Erotic Horror: Combining Horror with Sex!

Erotic Horror (or, EH) is a subgenre of the much larger Horror genre of fiction writing. It combines the sensual proponents of Erotica with the chilling proponents of Horror writing. This can be done in a series of ways, mostly done with paranormal, slasher and revenge stories.

However, there are a few key parts to writing a successful Erotic Horror versus writing a smut story with horror in it or a horror with erotic elements.  I won’t necessarily say these are not erotic horror, but I will go on the record as to say that these are not primarily erotic horror as it should be done.

For me, personally, and as I would teach any writer interested in diving into the subgenre, the story must be equal parts sex and equal parts horror. The storyline should include a sensual drive while maintaining a horror story to the best of its abilities. As with most things, there is a certain balance to be had when writing in this particular field.

Take for instance, Amazon.

Amazon has a tendency to classify anything with sex in it as part of their Erotic Horror category. This has led to some books being unfairly classified as Erotic Horror when they weren’t written for that category in the first place. It’s not always the case, but a lot of books do occasionally find themselves in the wrong category on Amazon, most likely due to poor judgment from the system.

In my book, Arachnicunt, we follow the sexual misadventures of Ambrosia, who has intense sexual encounters with a handful of people throughout the book. However, each and every encounter ends with her partner being killed, drained and consumed by the large venomous spider that lives in her vagina. The erotic parts lead into the horrors and everything balances out. The sex is described in detail and the horrific concept of being killed after sex by a large arachnid falling out of a vagina is painted in a way to seem as realistic as possible.

Arachnicunt is not the only Erotic Horror I’ve done, but it is the one that I often point people to when they ask for EH recommendations. Another work, in the same vein as the book, includes Jonathon Tripp’s recent creation, Arachdickphobia. The books balance erotica with the crippling Arachnophobia that many people suffer from, subconsciously or otherwise.

In my ongoing work and research in EH, I’ve found that a book that tends to focus more on the horror story and leave you waiting or wanting for the promised Erotica within seems to be a growing theme with some books today. These are books that I would consider to be “Horror with Erotic Elements”.

Judith Sonnet’s foray into EH was the book, Hot Musket, and while it has scintillating sexual content and intense horror, I wouldn’t classify it primarily as EH.

I’m not trying to take away from its placement in the category, but when one has to wade through a storyline to get to the sex, it doesn’t scream Balance as much as Obligatory.

EH should include sexual content within the first 1-6 pages. The sex doesn’t need to be pornographic, but it should be intense, it should lull you into a false sense of security before the horror strikes with enough force to snap the reader out of the lull. It can be a hard razor to tread, but done right, it can leave a reader wanting more.

Another form of “too much and too little” is the idea of “Smut with Horror In It.” I’ve been guilty of this myself. My book, AMNION, is the story of an alien taking the form of a porn star and having sex with everyone in an attempt to impregnate men with parasitic monsters. The story contained more sex than horror and could be seen as a practice in “trying too hard,” pun intended. It happens and sometimes, the story can unravel before it gets close to being good.

Some may ask, “Well, what about starting with horror and leading into sex?”

Naturally, yes, this can be done as well. Horror cannot be overlooked. The writer must chill and thrill their reader with more than just the natural beauty of sexual content, they must be willing to engulf the reader with the sinister factor of the horror story the characters find themselves in.

A common rule with Erotica is that the story ends with a HEA (Happily Ever After) or a HFN (Happy For Now), but the beauty of EH is that the story doesn’t need to end with either. The story can end however the writer sees fit. Sometimes the bad guy wins and sometimes the good guy wins, whatever the case may be.

On a deeper level, the reason why I prefer to write EH is that sex is artistic and when two (or more) engage in it, they put themselves in the ultimate state of vulnerability. The sense of danger or self-preservation is frozen until the main objective is successfully completed. This provides a wonderful template for some slasher or demon or monster, etc., to come into the frame and take out the fornicating couple.

It feeds into the paradigm of humanity’s fallacy in being the need to engage in copulation at the risk of health or safety. An interesting argument I heard about Arachnicunt was the idea that the spider represented an STD and the deadly unprotected sex Ambrosia was having was a metaphor for catching it. Another idea was that Ambrosia was empowered through the spider taking out the men trying to use her for nothing more than sex.

Personally, I don’t think too deeply about the book, I just thought it was a fun idea. The goal was accomplished, however, in that the EH content of the book was met with deeper ideas than what it was at face-value. The balance was met and the concept considered, the readers were turned-on and then immediately turned-off.

As with everything, the budding writer has the final say on what they think their story should have as an EH, but in the spirit of guidance, I’m happy to offer my advice in this article for one to take to heart or utilize to the best of their needs. Just remember, the base goal of EH is to enthrall the reader with the heat and then cripple them with fear. Feed their senses and then attack when they least expect it, it really does work.

As a matter of fact, I think that concept could be said about any subgenre in the world of Horror.

ABOUT JERRY:

Jerry Blaze is an award-winning author of Horror and Bizarro fiction.

After achieving success in the erotic market, Jerry decided to undertake Extreme Horror/Splatterpunk/Bizarro fiction writing and released several books. Some of his books have been bestsellers on Amazon. He has been awarded the 2025 Golden Wizard Book Prize and the Literary Titan award.

Jerry is a fan of Grindhouse and exploitation films from the 70s and 80s, often modeling his work on them. He currently lives in the American Midwest, but travels often to get inspiration or to run away from angry mobs.