The Characteristics of the Horror Genre

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Even since before modern horror and scary movies, the charcters of horror filled our hearts with fear, our heads with imagination, and our bodies with adrenaline. They are scary, vile, and yet we can’t keep away from them. Supernatural characters is something that used to intrique people since the beginning of horror. They are something unexplainable, non-existing, yet interesting enough to keep our attention and raise our fear. Witches, vampires, werewolves, spirits- all human with a special power. That is something that cannot miss to attract attention. Of course everything had to start somewhere. Ghost stories are one of the first supernatural stories. It is a tale in which such elements as ghostly visitations and supernatural intervention are used to further the plot and the chilling, suspenseful atmosphere. These stories are used everywhere, from folktales to religious works, and modern horror. One of the first ghost stories were those of Charles Dickens. Just the name Dickens is enough to give images of snowy Christmas and haunting spirits. Dickens had always loved a good ghost story himself, particularly at Christmas time, (Lane, 1956): „Christmas, as Dickens saw it, was a time for ghost stories, and he applied himself like a good journeyman to their manufacture“. He was open-minded, willing to accept, and indeed put to the test, the existence of spirits. Chilling as some of these stories are, Dickens has managed to inject characteristically grotesque comedy as he writes of insanity, pre-cognition, redemption, dream visions, and free will. A Christmas Carol, 1843 is the perfect example of that. Christmas time is usually viewed as the time of forgiveness, kindness, and the goodness it inspires in people. However, the main character Scrooge, is a cold, money-pinching grouch. He does not believe in Christmas spirit, or any kind of gentleness. However,
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