Why aren't there more horses in horror?

[NightmareBreath]

I'm not a big fan of horror, generally. But when I find something that does interest me, it's usually because it involves an animal. Probably due to the fact that I'm quite an animal lover. A bit twisted sometimes, but an animal lover still.

Serial killers? No thanks.

Zombies? Yawn.

Revolting monsters? Nah.

Mutated killer sheep? Now we're talking! (Honest- I found a DVD called 'Black Sheep' about exactly that.)

Usually when an animal is the focus of horror fiction, it's something from a predictable list of horrifying creatures: bats, spiders, rats, wolves, or even rabid dogs. Even bunny rabbits have made the cut ('Night of the Lepus').

But horses? Come on! Horses are cute, docile, domesticated animals that wouldn't harm anyone. Or would they? There are many accounts of vicious horses (usually in past centuries, and usually intact stallions) that have attacked, injured, and even killed their handlers.

And then there are the frightening steeds of legend: the biblical Four Horsemen, the Headless Horseman, and the Nazgul riders in the Lord of the Rings, to name just a few. But the horses themselves are not the main focus, scary as they may be. The riders are the real agents of terror.

But the potential is there for horses to be a great focus of horror fiction. They are very large, powerful beasts that can easily overpower and injure puny humans or other animals, if they wanted to.

I know of only a handful of horror books (Charles Grant's 'The Pet' being one of the best, even if it is kind of silly) that feature horses as the primary focus, and no movies whatsoever. Why do you think that is?

Horses are one of my favorite animals, and I would be interested in any works of horror fiction that feature them in the spotlight.

Anyone know anything I don't?

[The Villain]

You raise a good point. Of all the animals that have been featured in horror movies, i can't think of any involving evil horses. There have been evil bunny movies (Night of The Lepus), Evil Frogs (Frogs), Evil Sheep (Black Sheep) as you mentioned and even an Evil Turkey (ThanksKilling) just to name a few. Maybe horses are too hard to control for a horror movie or maybe no one ever thought of a good idea or maybe there are some i've never heard of. Maybe you should go make one yourself.

Blood Horse, Dark House, Night of The Stallion. Something lame and dark like that.

[neverending]

Well, you're right- I don't think there are any films that feature evil horses as the focus. One of the latest Romero films had a zombie horse in it. That's about all I can come up with. Horses are generally seen as intelligent, regal beasts, and I don't think anyone has thought to twist that around.

[NightmareBreath]

Originally Posted by The Villain

You raise a good point. Of all the animals that have been featured in horror movies, i can't think of any involving evil horses. There have been evil bunny movies (Night of The Lepus), Evil Frogs (Frogs), Evil Sheep (Black Sheep) as you mentioned and even an Evil Turkey (ThanksKilling) just to name a few. Maybe horses are too hard to control for a horror movie or maybe no one ever thought of a good idea or maybe there are some i've never heard of. Maybe you should go make one yourself.

Blood Horse, Dark House, Night of The Stallion. Something lame and dark like that.

I kinda like the title "Rein of Terror" myself! :D

Horses could be scary. I think it'd be a fun ride!

[Angra]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450336/

[ManchestrMorgue]

What are you talking about? There have been heaps:

Last Horse on Dead End Street
Last Horse on the Left
Horse By The Cemetary
The Old Dark Horse
Horse of 1000 Corpses
Horse on the Edge of the Park
Horse of the Dead
Horse of Fear
The Horse that Dripped Blood
The Horse of Frankenstein
The Horse of Dracula

Just to name a few...

[TheWickerFan]

I suppose all a horse could do is trample. They don't really have mouths made for ripping into meat. The times I've seen horses in horror films they're usually there to get spooked by things humans can't sense.

[ZombieDrone]

When I was fifteen I spent some time working at a stable.


The reason was that in England we have (I believe it still goes on) a period around that age where you go into work experience (which is you go out of class for a period of three weeks and into some unpaid work).

I got lumped with a stable because I was running out of options and I said that I liked animals. I am quite short and physically rather weak and so whilst I like horses in theory, I don't like getting too close to them.

They can be very vicious creatures. They can have a remarkably short temper, massive teeth, very large and devastatingly powerful kick.

You're right that there aren't many horses in horror and that seems a little odd considering horses have long been used in films (imagine a western without a single horse). I've seen clips of Tombs Of The Blind Dead where there were cloaked zombies riding them across fields in slow-motion. That looked pretty cool.

[ZombieDrone]

Well, I did forget about this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YivhhrYmRY&feature=fvst

[Tangleduponblue]

The short story Metzengerstein is about a demonically possesed horse.

My most vivid memory of a horse from horror movies has to be that scene in 'The Ring' where the horse gets possessed and runs off the ferry into the water.