represent the cause of terror in these stories, there is a clear distinction between a ghost and a tangible being; Regardless of the degree of realism, a specter can appear and disappear, pass through walls, and is expected to generate psychic decompensation in its victims, leading them to suicide or a mental institution. On the contrary, a flesh and blood murderer, whether he comes from this world or a fantastic one, can use other types of weapons that cause physical damage.
Psychological horror and gore
This marks one of the first subdivisions of this very popular genre: psychological horror and gore . The first makes use of fewer special effects or graphic elements, in favor of others that provoke the audience's thinking and analysis, or that generate discomfort and insecurity; They affect your mind in a non-direct way. The second, coming from an English term, is characterized by the presence of extreme violence, blood, attacks with daggers and axes, which leave their victims disfigured.
There are also hybrids of both trends, as well as products from one subgenre or another that make use of predictable and ineffective elements. As with all arts, the secret to a work's success is not what it presents to its audience, but how it does it.
A period of the French Revolution
The period of the French Revolution between 1793 and 1794 is known as The Terror , where the revolutionaries carried out strong repression against the opponents. Maximilien Robespierre , one of the revolutionary leaders, assured that the so-called Terror was only swift, severe and inflexible justice. It should be noted that Robespierre himself was executed without trial or trial.
This political conception of terror led to state terrorism , which occurs when those in state power use repressive and unconstitutional methods to impose a dictatorship and have absolute control of society .