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Romance/Love: Halloween Edition
Horror and romance are not genres that are often thought of together. Romance is generally written for women while horror for men, but both horror and romance are a part of life and many great horror stories use romance to build tension.
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Romance as Control
One of the earliest examples of 'Romance' in horror is Dracula. The vampire at its most horrible is a seductive creature able to control people through emotions. One of the reasons this is so scary is because it is not easy to understand. When people are in love they do not think straight. They tend to make decisions that they would never make while single. The idea that love is blind is a very valuable idea to expand upon while telling a story.
Love as a Driving Force
One of the things that is often needed in horror is a reason for someone to do something that would otherwise be very stupid. Love is the perfect choice for this. Having the protagonists lover disappear is one possibility but not always the best. Perhaps the romantic interest has become a monster and the hero must try to defeat it or perhaps they have a disease which forces the protagonist into situations he or she would otherwise never go into.
Love Makes you Vulnerable
Being in love with someone means that there are now two people that you have to protect and protecting other people is often harder. This can give the protagonist a reason not to simply flee the situation. In addition, threatening the loved one may in some ways be worse than threatening the protagonist. There are a lot of other ways to explore this vulnerability as well and all of them can be explored better in horror than in almost any other genre.
Love is Scary
One of the most important things in horror is not knowing. Anyone who has heard anyone explain anything about the movie Jaws knows that the reason it was scary is because you didn't see the shark. Love can be a shark. How do you know that someone is really in love with you and not lying. The fear that you may be controlled, manipulated, or that they simply do not love you is always scary and horror can use this.
Romance is one of the most vulnerable and scary things that people put themselves through. Using that in your horror can give you a lot of of value. Whether it is a monster that makes a person fall in love, or the simple drive of being in love, they can all do a great job of making horror story seem both more real and more scary.
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Romance/Love: October 05, 2016 Issue [#7897]
