What’s New Scooby Doo?

Zoinks! Like, this is scary dude

My social media timelines over the past couple of weeks have been all of a flutter with discussions about one particular genre: cozy/cosy horror. No, not the everlasting debate of which side of the Atlantic one chooses as reflecting the One True Spelling. The question seemingly on everyone’s lips (and screens) is whether cosy horror is a genuine genre, or one made up by some marketing executive hiding out in a decidedly unhaunted basement somewhere north of the equator. 

Photo by Parsa Mir on Unsplash

Cosy horror is generally identified as books (or any form of media) that is familiar and comforting - despite a general theme of ghosts, murders and zombies. Cosy horror can still be unsettling, but might tap into themes with which we find recognisable and homespun. It can craft a spooky tale without causing nightmares. And leaves the reader, if not anticipating a happy ending precisely, at least one which feels like loose ends have been resolved to the satisfaction of the audience. Think of M.R.James, with his characteristic ghost stories where the setting and characters give a cosy vibe, even if the story is disturbing. Or the Addams Family, which despite a macabre overtone, is wholesome in its portrayal of relationships and support. Scooby Doo is another cosy horror: spooks galore, but the masks come off at the end in a predictable and comforting reveal (don’t worry kids, the true evil is all around you!). More contemporary examples arguably include the works of T. Kingfisher, Isabel Allende, or Theodora Goss - even some of Terry Pratchett’s work (try Carpe Jugulum, even if you haven’t read any other Pratchett).

The arguments I’ve seen against cosy horror as a genre are generally centred around two issues. First, that cosy horror is an oxymoron. Horror is supposed to be unsettling, by definition that precludes a comforting vibe. Whatever cosy might be, it is not horror. Second, we already have genres to describe the books and media like those I’ve mentioned here. Gothic horror; young adult horror; noir; comedy horror; even kidlit that just happens to have a spooky theme. Bringing in the term cosy horror just confuses an already saturated arena.

And yet I haven’t seen arguments against other, similar terms. Cosy fantasy, such as Legends and Lattes, or the Glass and Steele series, seems well established as a concept. Cosy mysteries have spanned Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, and Jessica Fletcher, with nary a complaint that murders, after all, can’t really be cosy. 

I don’t normally read much in the way of horror - I’m far too squeamish! But regardless of whether one views cosy horrors as a standalone genre, or yet another marketing ploy, current discourse about cosy horror has certainly done one thing: substantially grown my TBR (to be read) pile.