Scientists don't even know
- Bean of the Week: Pintos (refried)
- Started Reading: FEAST OF THE PALE LEVIATHAN by John Chrostek
- Drinking: Water water water water
- Treat of the Week: Found a copy of GODHUSK REBIRTH by Plastiboo
I came across a little bit of genre-related discourse on bluesky this week (not that that's different from most weeks) but this time people were talking about what makes something "horror." More specifically, I saw discussion about the concept of "cozy horror" and how coziness is antithetical to the notion of horror.
Horror is easily my favorite genre to engage with both as audience and as creator. But it's not quite the same as other genres. It's considered one of the "body genres" (along with comedy, erotica, and melodrama) as these genres all evoke physical responses from the audience. But "genre" isn't JUST that of course. Sci-fi and fantasy are in some ways horror's closest genre cousins, but I agree with Mattie Lewis (who posted recently about "cozy horror" on bluesky and really got my mental wheels spinning on this topic) that sci-fi and fantasy are "setting" genres and horror is not a "setting" genre.
I think there are easily three major "Genre" categories and without realizing the differences between how each functions, it can lead to arguements over what genre even means because they serve different purposes. At least right now I think we can easily slot most "genre" fictions into the aforementioned Body Genres, Setting Genres (e.g. sci-fi, fantasy, historical fiction, and even the now-rare Western), and what I'm for now calling Procedure Genres (e.g. crime/detective, thriller/adventure, and romance).
These three major categories can all easily blend with each other (some are blended far more often than others), but they are all very disctinct in how they shape the works in question and what they communicate to the audience (especially if one leans more on the "genre is just for marketing" side of THAT debate). Where things get especially messy is that there is, I believe, a fourth category that is not itself a genre, but is layered on top of them. I'll call it "Mood." Mood has a lot of overlap with the Body Genres and is where I believe we run into the specific disconnect that happens with "cozy horror."
"Cozy horror" typically uses aesthetics and trappings common to horror works (the Nightmare before Christmas, halloween decorations, the roster of classic Universal monsters, etc. etc.) but completely undermines the basic Body-ness of horror as a genre by removing the aspects of anticipation and surprise. "Cozy horror" is actually a mood stacked on top of another mood ("creepy" or "spooky" let's say). Coziness is fairly unique in how it clashes with actual horror--many other moods can work when laid on top of a horror work, but it's entirely beacuse coziness requires comfort and predictability that it pulls a work out of the horror genre. This is also why "cozy murder mystery" DOES work. As part of the Procedure Genre, mystery/detective works practically require predictability despite the fact that the content of those works might involve (at least "off camera") violence just as gruesome as anything found in a horror work.
But what about horror comedies? Why do they work? That, I think, is because horror comedies are a blend of two body genres rather than conflicting moods or mood/genre. Both comedy and horror involve anticipation and surprise. (Melodrama and erotica do both involve anticipation but surprise is not core to them as it is with comedy or horror.)
Of course there are plenty of works that combine coziness and horror aesthetics (I already mentioned Nightmare Before Christmas but plenty of Tim Burton's other works fit, and often seem to be marketed more as "gothic" than horror from a quick glance). I think this entire discourse/debate would be a non-issue if it simply had a different name.
These are all just some initial thoughts I'm chewing over, though. It is nearly October so I might write more about horror and genre in the next few weeks. Who knows!
That's all for now, and I hope you have a good one.
Verdigristle 9.27.25