Document Type
Article
Abstract
The video game genre known as "survival horror" resembles contemporary horror cinema in that both increasingly popular forms of entertainment allow audiences to experience fear resulting from the development of suspense coupled with the dread and shock of encountering monstrosity. One need only note the remarkable success of "next generation" video game franchises like Resident Evil (1996) and Silent Hill (1999) to realize that, more than ever before, game players in their late teens and beyond long to immerse themselves within interactive nightmares that offer the kind of thrills and chills once available exclusively through horror literature and films. However, despite the fact that survival horror video games allow those that play them the opportunity to interact with virtual environments in ways that determine which supporting characters, special weapons, or alternative endings are accessible, the survival horror genre ultimately adheres to the technological conventions, established themes, and (at times frustrating) narrative linearity of the cinematic tradition from which they arise. Consequently, when exploring the complex aesthetic and political relationships between survival horror video games, the experience of "playing" these texts, and horror cinema, two crucial questions must be addressed: To what extent do video games constitute a cultural phenomenon that merits not only serious critical inquiry, but a mode of inquiry informed by the discourse of film studies? And, if video games in general, and survival horror video games in particular, call for a detailed analysis, what visual or dramatic elements must a survival horror video game possess (or lack) to differentiate itself from other, similar video game genres? By way of analysis of prominent games in the survival horror genre, McRoy attempts to answer these pertinent questions while also raising questions about "new media" and its relation to older modes of criticism (both generic and film).
Repository Citation
McRoy, Jay. ""The Horror is Alive": Immersion, Spectatorship, and the Cinematics of Fear in the Survival Horror Genre." Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture vol. 6, no. 1, 2006, pp. 1–17. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/reconstruction/vol6/iss1/13
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