we all watch horror movies for different reasons
and these reasons can change from day to day – sometimes we’re in the mood for a brooding, atmospheric piece, and the next day we decide that some high-energy carnage is more our speed
and while a lot of fans are happy to flit between subgenres like a vampire bat in a petting zoo, we all have our preferences and so tend to separate out into a number of TYPES
THE SIX TYPES OF HORROR FANS
below is my totes unscientific and completely made-up list of the six horror fan types
why six? – “because six be the debil’s number!” [1]
GORE HOUNDS – the type of people non-horror fans think of when they think of “horror fans” – inventive kills and gruesome injuries are their jam – Gore Hounds tend to come in two varieties: the Splatter Punks who revel in the mayhem and chaos, and who aren’t afraid of lashings of black humour – and the Grim Darks who know that life is pain, and anyone who tells you differently is selling something
REALISTS – those who believe that even a whiff of the supernatural or the inclusion of sci-fi elements ruins the movie – for these fans, people are the worst and the horror needs to be real, grim and bleak – these fans are into serial killers and other human monsters – and/or the tragic fallout from natural and man-made disasters
THRILL SEEKERS – fans who (and this may be a tad unfair) consume horror movies the same way others experience rollercoasters – they’re not looking for anything deeper, they’re just there for the ride – if i was trying to score points in a comments section, i might claim that these fans (or at least, the movies that pander to them) are responsible for the current JUMP SCARE! pandemic ... but I would never do that
ARTHOUSE LURKERS – fans who prefer their horror movies to be different – some need the weird artiness to create a safe distance from the unpleasantness on screen – while others have no issues with disturbing ideas and images (the more outré the better!), but have become jaded by the predictability of mainstream horror movies – and some, it has to be admitted, are just complete tossers
AFICIONADOS – aka “Horror Nerds” – fans who are relatively omnivorous when it comes to horror movies – and, unlike many of the other types (Lurkers excepted), they are keen to watch old, black-and-white classics and foreign films with (shudder!) subtitles – they are generally pretty open minded, although most have their preferred genres (and at least one pet hate)
SUBGENRE SPECIALISTS – fans that focus their attention and admiration on one of the major subgenres including, but not limited to: Slasher, Possession, Zombies, Vampires, Werewolves, Action, Psychological, Sci-Fi, Survival, Torture, J-Horror, Creature Features and so on – of course, each of these subgenres can be subdivided again – for example, the subgenre “Creature Feature” is made-up of any number of sub-subgenres, like: nature going crazy, giant mutants, mythic creatures and so on
naturally, there’s a lot of overlap between these types of horror fans – with some overlapping more than others
and yet, if you’ve ever spent any time on a website focused on horror movies (particularly if you dip into the comments) you’ll read a lot of stuff you could do without
aside from so-called fans abusing other commenters and using bigoted language – a lot of commenters express their “opinions” in a way that reads more like statements of fact … and these statements are often expressed rather bluntly (i.e. some fans are just fucking rude)
which is a shame, as it discourages actual discussions between fans … but that is a rant for another time
[1] the oldest version of Revelation 13:15-18 so far discovered gives the Number of the Beast as 616, not the more popular 666 – and while they both got sixes in them, i doubt the current popularity of the number would’ve survived if the original number (616) had been retained – Wikipedia has more here