Horror fiction

Horror fiction is, broadly, fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle, or horrify the audience. Historically, the cause of the "horror" experience has often been the intrusion of an evil —- or, occasionally, misunderstood —- supernatural element into everyday human experience. Since the 1960s, any work of fiction with a morbid, gruesome, surreal, or exceptionally suspense or frightening theme has come to be called "horror". Horror fiction often overlaps science fiction or fantasy, all three of which categories are sometimes placed under the umbrella classification speculative fiction. See also supernatural fiction. Horrific situations are found in some of the earliest recorded tales. Many myth and legend feature scenarios and archetypes used by later horror writers. Tales of demon and vampire in ancient and more recent folklore were often quite horrific. Modern horror fiction found its roots in the gothic novel that exploded into popularity in the late 18th and early 19th...