Horror Blog: The Blurred Lines Between Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy By
James Whittington, Sunday 29th June 2014
“The 3 types of terror: The Gross-out: the sight of a severed head tumbling down a flight of stairs, it's when the lights go out and something green and slimy splatters against your arm. The Horror: the unnatural, spiders the size of bears, the dead waking up and walking around, it's when the lights go out and something with claws grabs you by the arm. And the last and worse one: Terror, when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It's when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel its breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there's nothing there...” ―Stephen King
For all the Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror fanatics out there…this post was written just for you! I bet some of you notice how much of the content on the Horror Channel also contains Sci-Fi and even Fantasy through shows like Doctor Who, War of the Worlds, and even Xena: The Warrior Princess. And one might ask, ‘why is this so?’ Well, you came to the right person because I know a little something about horror and I want to take this opportunity to show to what extent fantasy/Sci-Fi influence horror.
First things first, I want to beg the question as to whether anyone of you can truly categorize and define these film genres from one another because I sure can’t. Obviously, Sci-Fi shows like Doctor Who tend to fuse science with fiction, while Fantasy shows like Xena focus their settings and narratives completely around the supernatural and the imaginary. But when you think about it, there are sooooo many aspects between Sci-Fi and Fantasy that overlap.
For instance, both genres try to recreate worlds that differ from this one in ways that push the boundaries between what is real and surreal. This grey space between the real and the imaginary by no doubt gave way to the Horror flick. Just about every Sci-Fi/Fantasy involves a heroic protagonist who faces the great dilemma of protecting his or her people from an extremely-evil force, villain, or monster. I’m sure we all at one point of time in our childhood found ourselves getting scared sh*tless, while watching people on TV get zapped and vaporized by a giant robot or devoured by a giant spider. No matter how cheesy the special effects were or how many times we were told by our parents how these monsters were not real, our kid-selves may still have gotten goose bumps and creeped out. And this fear of the unreal and unknown is what constitutes the CORE of horror films!
As seen from the quote above, Horror is all about messing with your head and creatively using as many tactics, from creaking stairs to a maniacal laugh, to scare the pants off you. And these tactics may even go beyond what is physically and logically possible by drawing on the uncanny and the supernatural, through ghosts, vampires, the boogeyman, etc. Like Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror deconstructs what we think to be reality in ways that are first subtle and normal. Most if not all of these films begin with a character that go about their normal lives at work or school, before encountering something odd and out of the ordinary, which they must overcome or avoid altogether. But the small thing I believe differentiates Horror from Sci-Fi/Fantasy is having characters who do not know the source of the conflict, let alone its solution. And this cliff-hanger is what draws us viewers in to the point of no return where the film’s ending is left to our imagination.
So, here was my little spoof on Sci-Fi/Fantasy and how they each contribute to Horror Films. I hope I convinced you that horror is not JUST horror because it may in fact take on other film genres and categories. To see what I mean be sure to tune into Horror Channel.
Otherworldly forces take over Horror Channel with Supernatural Week, eight nights of ghostly scares highlighted by the Channel premieres of Paranormal Activity, and creepy body horror, It Follows.
The special event, running from Saturday 15 May - Saturday 22 May, also sees the return of genre favourites such as demon chiller Firstborn, John Carpenter's classic car-rage chiller Christine, the twisted supernatural gasper Sinister, the star-studded supernatural cult classic Flatliners, the paranormal chiller The Quiet Ones, and Sean Byrne's devastating ride into psychological trauma, The Devil's Candy.
SHARE: READ MOREHorror Channel presents two classic monstrous movie marathons for the Easter Weekend
Posted on Monday 22nd March 2021
Horror Channel presents Classic Marathon Weekend - two monstrous movie marathons for the Easter Weekend, kicking off at 1pm on Saturday 3rd April with Classic Horror Day, featuring some of the most iconic monster movies of all-time, including: Ted Browning and Karl Freund's Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi as the infamously seductive Count, James Whale's genre-defining Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff, Karl Freund's mesmerising The Mummy, with Boris Karloff further establishing himself as one of the great horror stars in film history, The Wolf Man, with Lon Chaney, Jr. as the original werewolf and the pulp horror classic Creature From The B...
SHARE: READ MOREHorror Channel bares its teeth in March with Vampire Week
Posted on Tuesday 16th February 2021
Time to get the garlic out as Horror Channel presents Vampire Week, a bitefest of vampire movies from 13 - 19 of March, led by the channel premiere of 30 Days Of Night, David Slade's savage riff on the vampire myth, starring Josh Hartnet and Melissa George.
There are also classics and cult favourites to sink your teeth in to, including Matt Reeves' critically-acclaimed vampire fantasy Let Me In, and Tom Holland's voracious teen vampire hit Fright Night, John Carpenter's Vampires, a horror Western starring James Woods, as a vengeful, stake-wielding bloodsucker hunter, and Francis Ford Cappolas powerful Bram Stoker's Dracula, starring Gary Oldman as the im...
Horror Channel has three thrilling primetime Saturday night channel premieres in February including the UK TV premiere of Chee Keong Cheung's REDCON-1, a British zombie action epic, starring Mark Strange as a Special Forces operative battling a virus outbreak, Plus, there are Channel premieres for Eat Locals in which actor Jason Flemying makes his directorial debut with a bloodsucking comedy chiller featuring Mackenzie Crook, Dexter Fletcher and Annette Crosbie, and The One, James Wong's flashy superhero martial arts drama, starring Jet Li and Jason Stratham.
Other highlights for February include the John Carpenter remake of Village Of The Da...
Horror Channel gets the New Year off to a horrifying start with three thrilling primetime Saturday night channel premieres, including John Schlesinger's gripping psychological thriller Pacific Heights, starring Melanie Griffith, Matthew Modine and Michael Keaton. Plus, there's Clive Barker's dark monster fantasy Nightbreed, starring David Cronenberg, and Anthony DiBlasi's claustrophobic, intensely creepy Last Shift.
Other highlights for January include Bernard Rose's Frankenstein, a stylishly smart update of the classic myth, starring Xavier Samuel, Danny Huston, Carrie-Anne Moss and Tony Todd, Scott Stewart's compulsive alien home-invasion thriller Dark Skies, Serenity, the big screen continuation o...
Xmas hauntings, festive nightmares, sadistic serial killers and warrior priests...Be prepared for seasonal shocks a-plenty on Horror Channel this December, with a selection of prime-time movies including an Xmas Day screening of Frank Khalfoun's boundary-pushing Christmas crime slasher P2, starring Wes Bentley and the George Clooney/Steven Soderbergh produced Wind Chill, in which Emily Blunt spends Christmas Eve fighting off a horde of menacing apparitions.
Also unwrapped are John Carpenter's classic car-rage chiller Christine, vampire action thriller Priest, starring Paul Bettany, the high velocity sci-fi drama Skyline and the supernatural twister Sinister, starring...
Horror Channel has moved to Freeview Channel 68 so you may need to re-tune to ensure you don't miss out on our super scary Halloween line-up plus much more.
Any issues with retuning check the Freeview website.
Saturday nights in November belong to the vice-like grip of Possessed Season on Horror Channel, with Channel premieres for Exorcist: The Beginning, the prequel to The Exorcist, starring Stellan Skarsgard as Father Merrin, the demon-beleaguered priest, and The Exorcist III, written and directed by William Peter Blatty. There is also a UK TV premiere for Chad Archibald's chilling occult fantasy The Heretics, and Scott Derrickson's supernatural chiller Deliver Us From Evil completes the devilish line-up.
Here's the full line-up:
The season begins on the 7th with Exorcist: The Beginning. Having abandoned his faith, Father Merrin joins an archaeological excavation in Kenya, where ...
The final day of Grimmfest 2020 holds five movies which will truly satisfy the horror needs of every genre fan out there.
Death Ranch from prolific film maker Charlie Steeds takes us right back to the days of Blaxploitation movies and ups the violence and gore to its limit. 1970s USA, Three African American siblings on the run from the police take refuge at an abandoned Tennessee Ranch, unaware their hideout is on the hunting grounds of a cannibalistic Ku Klux Klan cult...Trapped and tortured, the three must fight tooth and nail to escape alive and take down the bloodthirsty Klan. Incredibly strong and incredibly violent the film doesn't stray from its...
Today at Grimmfest, Mick Garris, who has been awarded the Horror Channel Grimmfest Lifetime Achievement Award will be taking part in a live Q&A. Earlier in the week he chatted to Horror's Channel Manager Stewart Bridle about his career.
Another big day at Grimmfest 2020 with five more movies that are designed to intrigue and shock in equal measures.
First up is I Am Ren which takes the soul of Philip K. Dick and places it firmly into a living nightmare. A young woman goes into therapy after she starts to believe that she is an android. Is she having a breakdown, is she being gaslighted by an abusive husband, or is she really the synthetic wife and mother REN v.4.3? This film has the ability to keep you guessing throughout its duration. With bleak camerawork it mixes psychological horror with emotion perfectly.
One movie that's really making people talk is Rent-A-Pal from Jon Stevenson. 1990. Lonely bachelor David seeks e...