Distinguishing between horror and action/adventure

This is the sort of thing I think about.


At what point does a horror franchise morph into an action/adventure franchise? It always happens--the question is, why?


Think about two movies I know you've seen--Alien and Aliens. The first is undoubtedly horror. The second, while it has horrific overtones, is more action/adventure. But why? What invisible line did the second film cross?


I think it has to do with knowledge, specifically, knowledge of the threat. In the first one the nature of the creature--even it's very existence--was unknown to the characters in the movie. Once it became a problem for them they had to struggle with their own lack of knowledge as they attempted to deal with it. In the second, the characters did have some knowledge about it--not much, but some, so it wasn't completely unknown.


That's the secret, the definition of horror--dealing with the unknown. Once it becomes known, it's no longer horror.


Why is this important anyway? It's probably not to many people. To me, though, it gives me a line, something to keep firmly in mind, as I work on this TV show project I've been thinking about for a while now. It starts out as horror and I want it to remain horror, and that means our heroes will need to be in the dark about whatever threat they are facing.


Fortunately, this won't be too hard, with the nature of the forces that will be bringing the threats the characters will be facing. As soon as one is figured out another, completely different one, will emerge and have to be dealt with.


On a random note--just did some book shopping at a local used book store, and found a hardback addition of John Crowley's Little, Big.  For some reason this sort of freaked me out, and I had to buy it. I love those independent bookstores--they have just enough organization so that, if you're looking for something specific, you can find it, but they are just disorganized enough that you can encounter all sorts of things that you weren't looking for. Like the aforementioned Crowley. I also saw Tim Powers' novel, Declare, in the general fiction section instead of fantasy. Whoever buys that book, while probably looking for an espionage thriller (which it kind of is, actually)  will be in for a shock with the supernatural elements. Yes, I've read it--I have it, actually--and it's a cracking good read, and I recommend it highly.


On another random note--as I was checking out the owner of the store asked if I was trading in some books, and I said no. (For the record, in addition to the Crowley, I had Fred Saberhagen's Berserker's Star, and Ramsey Campbell's Creatures of the Pool--one fantasy, one science fiction, one horror novel.) The owner laughed and said us science fiction/fantasy people never trade in books. I told her, "I don't either. They're mine."


My total tab? Twelve bucks. For three books, two of them hardcover.


Not bad at all.