My kind of horror

When it comes to horror, I really like a good story. I like to be drawn into the unnerving situation, with good characters and a consistent atmosphere. But most of all, I love survival horror. The idea that the characters are already on the back foot, or that they have no idea just how bad the situation they've walked into actually is.

For example, I enjoy Alien for this very reason.

The believable crew of the Nostromo are thrust into a situation that escalates beyond their understanding. I say 'believable,' because that is the first thing that grounds me in their reality. The dialogue and people feel real, as does their attitude to the work they do aboard their vast, maze-like vessel. It all feels so lived in. The continuous build-up in their character development gives me time to know the crew and feel like part of their world. That's what makes destroying them a more painful experience in the end, and helps give the story it's power right through to its conclusion.

And what is their eventual destructor in this classic survival horror? The jet-black insectoid alien (designed originally by the artist, H.R. Giger) they encounter on the crashed, and very alien vessel on LV 426.

With survival horror, you never give your characters too many chances to escape. But false hope? Well, fill-ya-boots! Keep the reader or viewer guessing as to whether it's even possible to survive the nightmare. This happens a lot in Alien as the alien takes on 3 distinctive forms to keep the crew guessing as to what to prepare for next as their arrogance and ignorance gives way to chaos and despair. The first of the 3 forms they encounter is the Face hugger, a football-sized spider-like creature that attaches itself to someone's face to lay an egg inside the hosts chest. The first issue the crew have with this alien arachnid seem simple, bring the incapacitated crew member back onto their ship, breaking basic quarantine rules, and take it off. This fails spectacularly when the alien, in its second incarnation, bursts out from the unsuspecting crew member's chest and quickly escapes. The mindset here is that it's quick and small. So the crew adapt accordingly, why wouldn't they? wouldn't you? So a small net and an electric cattle prod should do the trick, surly? The 3rd incarnation is when the alien is a fully matured nine foot tall armour plated multi-jawed killing machine. By this point the remaining crew are terrified and without even having seen this beast for themselves, they are willing to abandon ship as they are aware they don't stand a chance against its stealthy attacks.

The joy of Alien for me, is watching the escalating survival situation play out and how the crew responds logically to everything as I probably would, whilst using only what's available on the ship to keep themselves safe. With such an uncomfortable grounding in realism I can allow myself to believe everything I watch with baited breath. I start to imagine how I would act in the same position. I'd probably not be anywhere near as clearheaded or affective at coping as Ripley was, back in the day. I'd probably be the poor sod at the beginning wearing the face hugger as a Covid mask if I'm brutally honest 😂

Predator is the same for me, it is established at the start by showing you a jaw-droppingly efficient, elite team of soldiers who, not only talk the talk, but totally walk the walk. The fight they have with a sizable Guerrilla force in the jungle at the start is unapologetically brutal and establishes how well they work together as a team. This is also witnessed by the Predator; a big game hunter from another planet. Keeping the Predator cloaked and hidden all the way through the film works extremely well as a concept, as it means it can jump out at anytime, kill or snatch a character, and vanish just as quickly.

One by one this macho force is taken apart in increasingly brutal ways and you realise, in the end, that this creature is the most serious adversary the team has ever faced and that it is ten times more brutal than they are.

28 Days Later is another good example of survival horror, where with practically nothing but the hospital gown you woke up in, you have to flee relentlessly savage, fast-running zombies as well as psychotic soldiers through the empty streets of modern London.

The Blair Witch Project, is another one I adore. I love watching this young group of keen, hopeful people go out to the woods in what, in my opinion, kickstarted the 'found footage' genre. The filmmakers do an excellent job of building up the myth of the Blair Witch story and find mysteriously chilling things along their way. But by the time they realise they have attracted the attention of the unseen witch, it's too late. I remember seeing this in the cinema when it first came out and I had never seen anything like it. I actually wanted these kids to escape. All they had was camping equipment and a camera. But what they we're dealing with was Black Magic.

About a quarter of the way from the end, I remember I was wishing it would stop 😂 to this day I love this film!

Finally, It wouldn't be a chat about survival horror without a special nod to the Dawn of the Dead trilogy; Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. Again, it always triggers in me in a, 'what would I do,' kind of way. I hear my friends sometimes talking about what they would do in a Zombie apocalypse, like how cool I would be to kill the zombies, where would you hide out or what car you'd have. Personally, I think it's the selective, lazy mans apocalypse. No one I know ever wants a 28 day's later apocalypse, or a werewolf or vampire apocalypse. Given the choice, I'd take slow dumb cannibals any day if there are options. But unlike the end of Ghostbusters, you rarely get to choose the form of your destructor. The Dead Trilogy captures the imagination and makes it about the people you're trapped with until it becomes so unbearable that you'd prefer to take your chances out side with the "Walkers". I also Enjoy the escalation of the locations in the films, like first they're trapped in a house, then a shopping mall and finally an underground military base. They're great films and I watch them at least once a year.

For me, Survival Horror is the most gripping type of horror going and one I love to try and emulate sometimes when I write. I want the people who read my stories to feel the pain of the situation for themselves and to become the character in the story. Slashers are fun, but the best horror is the stuff of nightmares, the stuff that gets right under your skin and festers.