Poll: Horror Books?!?!?! Can a horror book compair to a horror movie or game?...

[unoleian]

Frankly, the OP depresses me. Books are the original birth of horror, and they do it VERY well.

More books have scared the shit out of me than any movies or games ever, and some of them weren't necessarily trying to be utterly horrific. Actually, a rather basic high-fantasy story I'm reading right now has a bit describing a guy's rape at the hands of some very vile demons, and the accompanying imagery my head comes up to match this scenario, coupled with as described in the book, was making me physically ill. It takes some serious gore-porn for a movie to pull that off.

On that point, nothing can be scarier than your own imagination. Among avid readers here, how many book-to-screen adaptations have tried to recreate horrors that never quite met your expectations or own design of what that horror was, either in physical appearance or otherwise?
I bet it's almost every single time that you come away disappointed.

 

[DustyDrB]

The descriptions in cormac Mccarthy's The Road are so grisly I had to put the book down a few times.

 

[Hunde Des Krieg]

Totally, H.P. lovecraft. I'm not entirely sure I would call it horror per se, but it definitely always leaves me with a sense of unease and suspense.

 

[macfluffers]

Although I believe that games and movies have greater potential for horror, great horror books exist, although I'll admit that they're not really my thing. The difference is that with a book, you can't instill horror with atmosphere or a sense of personal danger, but you instead have to display the level of horror present through the character's thoughts and actions. It's difficult, but it's been done.

 

[superbatranger]

1408,
At the Mountains of Madness,
The Raven,
Lord of the Flies,
The Historian,
Frankenstein,
Rebecca

So many books that simply wipe the floor with any movie. Movies can't unsettle you as much as book can, because you're always aware of being visually tricked.

Words, however, can get behind that carefully built facade, and remind you of things that used to scare you, that still scare you, and parts of yourself you're still afraid of.

I never meant to hurt them... Don't shout at me, Dad!

The Historian? Do you mean the one by Elizabeth Kostova?

OT: If you have the imagination, then yes, books can be as scary as a movie; they can even be scarier.

 

[Altorin]

what? If it weren't for great horror writing, we wouldn't have any horror media.

the idea that a book can't be scary but a movie or game can be is ludicrous. They're all about simulating an experience. In fact, the books are MORE effective at showing horror then movies or games. BETTER at it, not "lol, they can do that?", they do it BETTER.

reading a description of a horrible monster is much worse then actually seeing it. Because when you see it, you know it's fake. You look at it, and it's fake. No matter how good the effect the people are trying to use, it's fake. Inside your head its REAL, at least to you. Things that are inside your own head are real, when compared to the same thing outside your own head.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

The Historian? Do you mean the one by Elizabeth Kostova?

Very much so. Astounding book.

 

[superbatranger]

The Historian? Do you mean the one by Elizabeth Kostova?

Very much so. Astounding book.

I bought it on a whim a few months ago. I've read it at least 5 times. But there is one thing that always nags at me.