A Word About Trauma by Alex Hunter

A Word About Trauma by Alex Hunter

For me, horror has always been that escape. As a child in difficult circumstances, I could lose myself in Pet Sematary, where the Creed family’s pain made mine feel smaller, or James Herbert’s mutated rats, which were certainly worse than anything in my own life. Horror let me forget my trauma by immersing me in terrors greater than my own.

Trauma is everywhere. War. Genocide. Environmental collapse. You’d think people would want to look away, avert their eyes from what’s too hard to face. Surely the 2020s should be the decade of the romantic comedy?

And yet, horror is having a moment. It’s big at the box office, one of the most profitable genres in cinema today. Indie horror in books is exploding, with trauma a recurring theme in the work of Nick Roberts, Ross Jeffrey, Eric LaRocca, S.E. Howard, and many more. On streaming platforms, paranormal investigations proliferate. And let’s not forget true crime, which packages and commodifies real-world trauma for eager viewers at home.

So what’s going on?

Horror, by which I mean beautifully written, thematically rich narratives that generate fear, has always been a way for people to make sense of the world, from tales of folklore to the present day. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) wrestled with questions of science and nature. Bram Stoker’s Dracula spoke directly to Victorian anxieties about contagion. Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House (1959) drew on Eleanor’s personal trauma, which the house itself (if it is supernatural – discuss) exploits mercilessly. More recently, Stephen Graham Jones, in The Only Good Indians (2020), explored intergenerational trauma in unsettling, unforgettable ways.

From Shelley to Stoker, from Jackson to Jones, horror has used its dark lens to illuminate trauma, whether personal or societal.

And for readers, and viewers, these trauma-narratives serve as a paradoxical kind of relief. They offer a pressure valve, a catharsis, a chance to switch off from the trauma of real life by facing something worse, but at a safe distance.

For me, horror has always been that escape. As a child in difficult circumstances, I could lose myself in Pet Sematary, where the Creed family’s pain made mine feel smaller, or James Herbert’s mutated rats, which were certainly worse than anything in my own life. Horror let me forget my trauma by immersing me in terrors greater than my own.

So it’s little wonder that trauma bleeds into my own work. In my debut novel, The Harvest (2025), the protagonist struggles with grief for his parents and the despair of being unable to afford a home, despite a teaching career. My second novel, The House That Screamed (June 2026), examines how trauma can be packaged, sold, and commodified for personal gain. Ironically, I began that novel intending a horror-comedy, but the story insisted on becoming something darker. The story, after all, becomes what the story wants to be.

Of course, there are critics who accuse horror of exploiting trauma. And yes, some ‘shock-value’ narratives do trade in cheap exploitation. But the best horror doesn’t exploit. It illuminates. It shines a light on pain so that we might better understand it. Shelley shocked her readers; Jackson unsettled hers. But their insights endure because horror helps us confront what otherwise feels unbearable.

Will the romantic comedy ever displace horror? Perhaps, but there will always be room for both. For me, horror remains the escape valve, the catharsis, the way to face trauma without being destroyed by it.

Trauma is everywhere. Horror doesn’t ignore it, it helps us face it, understand it, even survive it.

The Harvest by Alex Hunter

Maxy Awards 2025 Runner-Up: Horror & Suspense

“Hunter weaves a tale that has the “modern horror fairytale” feel of books like Coraline or IT, while weaving in mature topics that add weight to the narrative. His exploration of grief, found family, and the search for purpose create some truly hard-hitting moments. I was thoroughly rapt by this novel.” -Carlos E. Rivera, author of The Local Truth, Blackout, and A Hole in the World

Something is coming for the children.

Tim Waverly, a young teacher, escapes London’s spiralling housing costs by becoming a live-in caretaker at an abandoned orphanage. But his arrival triggers a series of frightening events.

An ancient evil has awakened. A new Harvest has begun.

As Tim and those around him become engulfed in a dark nightmare, he is forced to confront his deepest fears in order to save countless innocent lives.

The Harvest is a work of terrifying imagination from a new voice in horror. Both frightening and deeply moving, Alex Hunter’s debut novel will linger long after you turn the final page.

Alex Hunter

Alex Hunter was the first child in his school year to be given an adult library card. He borrowed ‘The Rats’ by James Herbert and began to dream of giving other people nightmares. 

His debut novel, ‘The Harvest’, was published in January 2025 (Black Rose Writing), a producer and screenwriter are currently working on a potential adaptation. His second novel is due for publication in 2026.

His short stories have been published in numerous anthologies. 

Alex is a member of the Horror Writers Association and lives in the UK with his husband.

http://www.alexhunterhorror.com

Insta: alexhunterwrites

Horror Features on Ginger Nuts of Horror

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