True fright

True fright is built on the more subtle characteristics of horror, like the atmosphere and places that the situations take place under. In Suffer The Little Children (King) the story takes place in a school, but ends in a asylum “ A year later ,under strictly controlled conditions, Miss Sidley was put in an experimental encounter- therapy session” (King.) After having killed the students, and not being obligated to going to trial, was put in a nut house. When I think of a nut house, I think of a place where the extremely mentally disturbed go to get better. But in this short story, the atmosphere quickly turns very unsettling because the psychiatrist sees the monsters as well. As well as this, the fact of having someone who is suppose to be helping you get through this situation also see what caused you to go crazy in the first place is discomforting. Second of all, horror is built on the more subtle characteristics of horror, like the contrast inbetween a happy, joyful place, and a dark and gloomy place like the catacombs. “It was about dusk, one evening during this supreme madness of the carnival season, that encountered my friend” (The Cask of Amontillado Poe.) The subtle contrast of where the story takes place, such as a carnival really drives you in, my having you believe that this is going to be a happy ending. But the mood quickly changes when Montresor brings Fortunato down in to the dark and gloomy, bone incrested catacombs. The air was not clean, and there was not only bone incrested walls, but there was also piles on bones in a corner of the room. The third most common fear is death. By adding the detail of having bones basically all over the catacombs, this creates terror, because bones is the remain of being killed or simply of just having an animal die. True fright is built on the more subtle characteristics of horror, like the time it takes place in. In Tell Tale Heart the narrator watches his victim from the darkness of his the old man’s room. “And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it- oh so gently!,” (Poe.) If you were going to have a story taken place in the natural day light, it would not create the feeling of terror because the sun is a kind of light who helps you see your surroundings. But darkness on the other hand creats the sense of terror because you can not see your surroundings, and it creates the fear of not knowing what may be lurking around your surroundings, like in this case. The narrator chose a time that he could not be seen to start stalking his victim, this causes a lot of wearisome in the readers eyes, but aswell as in the old man’s eyes because he can sense his presence, but can not see him. Gore is not the only thing who causes discomfort, you can approach your readers with that feeling by adding other subtle characteristic of horror.