Defining horror is tricky and I've been trying to do it for years. Horror fits into every genre to some degree but for some reason it fits into mysteries like fries into ketchup. Maybe it is because mysteries often stare into the faces of death and corruption. A good example that leaps to the top of my head is the movie Se7en. People keep saying it isn't horror but I insist that it is for its bleakness, its willingness to explore the nature of evil, and its overall chilling tone.

Horror and mystery started hanging out together since day one. Edgar Allan Poe is credited not only as a master of horror but as the creator of the detective story with, "Murders of the Rue Morgue," a tale as horrifying as it was baffling. If exploited correctly, the sense of mystery and danger can create a permeating atmosphere of terror. That's one of the reasons that Robert Bloch's novel Psycho works so well. The old house and the motel provide a mouldering and creepy stage. The protagonists know so little about what they are walking into and no one is entirely sure who killed Mary Crane. The solution is terrifying for madness it reveals. In that way it works as a whodunit and a horror story.

Another good example is The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. The moors provide an ominous landscape and its chilling effect is only dispelled when Sherlock Holmes solves the case, thus removing the fear of the unknown. Typically in mysteries, the detective restores order and removes the threat, unless your author is John Dickson Carr. His novel The Burning Court pulls the rug from under the readers' feet just when they feel reassured. Less unsettling but still potent are other novels by him such as It Walks By Night, Castle Skull, and The Crooked Hinge. Another notable chaotic mystery without the least amount of reassurance is Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. The ending to the movie Copycat also leads the audience to realize that order was not restored. In some stories, there are things beyond the protagonists' control. Christie's novel leads you to wonder if they had any control to begin with.

I can't explain all the mechanics of genre and always say why this is horror and this one isn't. To me, depends on overall effect. At any rate both labels are great fun and offer lifetimes worth of reading.

Written by Nicholas Montelongo

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