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Horror fiction is, broadly, Fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle or horrify the reader. Historically, the cause of the "horror" experience has often been the intrusion of an evil, or occasionally misunderstood, Supernatural element into everyday human experience. Since the 1960s, any work of fiction with a morbid, gruesome, Surreal , exceptionally Suspense ful or frightening theme has come to be called "horror." Horror fiction often overlaps with Science Fiction and/or Fantasy , all of which have sometimes been placed under the umbrella category Speculative Fiction . See also Supernatural Fiction . EARLY HORROR FICTION Fictional Character s have found themselves in horrifying situations from the earliest recorded tales. Many Myth s and Legend s feature scenarios and Archetypes used by later horror writers. Tales collected by the Grimm Brothers are often quite horrific. Modern horror fiction found its roots in the Gothic Novel s that exploded into popularity in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, typified by Ann Radcliffe 's ''The Mysteries of Udolpho'' (1794)and Horace Walpole 's ''The Castle of Otranto'' (1764). A variation on the Gothic formula that remains one of the most enduring and imitated horror works is Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 's novel '' Frankenstein '' (1818, revised version 1831). ''Frankenstein'' has also been considered Science Fiction , a Philosophical novel or a 'novel of purpose' by some literary historians. At the same time, John William Polidori devised the kind of Vampire story that has since become familiar with his novella '' The Vampyre ''. This kind of supernatural character, combining evil with sinister charm, has since been much used and elaborated by horror writers. Later gothic horror descendants included seminal late 19th century works such as Bram Stoker 's '' Dracula '' and Henry James 's '' The Turn Of The Screw ''. Early horror works used mood and subtlety to deliver an eerie and otherworldly flavor, but usually eschewed extensive explicit violence. Other early exponents of the horror form number such luminaries as Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft who are widely considered to be masters of the art. Among the writers of classic English Ghost stories, M.R. James is often cited as the finest. His stories avoid shock effects and often involve an Oxford Antiquarian as their hero. Algernon Blackwood 's ''The Willows'' and Oliver Onions 's ''The Beckoning Fair One'' have been called the best ghost stories. Lovecraft and Sheridan Le Fanu called some of their writing weird fiction or '''weird stories'''. Some stories in highbrow "literary" fiction could arguably be regarded as horror narratives: examples include Franz Kafka 's " The Metamorphosis " (''Die Verwandlung'') and " In The Penal Colony " (''In der Strafkolonie'') and William Faulkner 's '' A Rose For Emily ''. CONTEMPORARY HORROR FICTION Some modern practitioners of the genre have resorted to vivid depictions of extreme violence to shock or entertain their audiences, often recalling Grand Guignol theatre (see Splatterpunk ). This development has given horror fiction a stigma as base entertainment devoid of Literary Merit . Other writers, such as Ramsey Campbell and Thomas Ligotti , are cited as rejecting the portrayal of violent acts in favor of more subtle, psychological writing. Nevertheless, contemporary writers such as Dean Koontz , Clive Barker in '' Imajica '' and Stephen King in his more considered works, such as '' Misery '', are capable of bringing off the horror effect without the excessive violence that characterises much of the current mainstream of this genre. SEE ALSO
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