Given my issues with anxiety, it is often hard for me to go out to places where I know there will be a lot of people. When I get there, though, I tend to settle down and forget that I was in any way anxious about being in that situation. I try to tell myself that I am simply not a people person, but that was revealed as a lie when COVID hit. Being stuck at home with little to no human contact proved to be more difficult than I thought. It also made it clear why isolation is such an effective theme in horror.
Let’s Talk About Isolation in Horror Books and Movies
We tend to think of isolation as being somewhere off the grid, hundreds of miles away from the nearest town. For me, the most effective moments are when those rules don’t quite apply. Imagine being in a place where you need help and there is no cell signal. If you’ve ever driven into quieter areas of the country, calls begin to drop and the signal becomes spotty at best. The next town might not be that far away, but if you are broken down on the side of a road next to a dense forest with no way to call for help, that walk into town alone becomes something much creepier.
For me, isolation is when all of the traditional safety nets are stripped away and you are reduced to being alone and afraid. Think about that rental cabin in the woods, or an abandoned building that seemed fun to explore until you realize that it might not be as abandoned as you first imagined. When you watch these scenes in movies or read about them in books, you know how that must feel, even if you have never been in such a position yourself. Being alone and out of reach of the help you need is a singularly terrifying experience.
What makes isolation so effective for me is that you may not really be in any immediate danger but tell that to your brain. It is so easy to imagine all the terrible things that might happen when you are stuck in unfamiliar territory with no immediate help at hand. The smallest hint of danger becomes amplified to the point where it sounds like you are internally screaming into the void.
What to Watch and Read
There are so many great options when looking for horror that focuses on isolation. For my book pick, I am going to go with The Terror by Dan Simmons, which is a historical story of a pair of ships trapped in the Arctic ice while something stalks the crews of both. For my movie pick, I am tempted to go with The Thing, but since we have already covered the frozen tundra, let’s instead go with Last Shift. In this hidden gem, we have a lone police officer in a station that is about to shut down. Horrors are revealed during her last shift.
That is it for this week. I apologize for the gap between entries into this list, but I should be back to normal now. Be sure to check back next week for the next round of A-Z…
I love using isolation in horror, it’s a favorite of mine! You can also explore such different storylines. The slasher in the woods works, but so does psychological isolation and many more. And you can really amp up the dread.
Isolation is such an effective horror element because it turns ordinary situations into something deeply unsettling. I like how you focus not only on being physically alone, but on that feeling of being unreachable when something goes wrong.