The 'Blank' Trope In Horror, Explained
Horror movie monsters come in all shapes and sizes, but there are some familiar concepts that tend to appear across all manor of scary stories. When crafting the object of one's terror, there are certain features that mankind has long determined to be threatening, and those features will naturally keep coming up.
The recurring monsters like vampires, zombies, and werewolves can have infinite alternative takes while still remaining within the same basic concept. Interestingly, without pulling from those generational monsters, authors and filmmakers can craft a horrific new nightmare just by combining certain traits like a character creator in a video game.
Exploring The Body Snatchers Trope In Science Fiction
The Blank, simply put, is a humanoid entity without a face. Not a creature with unusual facial features or one whose face is deliberately hidden, but one whose visage lacks any defining characteristics. There are more half-examples of this trope than there are full ones. Countless horror creatures and characters lack a single notable trait. They're missing a mouth, or a nose, one or both eyes. The true Blank is without any notable traits. Surely the go-to example is Slender-Man, the iconic internet horror creation. A tall pale guy in a fancy suit wouldn't be particularly scary, but its creators added to its impact by removing its face. The being without a face has been a reliable horror concept for generations,
One of the most prolific founders of this trope in horror literature was the father of cosmic horror H. P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft was a fairly singular author, but he did take the odd piece of inspiration from contemporary artists. One of his greatest inspirations was the 1895 short story collection The King in
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