Sunday 23 October 2016

Daylight Horror

This my second countdown to Halloween post of the day, the first one was in French. I took this picture in Devon, between Totnes and Dartington I think, and I am merely using it to illustrate this post's topic. I have been thinking about it since I read this entry on TV tropes about daylight horrors. It is a beautiful autumn day today, the sun is shining with this particular autumnal light, and yet I find the day eerie as a dark Halloween night could be. We often forget that days can also bring its share of fear and that evil can also dwell in the sun. Ghosts and monsters do not have to exclusively manifest themselves when darkness falls. TV Tropes make an impressive but not exhaustive list of examples of daylight horror. I found many occurences of this trope in the reading of scary stories over the years. I think daylight brings a sense of vulnerability to the character and also of the unexpected: you don't think you could be in danger in such environment, especially not find a supernatural threat. And yet... it can happen. And if it does, you have nowhere to hide. Look at this photo and let this sink in.

2 comments:

PJ said...

L'intro de Tales from the Dark Side fonctionnait bien comme "horreur diurne". Ça prend juste une musique inquiétante et un décor naturel mais désertique, et une désaturation des couleurs pour bien camper l'atmosphère.

Anonymous said...

and here i was thinking I was safe at day break lol,, thanks a lot lol,,, you really made me think for sure lol,, monsters dwell in the day light,, very scary thought!!!!