The Most Insidious Kind of Horror

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Today's episode explores the relationship betwe-BOO!

Did we scare you?

▬▬▬▬ Tale Foundry Community▬▬▬▬

▬▬▬▬ Tale Foundry Team ▬▬▬▬
• Talebot — The Talent
• The Taleoids — The Talent's Helpers
• Benjamin Cook — Writer, Director, & Voice Actor
• Becca Ghusn — Researcher & Writer

[TheTaleFoundry]

Please, please take this opportunity to check out 80, 000 Hours. They exist PURELY to help you find a job that will enable you to change the world, and they're offering all their resources to you entirely for free! At the very least, it's certainly worth giving a look!

[freegarlicchip]

I remember reading a quote where someone said that 'horror is just comedy without the punchline'. Your comment about being held in that moment of suspense instead of having it alleviated made me think of that.

[MelancholicBodhisattva]

I like to describe it as the horror of absurdity/absurd horror. The impossibility of what I'm looking at, the clash between reality and something i can only describe as a violation, creates such an interesting gulf between the known and unknown.

[geofff.]

Oh my God, I first saw "Unedited Footage of a Bear" at I guess 4 AM in my late teens because I was up fighting off a fever, and until someone said to me like six years later, "Hey have you ever seen 'Unedited Footage of a Bear'?" I had no idea this was a real thing and I thought it was just a fever nightmare I had.

[mayalakshman]

Not technically horror, but the fourth-wall break at the end of The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals reminds me of this. Like when the cast is bowing and Emma screams "Can someone help me, please?... WHY ARE YOU CLAPPING?" Really funny, really unsettling, and also implies that you've technically been infected too.

[nehpets]

My friend called this "Questionable sanity" as an artform.

[atheistsgod]

"At least when you're afraid you know when to run" is one of the best comments on what living with an anxiety disorder feels like dude. Real life turning into this kind of horror where you don't know if you should laugh or run away from it and you can't realistically ever run away because the horror is inside of your brain instead of a real threat you can escape from. And laughing can only help so much before it isn't funny anymore and you just break.

[robertlong]

I think the Magnus archives said it best when describing the Stranger, “The familiar made wrong.” Taking something known and established in your mind and tweaking it just a few centimeters of in kilter creates a subtle sense of anxiety that gradually grows until the difference is glaring. By the time you realize what’s wrong the thing has your throat between its jaws.

[ravefox]

Salad Fingers is 100% what this video is talking about. i remember watching it and thinking that i can't figure out to laugh or be horrified, but i also couldn't turn away. makes my skin crawl just thinking about it again

[dyjhjfrtt]

Theres a game called squirrel stapler which is 100% a horror comedy and perfectly encapsulates the whole line between fear and comedy. You stapling squirrels to your wife’s corpse is dark comedy, but when she starts moving and leaving notes it is terrifying.

[Darthzim]

The best word I often associate with these sorts of creations is “disquieting”, something that could be viewed as entertaining in a deeply uncomfortable way.

[mageyplss]

Seeing jack Stauber, Too Many Cooks AND Don't Hug Me I'm Scared being referenced in the same video made me feel so validated

[jessicagalvin]

There is a huge difference between scary and creepy. Scary is like a bear charging at you. It’s immediately recognizable as a threat, and rapidly makes you choose fight or flight. Creepy is like the antique doll you inherited which keeps changing locations when you look away. Is it possessed or is it your roommate? You don’t know, and not knowing is the worst type of fear. It’s that high-cortisol uneasiness where you can’t decide what action to take.

[haylied]

This house has people in it is an ENORMOUS rabbit hole that I've spent hours watching analysis videos about. The horror doesn't get much clearer even when you have nore information. I'd love for you to talk about it more!!

[alextrill]

"How does it makes you feel?"
Humber. It makes me feel humber. That emotion is designed specifically to feel about such things =)

[Wintergreen_]

I never thought Going To The Store was unsettling until seeing it without the music

[ThePhantomSafetyPin]

"Art should disturb the comfortable, and comfort the disturbed."

Of course horror and comedy both go together. I'm surprised you haven't discussed Scream yet in that sense. It would be a good fit for discussing satire, especially in the context of horror and humor.

[WaterShowsProd]

Bob Costas asked Mel Brooks what is the difference between comedy and tragedy. Mel Brooks responded that tragedy is if he gets a papercut. It's going to hurt, he's going to put iodine on it, a badage, and he's going to worry about it. "Comedy is if you fall through a manhole and die."

[crosana]

As someone with cripplingly severe OCD I was going to comment on uncertainty and anxiety before I even got into the video but I'm glad you mentioned it. It really is incredible, in a horrifying way, just how excruciating unending uncertainty and anxiety can be. Before the onset of my symptoms I would have never fathomed that something so seemingly ordinary could result in so much suffering.

So yeah, I definitely agree that uncertainty and anxiety can often be worse than straight up horror.

[noob]

My favourite example of this is the End of Evangelion. More specifically, the whole third impact segment. It's preceded by a scene where the main character and his love interest argue about their relationship, and then finally at the conclusion a happy sort of 'release' song starts playing. Except the release isn't either of their problems being solved, but of the main character suddenly and unexpectedly choking her out of desperation. The song, a calming relaxed reggae beat, continues as the whole cast proceeds to die without any of their character arcs being resolved and the world being destroyed in a spine chilling manner in front of your eyes.