Susan Hill Quotes

I guess the reason that I'm a horror fan is that I think it gives people the opportunity to enjoy the feeling of being scared in a safe environment. I think that's why, for all of human history, we've been telling each other scary stories: because it exorcises something that we need to exorcise in a safe place.

When I was a kid, I read books that made me laugh but also made me shiver in terror. I wanted to make books that made other people feel the same way.

Crime stories are our version of sitting round a camp fire and telling tales. We enjoy being scared under safe circumstances. That's why there's no tradition of crime writing in countries that have wars.

We watch a romantic comedy because we want to cry, say, or an action movie so we can participate in heroics. Horror's different. It can hit you with a moment of revulsion so hard you might want to erase the last five minutes of your life, please.

I like being scared, so I've always liked fairy tales because they're kind of creepy.

I think people like to be thrilled and excited. And a scary movie is a safe way to do that because you're not actually doing it. It's entertainment. You know that you're in the confines of this two-hour space of safety in the movie house.

If you can actually get someone to sit on the edge of their seat and feel nervous if there's a knock at the door, then you've done something pretty terrific as a writer.

One feels the excitement of hearing an untold story.

From a good book, I want to be taken to the very edge. I want a glimpse into that outer darkness.

People want to be entertained when they watch dramas. 'Mistresses' has a mixture of escapism and reality.

And I guess I'm a kid at heart in that when I go for entertainment, I want to be totally transported. I want to go somewhere else; I want to encounter different things, different beings, different universes. And so I love that aspect of being able to play those things in both 'True Blood' and in 'American Horror Story.'

I love the novel because it's like a love affair. You can just fall into it and keep going, and you never know where it's going to take you.

I've been a storyteller all my life. When I was in high school, I used to amuse myself by driving through the woods at night and see how long it would be before I scared the pants off my friends - and if I could do it before I scared myself.

It's what you don't see that keeps you on the edge of your seat in any kind of film - leave it to the imagination of the viewer.

I think there's a reason that horror appeals to teens. There's a lot of useful lessons to take away from reading horror. We get to be scared in the comfort and safety of our own homes. We can put the book down if we get too scared, and no one will ever know if we decide not to pick it up again.

Just like all great stories, our fears focus our attention on a question that is as important in life as it is in literature: What will happen next?

People go to see a film because it's a great story and it's visually exciting to watch.

When you're watching Psycho, there' s that moment when you have a visceral reaction to watching someone being stabbed. And then you have the intellectual revelation that you're not, and that's where the celebration comes in.

I was enjoying myself writing, because I don't know what's going to happen when I take a ride around that corner. You don't know at all what you're going to find there. That can be thrilling when you read a book, especially when you're a kid and you're reading stories.

When you get right down to it, there's something uniquely satisfying in being gripped by a great plot, in begrudging whatever real-world obligations might prevent you from finding out what happens next.

I am pretty scare-able. I guess that is why I like doing horror because my imagination can take me places.

The general effect of viewing 'Jumanji' is thrilling. I was able to see on film a thing that at one point had only existed in my imagination. I got to see the images from my book come alive.

We need horror stories for people to focus on.

I feel the same magic about 'Angel Falls' that I did with 'Twin Peaks' and 'Mod Squad.'

I think when people are scared, they like to see movies where the scares are not real.