In this episode, we are talking horror V’s paranormal, are they the same and if so… why? Society has tipped the scale frightening all of us out of our wits! I share my thoughts on this subjective topic, what I have often observed and people’s rational or not so rational reactions when I share a realistic explanation of the paranormal world around us. I am not judging anyone but more so expressing my personal opinions and observations.
#64 Paranormal V’s Horror: Are they the same?
We are going to unpack the similarities and differences between horror and paranormal genres and why people get them confused. There are institutions amongst us who like to promote the unknown or supernatural or darkness as bad, evil, hateful and horrific. I think of that as a control mechanism. But when you have a better understanding of the darkness and its energy beings, they aren’t half as scary as you think! They are actually quite fascinating or am I just a woo woo weirdo?
Often, I see paranormal beings portrayed as horror in movies which will be our main point of reference today. The paranormal is often portrayed as people moving across ceilings, spewing up nails, or projectile vomiting in a worst-case scenario. And, they may speak in tongues but what does that even mean??? I didn’t have a solid definition for you so I looked it up in some online dictionaries:
These are the definitions:
1. Dictionary.com said – Speak in an unknown language during religious worship regarded as one of the gifts of the holy spirit (Acts 2 from the Bible)
2. Every other reference I looked at on the Google all connected speaking in tongues with God… So how is it that people connect speaking in tongues with the devil as it is so often portrayed in the movies?
And I also found definitions of both horror and paranormal from dictionary.com to look at the comparison and differences:
HORROR is defined as: an intense feeling of fear, shock or disgust
PARANORMAL is defined as: denoting events or phenomena such as telekinesis or clairvoyance that are beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding OR that which cannot be explained by science or reason and that seems to involve mysterious forces.
When I looked up Horror genre characteristics – dreamerswriting.com/horror-genre-in-literature said:
It’s a genre that goes beyond superficial scares, aiming to evoke a visceral and psychological response from its readers. Often characterized by supernatural entities, macabre settings, and unsettling atmospheres, horror stories push the boundaries of our imagination while examining the darker facets of human nature.
Then I looked at: What are the elements of the supernatural horror genre?
Supernatural horror film is a film genre that combines aspects of supernatural film and horror film. Supernatural occurrences in such films often include ghosts and demons, and many supernatural horror films have elements of religion. Common themes in the genre are the afterlife, the Devil, and demonic possession. Not all supernatural horror films focus on religion, and they can have “more vivid and gruesome violence”.
Maybe I am thinking about this too much or making a fuss, you make your mind up!
Differences between horror and paranormal genres
I started to write notes for its podcast episode about the difference between horror and the paranormal and found this online: wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernatural_horror_film:
Charles Derry, writing in Dark Dreams 2.0, contrasted supernatural horror and pseudoscientific horror as “two basic methods of explaining things away” in horror stories. Derry wrote, “Into the supernatural group one could fit all the monsters and horrors that are somehow involved with religions and ritual,” highlighting witchcraft, Egyptology and reincarnation, and zombies.[4] Aaron Smuts considers horror “to be a genre with two main sub-types, supernatural horror and realist horror” and that they “have different charms”.[5
I ]
Let’s look at movies:
Again sharing my personal perspective here which is paranormal/ energy orientated because that is what I deal with every day personally and in my field of work. Horror to me can be represented with gore, suffering, usually deeply disturbing, graphic, or slasher-type movie content that makes me feel quite ill in the mind and body. And yes, I know what you see in those types of movies is not real but if people being harmed looks real it triggers me all the same.
A great example of a paranormal/ supernatural movie put in the horror genre is The Babadook, an Australian cult movie written and directed by Jennifer Kent back in 2014.
Many online movie sites I looked at put this movie in the horror genre first and a few others such as: psychological horror, thriller and suspense, and I found one reference to it as a supernatural thriller, which is where I would put it. I won’t say anymore but if you are interested in a full discussion about The Babadook, I was interviewed by Peter Lacono from ‘A dingo ate my movie’ podcast back in the first week of September 2023.
How do Horror and Paranormal genres connect?
The paranormal in general and paranormal happenings can create the definition of horror in people’s emotions – fear, panic and terror type emotions because of beliefs, whether religious or otherwise, or scary personal experiences which they didn’t fully understand, no judgement from me, just saying. But mass consciousness on this planet has been a little brainwashed over the centuries as I already mentioned. Many people don’t want to believe the paranormal is anything other than horrific, malevolent, evil, bad and all those other types of descriptions but I am on a mission until the day I die to educate people otherwise. I do like a challenge!
This is just my perspective and you all know I am slightly biased towards the dark beings but I will do my best to remain unbiased. I think that everyone is going to have their own opinions about this topic as with any other.
What do you think? Are the paranormal and horror genres similar, the same, or different, you don’t care as long as you enjoy the book or movie. Anyway, food for thought.
This topic today, ties in nicely with paranormal drama that I discussed back in ep 59, where I looked at over-dramatized behaviours regarding the paranormal world around us, mostly by people looking for attention by using various methods and strategies to get noticed.
50% of the time a lot of what you see online, in movies and books classed as paranormal steps over the line into the HORROR genre, not real personal unexplainable paranormal experiences that challenge rational or scientific explanation and this is why I created this episode today and I hope II have given you food for thought.
Want to share a paranormal experience? Send me your paranormal questions and your stories to:
spiritualbeing44@gmail.com
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I look forward to sharing this spooky space again with you next week,
And remember, life is perfectly paranormal.
