One of the first things you can notice about horror (and basically every other genre) is how there are predominant and recurrent themes in it - even to the point where it can feel overly repetitive and as if there’s nothing new. Regardless, much can happen within and around them that differs enough to make it a novel or at least worthwhile experience.
Now, let’s see what they’re essentially about. What’s the pattern? What’s the experience?
Moving Into New Home
What lurks behind this place? What is its history? What secrets does it hold? Was the deal too good to be true? Usually a “welcoming” home, somewhere you’re invited to or encouraged for. But why? Of course, there would be more to it than what little you can learn of it at first, but how bad can it really be? Have people died here? And if so, of what causes? Is it haunted or is it designed in a twisted way? Or both? Should you fear for your life or for your freedom? You could ask yourself these questions or even do your own research, but it’d be crazy to assume the worst. So, you give it a chance.
Usual Solution: Don’t be so naive and dismissive that you are blind to important details.
Recommendation: Check before you buy, rent, and/or move in.
Going On Vacation
What’s the worst that can happen? You forget something at home, get lost and have to ask for directions, can’t speak the language nor understand the culture, you party so recklessly that you put yourself and others at risk, your belongings are stolen, you have no signal, you discover you’re about to become a human sacrifice? So many things can indeed go wrong. So while you may try to be carefree about it, it may be anxiety-inducing to some. And that kills the mood. So you have competing worries, being preoccupied with having a good time instead of obsessing about all these other concerns.
Usual Solution: Plan for what could go wrong and remain lucid enough.
Recommendation: Have people you can trust accompanying you.
Killer Loose
Whether you realize it or not, someone’s out to get you - or just anyone they can get their hands on or come across with. Maybe they escaped from jail or maybe from an asylum. Could be from a messed-up facility that they were trapped in. Or they're yet to be trapped at all. And who knows what they’re capable of? You did not sign up for this and are probably not prepared for it either. And the worst part is… It’s not just you who’s not safe anymore - your loved ones aren’t either. Do you run and hide? Or do you fight to protect yourself and others? Perhaps you’d be the kind to use others as bait, decoy, or anything else that’d put you first at their expense. After all, you don’t want to die.
Usual Solution: Toughen and smarten up - especially if luck is not on your side.
Recommendation: Don’t be so concerned for your own self-preservation that you refuse to care for others.
Trapped and Trying to Escape
You’re stuck. It may be a tight space or a wide one. But you must get out. The sooner the better. How, though? There seems to be no exit on sight. And if it is, the obstacles and challenges in your way make it nearly impossible to reach. You must be sneaky. Resourceful, too. Chances are you’re left there with very little in your favor. And desperate times call for desperate measures. Yet, one mistake could land you back to where you started or even worse - have you further stripped off opportunities to escape. That is if it doesn’t cost you your life. Attention to your surroundings. Do you even know where you are?
Usual Solution: Cleverness paired up with courage, as well as being alert for any opening you might get.
Recommendation: Remain calm and consider your options.
Crime of Passion
Passion can get intense, passion can get extreme. And it’s when it reaches unreasonably high levels that it can get concerning and dangerous. It may leave little to no room for reason. It is an overpowering desire that can come in the form of various out-of-control emotions. Maybe you did something to warrant it (though not necessarily to justify it). But maybe not. Maybe your mere existence drove someone to this state. You smiled at a stranger and you gained an obsessive stalker. You excelled in some manner and you gained a disturbing imitator. You displayed rare qualities and you gained a creep intent on trapping you and keeping you in against your will. You may not even realize that this is happening until much later. And then you may be baffled and confused as to why or how. It was nothing to you. But to them, it was everything.
Usual Solution: Pay attention to the signs, don’t just brush them off.
Recommendation: Be aware that people like this exist and that there’s a chance one or more will fixate on you - but don’t live in fear of it.
Resentment and Revenge
Perhaps you did something unforgivable and you brought to yourself what is coming. But that is not a requirement for somebody to resent you and seek revenge on you. Perhaps it was something minor. Or it was something major, but it was unintentional. Say, you corrected a colleague in front of their peers and it was humiliating to them. Or your decisions destroyed somebody’s life, or merely their cherished plans, and they will not stop until they have done the same to you - tenfold. Maybe it is just envy or jealousy (as though high school never ends), and you’re paying the price for their immaturity.
Usual Solution: Do not believe false accusations or claims of deserving out-of-proportion punishments. Fight back if necessary. Furthermore, if applicable, atone for your wrongdoings.
Recommendation: Recognize baseless ill-will in others and make amends where due.
Experiment Gone Wrong
Whoops! This did not go as intended. Who could have guessed that things would turn out this way? Maybe if you had paid closer attention and accounted for potential errors and their consequences, this wouldn’t have happened. To consider what it all implies and entails. But perhaps you did consider it and you were aware of the risk involved. Perhaps even acknowledged it and got the percent of probability for it. Maybe it was significantly low and you’d have to be very “unlucky” to result in it. But maybe it was concerningly high and you went for it anyway. In any case, things got out of hand, and cleaning the mess will not be as easy as making it.
Usual Solution: Do not (futilely) try to cover it up to fix it on your own as if it never happened and instead reach out for all the help that you need as soon as possible.
Recommendation: Practice caution and/or be assisted by competent troubleshooters.
Nature's Wrath
Nature is alive and she can be as destructive as she is creative. Have you upset her? Are you breaking her balance? How about taking and taking and taking without giving anywhere near as much in return? Naturally, she won’t respond well to that. But maybe you’re innocent and nature is simply being herself. And she can be horrible! Anything from entropy to natural disasters taking everything in their way. Or maybe it’s her children, the plants and the animals, that will be merciless.
Usual Solution: Be conscious of and respect the habitat. Run for your life if it is too late.
Recommendation: Learn from environmental science.
Odd-One-Out
Something is off about you. Or something is off about somebody else. And that may be welcomed and celebrated as a rarity or shunned and chastised as an anomaly - even considered an aberration. Justifiably so? Less likely than assumed. People fear the different and the unknown. People fear anything that could threaten what they’ve become accustomed to. People fear change and, whether they admit it or not, their inability to handle it. And fear can cause people to do atrocious things. Which could turn an initially harmless creature into a violent one. Then they may believe that they were right all along. Only at times they actually were.
Usual Solution: Stop the violence before it is too late.
Recommendation: Be discerning, not judgmental and too set in your ways.
Messing with The Forbidden
How can you resist? “Don’t go there” sounds like an invitation to you. You may be what they call a rebel without a cause, rebelling against every rule for the sake of rebellion. You may have serious issues with respecting boundaries and are bound to cross the line. You may be so curious that it can be a fatal flaw. Whatever your reason or excuse, you find yourself messing with what you should not have messed with. And it is going to bite you back. Maybe not in the same instant, but eventually you’ll realize your mistake.
Usual Solution: Put things back where they belong and genuinely apologize for your offenses.
Recommendation: Don’t be shocked when hell breaks loose.
Cults and Secret Societies
Are you paranoid? Having crazy conspiracy theories? Or is something indeed going on behind the curtains? Something too strange, or even cruel, to be transparent about. Something that moves you and takes advantage of you. Or simply something that exists apart from and hidden from what you’re used to. They may be powerful and unstoppable. You could try to expose them, but would that work? Would anybody believe you? And if they do, would they care to fight it? Could or should they even? Might just become the new normal. If you live to tell it.
Usual Solution: Do not trust that everyone you tell will be on your side and remove yourself from the situation if you are in danger.
Recommendation: Grow wiser and stronger.
Which theme do you personally dread the most?