Horror and Location

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 13^th'. 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

1. Thomas Ligotti, The conspiracy against the Human Race (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2010), 185.
2. Maria Beville, The Unnameable Monster in Literature and Film (New York: Routeledge, 2014), 155.
3. Susan Hill, The Woman in Black, (Great Britain: Hamish Hamilton, 1983), 68.
4. Stephen King, ‘Salem’s Lot (London: Hodder, 2006), 289.