Horror, of all the genres, is the only one that can provoke an involuntary visceral reaction.
Stephen Graham JonesRead
The way humor's usually used in horror, it's as a pressure-release valve; without it, the drama would escalate out of all control almost immediately.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Humor serves to ease tension in horror, preventing overwhelming intensity.
In horror narratives, humor acts as a balance to the suspense and fear, providing audiences with relief and a moment of reprieve. Without these lighter moments, the buildup of dread and drama could become unmanageable and relentless, leading to a more exhausting experience rather than an engaging one.
Themes
HumorHorrorTensionDramaRelief
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about film techniques, this quote can illustrate the balance needed in storytelling.
More from Stephen Graham Jones
All quotes βWe watch a romantic comedy because we want to cry, say, or an action movie so we can participate in heroics. Horror's different. It can hit you with a moment of revulsion so hard you might want to erase the last five minutes of your life, please.
Stephen Graham JonesRead
I figure anytime you put an adjective before 'writer,' it's a way of dismissing the writer.
Stephen Graham JonesRead
Most zombie stories, the problems they solve are not the actual zombies. The problems they solve are the human interactions.
Stephen Graham JonesRead
Every time I lock my people in a spacecraft or land them on an asteroid, the blood wells up again, and I'm writing horror. Horror's my default setting. It's also where I prefer to write.
Stephen Graham JonesRead
Making people laugh is so much more difficult than making them sad. Too much fiction defaults to the somber, the tragic. This is because sad endings are easy in comparison - happy endings aren't at all simple to earn, especially when writing to an audience jaded by them.
Stephen Graham JonesRead
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