Category: Posts by H.J. Dutton
Five Tales of Avian Terror
by H.J. Dutton No animal in mythology and fiction has had stronger associations with horror than the bird. Millennia before James O’Barr’s brooding series The Crow was collected into a graphic novel in 1993 and adapted into a cult film classic in 1994, corvids were associated with death and other ill tidings. Their natural role
Five Stories About Bugs and Creepy Crawlies
by H.J. Dutton and Reese Hurd The popularity of some topics in horror doesn’t require much explaining. Bugs, for example. Through millions of years of evolution, humans developed an instinctual aversion to insects and arachnids, a survival mechanism that protects us from toxins, disease, and infestation. The horror genre routinely exploits our primal fears of
Five Stories About the Urban Underground
by H.J. Dutton Few places can fill the mind with unease like the subway. The slick tiled halls, the platforms of cold concrete, the tracks crawling with rats, and the black abysses of the tunnels–and don’t forget the sounds and smells, the drips, the groans, the putrescent garbage and… what on Earth smells like that
Resident Evil: A Retrospective
by H.J. Dutton and Reese Hurd In 1989, Kiyoshi Kurosawa directed Sweet Home, a supernatural j-horror film in which a film crew visits a deceased artist’s estate and encounters the violent spirit of the man’s wife. Kurosawa disowned the project after producer Juzo Itami edited the final cut without Kurosawa’s permission. Today, people are likely
Revisiting the Creepypasta
by H.J. Dutton “Creepypasta” is a spin on the term “copypasta,” which refers to a piece of text uploaded online that circulates through communities via copy-and-paste. Horror writers could share and circulate stories in this manner, which made them an all-consuming presence on the web, especially on cultural hubs like Reddit and YouTube. The phenomenon
Stories About Abandoned Places
by H.J. Dutton and Reese Hurd Almost everyone, regardless of where they grew up, remembers “that place.” It’s an old building either on the edge of town or right smack in the middle of it. If it’s made of brick or concrete, chances are its corpse has been festering there since before your birth. For
Internet Analog Horror: The New Kid on the Block
by H.J. Dutton Though analog horror isn’t a new phenomenon, the term “analog horror” itself is relatively new. It came into popular use around the late 2010s with the creation of popular experimental web series. I’ll cover some of those projects, but first I want to tackle definitions. What is analog horror? Followers and creators
Eight Stories About Liminal Spaces
by H.J. Dutton and Reese Hurd In 2019, a user on 4chan posted an eerie photo of what seemed like an empty office or retail space referred to as “The Backrooms.” The post states that this space is not of our world but an alternate dimension, categorized by the stench of old carpets, mono-yellow walls,
Five Horror Stories About Spores, Lichens, and Fungi
by H.J. Dutton What is it about the horror genre and fungi? Fungal blooms and infestations pop up throughout horror history–fungal horror is perhaps prolific enough to be considered its own subgenre. A foundational work from the early 19th century is Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839), in which fungus
Ten Classic Folk Horror Stories
by H.J. Dutton Folk horror, in general terms, centers around folklore. More specifically, “folk horror” includes any horror story that derives its unease from folk tales, mythology, superstitions, and rites/customs outside mainstream social norms. While the term “folk horror” is relatively new, its roots in modern horror reach into the early 19th century, with literature