The Brock Horror Club shows that horror is more than just movies: it’s literature, conversation and community.
It’s that time of year again: Halloween is right around the corner. But for the Brock Horror Club, every day is a creepy one. In fact, they’ve been preparing students for the holiday since Sept. 27, when they held their first event of the year, a Scary Stories Around the Fire event at the Alphie’s Trough Firepit.
“[It] went phenomenally for our first official event of the year,” said Rowan Whate, founder and president of the Brock Horror Club. “I think scary stories are a tradition that many people hold dear, so with our collaboration with the Creative Writing Club, we wanted to bring this tradition to Brock.”
A literature-themed event is uncommon for the club, whose events last year largely consisted of horror movie watch parties, but Whate says that the format is actually the most fitting of any for the genre:
“As great as movies and video games in the genre are, I vehemently believe that literature is at the heart of horror. Dracula, Frankenstein, Psycho, The Shining, you name it, there’s a solid chance that your favourite horror movie is a literary adaptation,” said Whate. “As beneficial as the screen is for horror, the best horror utilizes one’s imagination, and that’s how literary horror works.”
“If there’s one thing I want to get across, it’s to read more horror books,” said Whate. “Authors like Gretchen Felker-Martin, Stephen Graham Jones, Nick Cutter and Grady Hendrix are breaking the barriers of what we know as horror every year, and all I can really do is spread the word.”
Of course, horror movies still have their place. As Whate explained last year in a conversation with The Brock Press, “movies are a fantastic way to meet other people,” and horror is “a genre perfect for watching in big groups, jumping at each and every scare.”
Unfortunately, though, hosting movie events can be tougher than one might expect. The club recently had to cancel a trip to see Smile 2 in theatres “due to an unexpected increase in event cinema released this month, causing Smile 2 to only be available in Laser Ultra, even days after its initial release,” said Whate. As this would mean increasing the entry fee by more than double, they decided to cancel, but have “added new precautions to ensure this does not happen again for future events.”
What’s more, choosing a movie to show at Brock can also be a beastly exercise for the club. “As a public entity, Brock clubs must follow Canadian copyright law, which unfortunately does significantly reduce the number of movies […] Brock has the license to [show],” said Whate.
“None of this is to mention the content of the movies. Horror has always toyed with boundaries of what is and isn’t societally accessible, and so we must also consider this when planning events, as accessibility is deeply important to us. When planning an event, the running of it is only half of the story, as finding a movie is often just as tough.”
Despite the troubles, horror is worth it, much in part to the genre having “a united goal” to scare audiences, said Whate. Furthermore, it provides a sense of togetherness, and a club like this is a way for people to come together and celebrate a genre traditionally cast in a negative light, as “lesser in both critical examination and popular culture,” said Whate. “It can be hard to find people to discuss it with,” but a club like this thrives off that “desire to connect.”
The Brock Horror Club hopes to expand this conversation in the months to come as they develop a Brock Horror Podcast, where students and staff can discuss and delve into the many different avenues that horror offers.
“Podcasts are an interesting context to discuss because we live in an environment that is incredibly oversaturated, and yet, there is something so novel and important about the unscripted nature and back-and-forth of the format,” said Whate.
With plans like theirs, it’s easy to see how the Brock Horror Club will continue to thrive and adapt, even after the Halloween season is over. Horror is not just a once-a-year genre, it’s a pillar of unity for lovers of film, literature, podcasts and more.