Relevant research from the book: The Horror Reader by Ken Gelder

Relevant research from the book: The Horror Reader by Ken Gelder

(Page 84) Imagination and violent desires often originate from mythological roots or from an unfulfilled desire.Monsters we considered to be anything with missing or additional body parts which are why they are considered separate from humans.

(Page 87 and 88) Monstrous births were considered to be 'warnings to the public'.

(Page 97 and 98) Lack of personal profiles and only unfounded crimes make it difficult to catch a serial killer or predict their next movements, so it is often too late to stop the killings from occurring. Traditionally, a serial killer is given its name when they have claimed 'at least four victims over a greater period than seventy-two hours...distributing the murders repetitively and serially over time'.

(Page 100) The killer attempts to reconstruct society through pleasure killing and this creates the new social order desired by the serial killer.

(Page 148 and 149) The dehumanisation of a monster means that it doesn't follow traditional rules but instead creates its own rules. The monster cannot coexist in harmony society without a conflict at some stage. The presence of a curse complicates matters because society believes that they can maintain control when in reality the higher powers of religion e.g. gods and spirits actually have the control.

(Page 356) The spirit appears often in a dismembered/disembodied form and it is neither alive or dead, this heightens its power.

Other key points not specifically related to this book:

The killer usually has one strong motive that cannot be tampered with i.e there is no way of persuading the killer to abandon its motive. 

A traditional horror ending usually has a cliffhanger of some description to show the spectator that the threat is still present and unstoppable.