harry potter

            A good definition of horror is that rules don't apply anymore. Rules may not exist, but there are elements that brings the story line together. The elements are how a novel or movie becomes know as horror. There are four elements which are categorized as bad death (dying in the most gruesome way possible), decay (rancid and rotten smells of decomposing bodies), alternative reality (objects that have no life is not always true), and imagination (the question of: if it is real of not). .
             The first element of bad death illustrates how gruesome and unnatural deaths obtain their identity as horror. It brings out the fear of the possibility that we may experience a horrible death. In Salem's Lot, Stephen King does a good job in bring this first element to life. He uses characters that everyone can relate to and settings that are very much like our own, if not the same.
             For instance King used Win Purinton's dog, Doc, to demonstrate how horrible the death maybe. Doc was found at the local cemetery hung by the neck with his guts hanging out. "The body of a dog hung head-down from the wrought-iron gate, and the ground beneath was muddy with its blood.)pg.71 You can see as gruesome and horrible the death may be, King depicts even the weakest and simplest of characters. He then moves on to the next character, Ralphie Glick, which is a young boy who does not have the knowledge to protect himself from the horrible and evil events that is happening around him. "Now I bring you spoiled meat and reeking flesh. I have made sacrifice for your favor."pg.119 Having been kidnapped and later used as a human sacrifice doesn't fit so well with our society, but in Salem's Lot, the vivid and clearness of this event make us feel that it is very much real. .
             Birdie and Hubie Marsten death was the real beginning of all the reoccurring bad deaths in this novel. "Larry tried the back door, found it unlocked, and stepped into the kitchen.