POLL DISCUSSION Horror!

[Reverie]

It's the spookiest time of the year, so it's time to talk about a spooky topic. Horror is generally a polarizing genre, and most people I've met either love it or hate it — with or without the caveat of subgenres. Do you enjoy horror as a genre? Are there specific subgenres you like? What about ones you don't like? Do you enjoy horror in all mediums, or are you more specific in your taste? Do you roleplay horror, or is it something you've wanted to try roleplaying but haven't?

Personally, I am quite a fan of horror, and I could make an argument that it is my favourite genre. I enjoy almost all genres and takes, but have a special fondness for ghost stories and body horror (and a secret third thing I am sure I am forgetting). I engage with horror in all mediums, and I am known to enjoy horror films — both low budget and acclaimed, but my favourite media for horror is unquestionably podcasts. And while I love a good full cast recording, I like the ones where it is one person telling a story the best. It's like someone telling you a personal story. When it comes to roleplaying, I haven't actually written very much horror, despite it being a genre I'm always looking for. It can be a little difficult to set up in most roleplays, I think.

What about you?

 

[Fluffy]

Horror is one of my most favorite things in the world. I love spooks—anything to do with monsters, body horror, Lovecraft, and demons. Slashers, comedy horror, gothic fiction, found footage, witches, and dark fantasy are awesome, too. I will watch pretty much anything. Low budget films are fun, but so are the fancier ones with all the high-end effects. :D

As for things I don't like, hm... Anything too overly gory, for one. There's only so much of that I can handle. I also don't like the Saw movies, I'm not big on Paranormal Activity, either. And I get squeamish around cannibalism. I can handle zombies okay for some reason but a regular person eating another person gets to me. XD

Roleplaying horror is fun. I have a couple of horror rps going on. I'm pretty excited about them. It's so much fun to go into detail about how scary something is.

 

[Cat - Wolfspear]

I definitely need more horror rps in my life because I love writing it so much - the only problem is my horror tends to get gorey and nobody really likes that in rp XD

I don't know why my writing tends to lean that way when I actually don't watch/engage with a lot of gorey horror maybe its an insecurity thing with writing more psychological horror. Who knows XD

ANYWAY I fucking love horror - when I get some money coming in I'm definitely subscribing to Shudder so I can binge all the horror <3

Edit: I have Shudder for this month!

 

[Lyrikai]

I adore writing horror! I love being able to write something spooky that people will read and go "Oooooh that was creepy". I definitely don't get a chance to do that too much LOL

I just love horror in general. I am a big ass wimp that shrieks at everything, but damn do I love being scared! I love all the supernatural creatures and the spooky ghosts and spoops!
Not as big of a fan of the more gory gross out horror like Saw or the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. More campy-style like 80s slashers with the ridiculous deaths and way too much fake blood are fine though. There's something satisfying and sometimes just so silly in watching the deaths in those XD

 

[Manna Beast]

I wanna say I love it but I actually really don't. Thriller stuff, absolutely. Horror, mmm nope. I get super creeped out easily and then I am a whiny tit that has to hide under the blankets. Yet I love things like the OG FNAF and Soma game. A few other horror style ones but nothing I can think off the top of my head.

I scare easily and will be an absolute baby about it that I might as well be a backpack to my husband, cause I won't leave him alone when I get spooped.

 

[noodle]

I love, love, love very specific genres of horror. I also dislike some genres.

Not a fan of horror *movies* in general, I tend to prefer games, video series, or stories over films. But especially not slashers or torture porn. I like the idea of slasher villains and some vibes of the genre but not actually watching it, yaknow.

I'm a squeamish person so while I'm fine with animated or drawn blood and gore, live action stuff just turns my stomach in a bad way. I didn't like IT for that reason, and I think I'd like it way more as an animated film. The exception is probably Stranger Things, I guess. Also not a fan of mindless jumpscares, so I never got into FNAF.

Mostly I like psychological, religious, and cosmic horror. I like it when animals are Wrong, or when a place itself turns against you, or when some unassuming person definitely knows too much. That kind of stuff. I've been huge on Slay the Princess, Dredge, and FAITH recently. My OG horror love is Doki Doki Literature Club though! (And I guess the True Lab in Undertale, lmfao)

I need to write more horror. I started one short story that I really liked for last year's Halloween writing contest and never finished it because it went over the character limit >.<

 

[CreativeLurker]

Honestly! If you're asking about Roleplaying, it's up there with my favorite genre. (Which those who know me, is Romance.) I haven't written a lot of horror roleplays, mostly since it's quite difficult to find people with the same tolerance. But that could be said about roleplaying in general.

My favorite Horror sub-genre to write? Probably Bloody gory things. Character losing their shit and beating someone to a bloody pulp? Yes please. Non-human character gorging themselves on an unsuspecting person? Yummy. Stalkers driven by romantic feelings is another favorite; a character with low self-esteem somehow ending up in the eyes of some psychotic killer who's willing to do anything to make the character feel loved? Yes please.

My favorite way to consume horror that isn't in roleplay form is through ASMR Roleplays. (Think of 'Sacrificed to a werewolf to keep the forest at bay .' type of stuff.)

All in all? I love horror when it's paired with romantic themes.

 

[Lun4Ghost]

I definitely enjoy spooky stuff. I love watching movies and playing video games in that genre. Yeah, I scare easy but that doesn't deter me. I don't really get it. Either way, horror is a genre I really enjoy. For that, I don't exactly have a favorite or least favorite subgenre. I enjoy them all. I love anything bloody, gory, and jump out of your skin scary. I even enjoy it when characters get themselves in a sticky situation. Them getting caught by a psychotic killer, the character gets a stalker for any reason, or whatever it may be, I love it.

As for roleplaying it? I never done a horror type roleplay. I don't know if I'll enjoy it since I'm horrible at writing anything scary but I'm willing to give it a try. Of course, I would love it if it's spun in with romance. It makes it more interesting and gets me curious about how the characters get to that point. All in all, I enjoy a good fright.