gothic horror
Haunted castle fiction
Gothic horror is a genre of fiction emphasizing atmosphere, dread, and the macabre—haunted castles, family curses, supernatural threats, and brooding settings.
The style emerged in 18th-century literature and persists in novels, films, and games: Dracula is the quintessential gothic horror novel.
The genre favors psychological unease over explicit violence. (Capitalized Gothic horror is the standard form.)
- FrankensteinGothic novel's mad scientist
- vampireBlood-drinking undead creature
- blood curseMalediction afflicting a family line
- dungeonSubterranean prison chamber
- cryptSubterranean burial vault
Ann Radcliffe · mad scientist · madness · supernatural · ancient evil · macabre · graveyard · unreliable narrator · damsel in distress · castle · haunted mansion · death · haunted · cobwebs · Horace Walpole · darkness · abbey · ghost
- horrorterror, fear, dread, haunted, bloody
- Horror FilmsThe Exorcist, Halloween, The Shining, Friday the 13th, Night of the Living Dead
- Gothic horrorghost story, haunted houses, Dracula, vampires, Frankenstein
- Mad Scientistmad scientist, secret lab, lab coat, laboratory, evil genius
- scaresfrights, scares, chillers, shockers, scary stories
- horror fandomslasher films, slasher movies, monster movies, creature features, werewolf films
gothic horrorslasher
Knife-wielding horror villain
splatter · body horror · gore · shock horror · found footage horror
gothic horrorromantic comedy
Humorous love story genre
cozy mystery · domestic comedy · utopian fiction · screwball comedy · beach read