My Love for the Horror Genre by Gretta Droessler

At the start of 2025, I began to take interest in something that I never thought I would enjoy, the horror genre. At surface level, the horror genre can be seen as mindlessly scary or just as movies filled with blood and guts. I used to look at horror as just being scary with no substance. That’s why I stayed away from the genre for so long. However, I used a certain thought process for myself to get into the horror genre.  

At the end of 2024, a video game called Piglet’s Big Game was becoming more popular. It was a Winnie the Pooh licensed game for the GameCube. However, many people who played the game noticed how strangely scary and eerie it truly is. The game builds up the atmosphere and makes a genuine attempt to be creepy. Even if it is just for kids, it is still considered fairly scary. Noticing the game, I began to think of why the creators decided to make a children's horror game. I’ve come to a conclusion; this game could be a kid-friendly alternative for other horror media. It would be a way for them to get into the genre without being subject to horrors only meant for an adult’s eyes.  

Then, I remember my childhood and my experience with horror media. I used to love experiencing horror as a kid. Of course, the horror media I had engaged with wasn’t actually that scary, such as Luigi’s Mansion for the GameCube, but it gave me a good idea of what I like and how I enjoy the horror genre. After realizing this, I decided to play a horror game I was too afraid to play for a long time, Silent Hill. Silent Hill is about finding your daughter in an abandoned town that’s covered in fog; it’s a psychological horror that makes you second guess all your decisions and questions the human mind. This game single-handedly got me into the horror genre to this day. I have experienced more horror games such as Signalis and Late Homework. I have also expanded my horizons to movies like Alien and The Thing.  

Horror can be a wonderful genre to experience. I find comfort in the genre myself, since it can be viewed as escapism. The horror genre can be experienced in a safe controlled environment, a way to focus on the horrors we can control rather than the horrors we cannot control in our own lives. Horror can also be viewed like a roller coaster ride, where there are excitement and twists and turns whenever you ride. A nice change of pace from our average lives without any kind of thrill.  

I’d like to finish off this blog by saying how much the horror genre has changed me. What once was something I feared, now I actively seek in pieces of art. It gives me comfort to be within the rusty metal hell that is Silent Hill killing abstract monsters I could barely even comprehend.