Creatures in Horror Games

In my opinion, one of the reason horror games are so scary is because of the creatures in them. I feel like the enemy is often an unknown creature that looks terrifying while also possessing qualities that make you uncomfortable to look at. The creatures can look like a dog or a human or a little girl, but there are qualities about them that make them abnormal in a frightening way. So, are we just afraid of the unknown? In Silent Hill 4, the first creatures you have to fight look like a sick wolf or coyote, and they are eating the remains of a fellow dead sick coyote. Now, in real life, I sure wouldn’t want to go up and pet a sick looking coyote but I wouldn’t say I was “horrified” to be near one. In fact, if you just walk by the coyotes, they don’t bother you. The reason they are so scary, though, is because they have their tongues hanging out and you are locked inside what seems like a nightmare. You have nowhere to go but forward and there is creepy music playing. So, there you are swinging away at these gross looking coyotes with your broken wineglass, or long pole (really?? Like that could really beat these guys) and somehow manage to kill them. Well, now you know that you can kill that particular character- so does that make them less scary? I think so… Now that I know more about that particular character, and most importantly that somehow my broken wine bottle can kill them, I am less afraid of them. I know what to expect from the coyotes.
The little girls in Bioshock, look like the cutest girls ever. They are suspiciously carrying what looks like a large syringe. Shortly after you first meet the little sisters, you know you do not want to be around them. They turn into evil creatures who cannot wait for your death so they can harvest ADAM from “angels” (aka corpses.)
One of my questions from the horror group’s very first meeting was “If you play a horror game more and more, does it become less scary?” I heard many people say “no.” This post inspired my idea for my final post so more on this later.