Has anyone heard of the french theater called Grand Guignol? Apparently it was the first real theatre that specialized in live horror shows which were the equivalent of splatterfilms of today. Only the french! The stories were always really bizarre and grotesque but followed a somewhat naturalistic approach. I found an example of some of the storiees off wikipedia:
At the Grand Guignol, patrons would see five or six plays, all in a style which attempted to be brutally true to the theatre's naturalistic ideals. The plays were in a variety of styles, but the most popular and best-known were the horror plays, featuring a distinctly bleak worldview as well as notably gory special effects in their notoriously bloody climaxes. These plays often explored the altered states, like insanity, hypnosis, panic, under which uncontrolled horror could happen. Some of the horror came from the nature of the crimes shown, which often had very little reason behind them and in which the evildoers were rarely punished or defeated. To heighten the effect, the horror plays were often alternated with comedies.[5][6]
Le Laboratoire des Hallucinations, by André de Lorde: When a doctor finds his wife's lover in his operating room, he performs a graphic brain surgery rendering the adulterer a hallucinating semi-zombie. Now insane, the lover/patient hammers a chisel into the doctor's brain.[6]
Un Crime dans une Maison de Fous, by André de Lorde: Two hags in an insane asylum use scissors to blind a young, pretty fellow inmate out of jealousy.[6]
L'Horrible Passion, by André de Lorde: A nanny strangles the children in her care.[6]
Le Baiser dans la nuit by Maurice Level: A young woman visits the man whose face she horribly disfigured with acid, where he obtains his revenge.[7]
Sounds fun and yummy huh?
Are there any other hardcore horror fans out there.
I thought this would be a cool thread to share favorite horror films, books, a love of grotesque art and the surreal in general.
I would love to have a splatter-off contest.
See how far you can go with a horrific, grotesque and graphically violent theme without being absurd or making it silly. I have read a lot of horror so I was kind of looking to get back into writing more of it. Inspire me with your sickness.
I decided I will judge a GRAND GUIGNOL CONTEST.
It can be any genre of horror, you can have supernatural elements, I don't care but I want to SEE everything, like Jack Ketchum's essay mentions......don't look away. Show us everything. Make the reader a little queasy. I want to see the nails dig into the skin, I want to hear the screams and feel the nails on the chalkboard, I want to know what the eyeball looks like as the nail file sinks into it and makes it pop. It would be cool if several people competed at once even.
If you would like to be a part of the GRAND GUIGNOL which a rough draft will be due for around, let's say, Feb. 28th...
Prize is a 20 dollar gift card.
(Oh yeah, the topic of the story can be ANYTHING).
To heighten the effect, the horror plays were often alternated with comedies."
You're on. Sounds fun.
Oh - here is a FB community page I created during a boring winter month. Check it out. "Like" it and I may make some of you administrators. I'm kinda getting bored with FB.
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=hp#!/pages/Horror-Reads/150289771707654
I like all forms of horror but I'm fondest of the Poe/Blackwood/Lovecraft sort - where an unearthly sense is evoked of the awesomely unknowable universe...
*
I'm not opposed to subtle or soft horror elements. Let's just say for the sake of the contest, there has to be one graphic element of the grotesque.
Sounds fun. I'm a huge horror fan, but I lean more towards soft horror. Atmospheric stuff. I like being creeped out over grossed out. And like Boone said, I'm always down for "unknowable" or "unspeakable" horrors.
But I can try my hand at splatterpunk. I'm in I s'pose.
I'm trying to get Laurance to agree to publish the story on his website as a reward of sorts and maybe a gift card to a sex shop for a dildo or something.
This will be the jumping-off point for my story. You won't be getting a dildo. You will be getting a "something."
Or, maybe I'll rework/update "The Monkey's Paw" but with a vibrator instead of a monkey's paw....
Yay, three people so far. I just want to flood the writer's workshop with gross weird stories to accurately represent what we are all about. Maybe next week I will have a feminist puppy historical autobiography contest just to shake shit up. I will put the winning story on my blog for sure. You can pimp it out and tell people you got a 500 dollar prize for it and a gift card to Outback, how the hell will they prove you are lying? Just remember any story you post in the workshop has to say (Grand Guignol) after it.
Can you tell I am going into withdrawal over my anthology being over? I mean the deadline part. I need more stories!!!!!
@nighty--I mean, it doesn't have to be just gross for grossout sake but there has to be at least one graphic element that is unnerving like umbilical cords that are used for erotic asphyxiation or something (Dammit, I just gave my story away!)
Now I shall steal your ideas and profit from them!
Also I already have the title for my Feminist Puppy Historical Autobiography piece: Burning Bras, Barking Dogs: My Story
The title of my Feminist Puppy Historical Autobiography: Someday I'll Be A Big Bitch
Je ne sais pas. Très bizarre.
Aussi, cette.
@Nighty Nite- soft horror? Look up the Mothman, better yet, check the movie (Richard Gere) then read up on it....kind of creepy.
I'm way ahead of you. The Mothman Prophecies is one of my favorite movies for the sheer fact that it creates an atmosphere that stays with you hours after the film has ended. It's pretty underrated imo.
Yeah, I had the same thought. That movie eats your soul, the fact it's based on actual events makes it even creepier.
I've had something inspired by the Grand Guignol, hasn't gone anywhere in over a year though. I like their idea though.
Also of interest, Antonin Artaud and his theatre of cruelty. Good stuff, read up on him.
The more people who submit sick stories, I will make a prize and buy someone something and not be a part of the contest. I seriously would like to see a shitload of people participate, if I write something it will just be for fun. I am going to say 20 dollar amazon gift card for now for the winner and I will extend the deadline for the story to the 28th. Scariest, freakiest, grossest weirdest story wins. You don't have to go completely gory as long as you can get under my skin. I want to be inspired. I miss outright horror.
I love the Creepshow movies, Hammer horror films, the grotesque and the absurd grotesque. Thanks Renfield for the link. Also people feel free to share what you think are the scariest books, movie clips you have ever seen.
Some inspiration!
Alright. I'm in. Here is my spin on a very popular genre these days...Read fast and enjoy.
Pennies – by Matt Micheli (word count-872)
Is this supposed to taste good? Because it doesn’t. It tastes like shit. Am I doing this right? Maybe I’m doing something wrong. But then again, how else would you do it? How else is there? This is the only way. It’s no rocket science. Jesus. Eugh. Mother . . . fucker, this is gross. I always thought it’d taste like pennies. Or at least that’s how I remember it as a kid. Like pennies. Not like fucking . . . rotten shit. This better work. For all this? This shit better work. How am I supposed to know? Am I supposed to feel something? Is it like drugs or something? I always heard it was like drugs or something. Like Ecstacy. Well, I don’t feel it. I don’t feel anything, yet. Or does it take a while? Maybe it takes a while. Eugh. How much am I supposed to drink? Maybe I need to drink more. But, I don’t know if I can. This is awful. Absolutely awful. Maybe my senses are heightened; that’s why it tastes so bad; so . . . strong. Is that what happens? I always heard that your senses go crazy. Maybe that’s what it is. Maybe that’s why it tastes so . . . bad. Sniff. Sniff. I don’t know. I can’t really smell or . . . see anything differently. I don’t . . . think, I can hear anything differently. Maybe I need more. Maybe I haven’t had enough. Oh God, this is disgusting. Gulp. Absolutely . . . disgusting. I thought this would be easier. I didn’t realize it would be . . . like this. I mean, was it like this for you? For your first time? I don’t know how you did it. Or . . . why you did it. Eugh. I guess I’ll drink more. Cause I haven’t felt anything . . . yet. Or . . . maybe, I am feeling . . . something. Yuck. Maybe we could’ve gotten a . . . a slightly higher quality. Maybe the quality isn’t good enough. Maybe that’s why I’m having to drink more than I thought. Maybe, it’s the low-quality. How much did you have to drink . . . your first time? And was it low . . . or high quality? Or does it matter? Maybe it doesn’t matter. Eugh. This is . . . gross. But, I guess we gotta do what we gotta do. And what do we gotta do . . . after this? I mean, I have my suspicions, but . . . Is it always like this? Does it always taste like this? Like crap? Does it ever taste like pennies? That’s what I always remembered as a kid. The taste of pennies. Gulp. Eugh. It’s sticking to my throat. Smack. Smack. Is that supposed to happen? It’s like . . . coating it. Ew. It’s thick. I think its . . . thickening. Should I keep drinking? It’s starting to stink in here. I think my senses are heightening because it’s starting to stink. Alright. I think I can feel it, maybe. Or maybe not. Or maybe . . . well . . . Maybe. I mean, I feel . . . something. Eugh. It’s really starting to stink in here. Does it always stink like this? Maybe it’s always gonna stink like this. Is it? Eugh. Ok. It’s getting thicker. How much more do I need to drink?
We barged in and found her there, sitting on the floor, buck naked, covered in blood, talking to no one. There was blood everywhere. It stank to high-heaven. I threw up. Actually I think we all did from the smell but I was the first one to enter. The first one. I don’t know how long she had been in there but it must’ve been several days; the body was decomposing and looked bruised and sunken in and the odor wasn’t from, how should I put this, fresh kill. There were chunks of flesh missing from (the officer swallows and looks down) the victim’s arms and legs. The girl’s mouth was covered in blood; she had obviously been drinking and eating from the corpse. (Still looking down, he shakes his head back and forth) Sick. I’ve seen some sick shit in my day (he looks right at me nodding his head up and down) but never have I seen anything like this. Her mouth: I remember her teeth. It looked like there were pieces of flesh between them: her teeth. I have never (he shakes his head and looks off) . . . never seen anything like that. (His head still shaking) And her eyes; like a cat in a headlight. Wide open, but . . . empty; dead; (he pauses to think) like mirrors. That crime scene; that smell, it still keeps me up at night. That girl’s cat eyes and her mouth smeared in blood and her talking some uncontrollable gibberish and the smell. (He shakes his head looking off at nothing) I still see images of it every day. (He looks down again, contemplating) I still smell it. I taste it . . . like pennies.
Well, I was going to have people post them in the writer's workshop but I guess we could do them here. I dunno, I was trying to make it site-inclusive so they don't revoke my membership. I'm still hoping they publish my column soon. Then I'm hoping LItreactor does it's first adult video with me as the star. I'll do anything for first editions.
I also think I might make this a minimum 2500 word contest if I'm gonna be dishing out my money. I like the story but I don't really want flash fictions. I want people to work for it. I still want to write a story for the contest for fun. I have some really sick disturbing ideas that almost make me sick that I have them.
I have some really sick disturbing ideas that almost make me sick that I have them."
That is an epic line. Love it. Ok so I am in, despite never having read or written horror. EVER.
I guess I'm thinking of Sweeney Todd, which I love, the whole turn of the century era that was so damn dark in London. The whole meat pies are really people thing. I was going to make it a turn of the century London centered contest but I don't want to stilt people's creativity by making them do period pieces but I would like it to take place in that sort of universe. Maybe even in the Jack Ripper days when people still lived very much in the dark, science was just emerging and you could get away with more because there wasn't DNA evidence.
I mean those days are just ripe with horror potential. The disease, the filth, the poverty, the despair, the way people were treated if they were mentally ill in asylums.....
I have read Sweeney Todd, so, ok I get ya, Ill see what I can come up with
Of course I would publish it, but sadly this means I can't compete for the dildo. =[
Also, because I've been working on other non-horror stuff I haven't been wanting to dive into my Shock & Appall anthology just yet, but this would be a neat way to obtain submissions.
Never once written horror! So be kind. Also, I am not even sure this is horror, I mean if I kept writing it could be. Ah fuck it, I posted in the workshop.
I am sure I missed something or mispelled something, but hell, it was worth a shot.
I could work with Victorian London. It's my favorite era, this could be my excuse to write a story set there.
Also:
if we're talking splatter
I'll give it a go. I have some inner anger I need to take out on some fictional characters.
What is that gif with the monster??
Xtro. Low budget sci-fi horror movie. It's got some pretty crazy body horror scenes in it though.
"Deathbed- the bed that eats people". The lowest budget shitty horror flick ever and easily one of the worst movies ever (thank you Patton Oswalt) Fear.com would be the worst however.
I just submitted something to the workshop entitled "Cut In Half" if you want to take a look at that. Although, just a disclaimer, I'm not too keen on having it on a blog simply for the reason that I'd like to polish it and try to sell it somewhere (no offense to the blog!).
Its roughly 5400 words, a first draft, and its pretty disturbing.
-Bill
Oh shit, I didn't tag it with "Grand Guignol". Didn't know you guys were doing this before I posted the story. I stink.
I think you can edit the title.
I looked, but can't find an option to edit the title now that its been submitted. But, either way, I guess my hat is in the ring. Haven't really seen any other stories for the contest, but I'll keep my eyes peeled.
Also, @Laurence, are you still looking for submissions for the Shock and Appall thing? I actually started this story with that in mind, but may try to find a home for it regardless if you're not sure when you're gonna put it together.
Well, I still want to put it together. Just the interest died down quite a bit, and then I started on other projects for the time being. With Psychosis over we should probably all begin to get at it again.
So far(off the top of my head), the contributors are:
Dakota Taylor
Martin Garrity
Jack Joslin
Richard Thomas
Danny Gonzales
Cool. Well "Cut In Half" is what I had in mind for submitting. Feel free to give it a look (no worries on critiquing it if you don't find the time). I've got another story I'm working on now tentatively titled "Black Egg" that might actually top "Cut In Half" as far as bizarre and shock value goes. Hopefully I'll have that posted in the next two weeks if I can manage to finish a draft of it and you can check that out if "Cut In Half" doesn't cut it.
I love horror so it would be an honor to be a part of a horror anthology that featured members of litreactor.
If a gift card doesn't inspire you then the possibility of being in Laurance's anthology should. All entries will be inspected by my husband Laurance and he will decide which of you sick fucks he likes the best.
Should I email it to someone or just say "check out Cut In Half" and leave it at that?
I'll get to your stories eventually Bill. The workshop or e-mail are fine, I'm just battling Richard currently and working on some other projects. I have it on my mind though!
Wait, whoa I submitted, it was terrible, but I submitted.
Put (Grand Guignol) in parentheses next to your title in the writer's workshop, you can easily edit it.
I could, but wont
then you are disqualified!!! No soup for you!
I love the soup-nazi. There I said it.
Ok, found the small edit option. Didn't see it last time.
-Bill
Is everyone aware that there's twenty dollars just waiting to be taken?! I must be poorer than I realized.
Either that or I'm the only creep on litreactor writing this stuff.
Okay, I'll write something gross. Really gross.
Jacks - I have faith in you there.
Is anyone else going to challenge Americantypo because he is winning with his story?!!!!
I was going to work on one but this goddamn schooling got in the way, stupid Master's degree program.
