Existential Horror: My favorite art genre · 3:08pm Oct 11th, 2022
This post is inspired by MrNumber's latest story: The Legionnaire
When I think about what art I enjoy the most, what stays in my memory the longest, it's horror. Something that scares me on an existential level and makes me question everything fundamental to living and my way of life. I very rarely find good examples of this outside of the written word; even though the saying goes "A picture is worth a thousand words", in my experience there isn't enough context and time to truly flesh out how horrifying a concept is in either video or audio mediums.
I read R.L. Stine's Goosebumps short stories as a kid, not even realizing at the time why I enjoyed them. As I grew older, I pushed myself to read more difficult stories. I've read the complete works of H.P. Lovecraft, and Harlan Ellison's I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream. On a mission to push myself to my limits, I even read Marquis Du Sade's 120 Days of Sodom. That one was truly difficult to stomach. I'm sure there are so many more I'm forgetting as I write this at 8 in the morning.
In amateur fiction, I began reading The Holders Series back in high school. I believe these started before the SCP Series started and the idea is very similar: Anyone is free to contribute, provided they follow the format while bringing something unique and well-written to the table. I've realized years later that the writing wasn't particularly good, but it scratched that itch at the time. I'll also link the SCP Series, because while I always preferred The Holders series format which allowed for more worldbuilding and a greater variety of story in the format, the SCP Series is required reading and anyone who hasn't heard of it should check it out.
As we move into the era of social media and YouTube, only two videos stand out to me that made me feel these feelings I've been chasing my whole life. I'll embed both of them below.
The first is a music video from 9 years ago. The second an Adult Swim art piece that is much newer. Both are incredible and I would love to hear feedback on them, as well as any of the other pieces I've mentioned above. Be warned though, 120 Days of Sodom is not a nice story. It may be the single most vile and repulsive collection of words ever put to paper. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Thanks for reading my brain vomit, and have a nice day.
I do love Unedited Footage of a Bear, but I will admit that I like Too Many Cooks a lot more. I think Unedited Footage was good practice to find their feet and Too Many Cooks is where they peaked, and then This House has People In It was tapping a dry well.
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I need to rewatch Too Many Cooks. I think I just didn't "get it" the first time around. Easy to do with Adult Swim stuff, but once it clicks, it's amazing. Like realizing Unedited Footage is a tongue-in-cheek drug and addiction PSA.