Horror is not a song. The genre spans a variety of styles, from disturbing ghost stories to real-life monsters (aka humans). On the panel “What Are You Afraid of? Indie Horror Comics Roundtable” New York Convention and Exhibition 2024the panelists shared their brands of horror and listed a ton of movies, books, and more that every horror fan should have on their list.
group member yes Tate Brombar, Li Xiu, Michael Walsh, and Che Grayson. Moderator Harley Salbaka of small onionsmuch of the chat focused on things creators are afraid of. The clear winner is the sad horror and the very human, personal story that evokes fear, anxiety and depression.
Each group member agreed that drawing inspiration from their own stories and culture was a great starting point for creating a good story. Mr. Li’s book Carmela: The First Vampire and Amy Zhu Should be on everyone’s horror list and gives us a deeper look into Eastern storytelling and horror with a much different perspective than what Western stories usually focus on.
“I think people in Asian cultures like horror,” Su explains. “It’s one of the most important genres. I watched it with my mom when I was little. No one would cover my eyes. I would watch American horror movies with my dad, like goblinbut Asian horror was so terrible in the 90s. My mom and I would say, “Let’s watch something fun and scary.” It was like a bonding moment. Very strange. I even watched Rocky Horror With her when I was a kid. She’s very open to this stuff. But horror has a lot to do with Asian culture because we use it as a cultural reference. It was also a socioeconomic and political issue, especially given South Korea’s struggles at the time because it was a very newly developed country in terms of economic conditions. They used a lot of that to fit into the horror genre. Anyway, it’s kind of weird, but it’s psychologically based.
So if you’re wondering what to watch, here are some must-haves from the panel (note how many classics there are in there!):
- chucky’s bride
- alien
- ginger slices
- i saw the devil
- fly
- talk to me
- drag me to hell
As for reading…
- pen pal
- pagan
- fisherman
- go out
