Unsurprising as it may seem, location has
a colossal effect on horror. Whether it is the use of the vampire’s gothic
castle, or the cramped city overrun by the zombie horde, location is paramount
to how we perceive it. While also being undeniably linked to atmosphere, which
is incredibly useful when applied to location because it ‘is created by
anything that suggests an ominous state of affairs beyond what our senses
perceive and our minds can fully comprehend’ (Ligotti, 185).
Location in horror
can be accentuated very much by the atmosphere created by authors and
cinematographers (which often uses pathetic fallacy) especially those
‘saturated by isolation and seclusion’ (Beville, 155). This can be shown in many ways
through the different mediums open to horror and the use of enforced or
deliberate isolation is common when used in conjunction with its many
sub-genres. Especially the subgenres of body horror, slasher fiction,
supernatural fiction, and fiction involving humanoid monsters such as vampires
and werewolves.
Isolation is
used by these sub-genres in slightly different ways, in body horror, isolation
is often coupled with physical restraint. For instance, in the ‘Saw’ franchise,
in the task involving the reverse bear trap, the horror is created by the count
down towards the victim’s ultimate failure is heightened by her bondage and
utter isolation within the location depicted in the film.
In slasher
fiction the setting is often a house or some other teen-related setting, such
as a summer camp in the woods, somewhere the characters can be easily separated
and the attacker can cut off the character’s only means of escape or chase them
through a dark forest, like in 'Friday the 13th'. Leaving the audience
with the knowledge that even if the character does escape, their impending doom
is almost inevitable.
In supernatural
fiction there seems to be a more natural element to the isolation, as if nature
itself wants to prevent the protagonist from escaping, mists obscure the path
and ‘when the tide came in, it would be quite submerged and untraceable’ (Hill,
68). Fiction involving humanoid monsters generally uses the isolation of
individuals or small communities where the actions of the monster can go
largely unnoticed by the outside world.
Isolation can
also be used to heighten the tensions and paranoia between the characters. For
example, in John Carpenter's film ‘The Thing’, the paranoia felt by the
crew is heightened by that same sense of loneliness as they are left in the ‘open plains and mountains’ (Beville, 155).
They don’t know, out of the few people left, who the Thing has taken over.
Stephen King
sums up the true nature of isolation very well in his novel ‘’Salem’s Lot’:
“Alone. Yes, that's the key word, the most awful word in the English tongue. Murder doesn't hold a candle to it and hell is only a poor synonym.” (King, 289)
With sub-genres
like horde fiction and non-humanoid monsters it is generally cities and larger
communities that come under threat, possibly even humanity. This is the case
with books like ‘I Am Legend’ by Richard Matheson, in which the vampires take
over the world as Neville knows it, and the ‘Godzilla’ franchise which sets the
attacks against many different cities, from Tokyo to New York to Honolulu.
However, even within
some of these stories there is the same sense of solitude running through them.
Some films will isolate extras that may have no relevance to the overall
plotline and portray them dying, regardless of whether or not the audience feels
for them. However it just accentuates how, even in a crowded place, death is
faced alone.
Endnotes
Endnotes
- Thomas Ligotti, The conspiracy against the Human Race (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2010), 185.
- Maria Beville, The Unnameable Monster in Literature and Film (New York: Routeledge, 2014), 155.
- Susan Hill, The Woman in Black, (Great Britain: Hamish Hamilton, 1983), 68.
- Stephen King, ‘Salem’s Lot (London: Hodder, 2006), 289.
