Horror and the Connection to Wonder

I came across a couple of items recently that encapsulate the feelings I have in my experiences with the fantastic. The first is a poster ad for The HMA.net Mask-Fest 2010. It is featured with this post to the left where the reader will see a young boy putting on his Halloween costume. As he contemplates the final step in putting on his mask his face comes to life as his sense of imagination is kindled. He is about to become the character he is costumed as. I remember this precise feeling on many Halloweens as a child as I became a pirate, Frankenstein’s creature, the vampire from London After Midnight, and any number of other monsters.

The second item I identified with came as I watched an interview with Rick Baker by Mick Garris as part of his “Post Mortem” series at FearNet.com. At one point in the interview after describing his lifelong love for many horror films and monsters Baker states that the attraction for him is not the gore, but rather the sense of wonder that comes with it all. I deeply resonate with Baker’s feelings on this. After a lifelong journey into the fantastic of my own, whether horror, science fiction or fantasy, it is not the gore and violence that I find attractive, but rather, the sense of wonder that is connected with my experiences with the creative expressions of these genres. Perhaps other readers share the feelings I have in the experience of such things.

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