Psychological Horror
While psychological horror media focuses on the unsettling of the mind and hearts, there is more to it as a genre.
When we look at media that use psychological horror they often deal with social problems or expanding on issues that other genres won't always delve into (or only scratch the surface). They can be profound and have a lot more to say.
Usually psychological horror can overlap with the thriller, the psychological horror tends to disturb us to enhance the suspense/ drama or the paranoia involved with the story.
The main part of psychological horror is to play fear into the ‘other’.
The best kind of games/shows and movies within this genre play off the audience's inherent empathy, but use it against us as well. You can drag an audience down into the pits of a disturbed mind, but only if you have a vision, precision, and a willingness to put your characters through absolute hell.
There are three major ways/tropes that psychological horror is used within media. These are:
Nothing is Scarier:
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The Classic: Story beats build up suspense and tension until something jumps from the shadows.
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The Full Version: Nothing is happening at all, which makes the audience fearful of what they imagine might happen.
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The Empty Version: The audience thinks that there is nothing there until they realize there's been something there the whole time. Usually delivered as a reveal.
Mind Screw:
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This trope uses a combination of surrealism and symbolism. Making the audience feel like they never have a true grip on what is going on, until it may be too late.
Nightmare Fuel:
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This final trope is meant to be as scary as possible. It is to provoke the audience and really get a reaction out of them.
When it comes to why I chose this topic. It's because the idea and genre of psychological horror fascinates me. I feel like if I was to make a game it would have an element of psychological horror. It would help me be able to have an avenue to talk about things that may be taboo (ie- trauma, mental health etc). Essentially I really like the genre and want to use it for things other than movies like The Shining or Get Out.
I really like the idea of telling stories that leave impact. Psychological horror games like SOMA does this very well with how they tell their story and have the main character navigate through strife and trauma.