I've found that in horror, implications, instead of actual violence...the hint that something truly awful has happened, can be more suspenseful than actual graphic descriptions of violence. For example: The young lad awakened with a start, thinking that he had heard a prowler outside his window. Slowly drawing back his bed covers, he pulls his night clothes close to his body, as he slowly approaches the window. With a lump in his throat, he cautiously peers out into the night...to see nothing. It must have been his imagination...and yet something doesn't feel right. Suddenly he hears a snapping twig outside. The prowler. He arms himself with the small spade used for shoveling coals into the fireplace. When he hears a sound from down stairs...the front door rattles on its hinges. The dastard is trying to gain entry to the house. "Not so fast mister burglar. You wont find this house so easy to rob." the lad thinks to himself as he takes up a two handed grip on the spade and heads for the stairs. Before he reaches the stairs, he hears the bone chilling sound of the thick, oaken door being smashed to splinters. Fear grips the boy as all of a sudden, he is not so sure of himself "By the holy virgin...that door was 4 inches thick. This robber must be as strong as the devil himself." He freezes in mid-step, unsure of what to do, when he hears the sound of heavy...very heavy...footsteps downstairs. He swallows hard as he hears the sounds of breaking furniture. "This big criminal is violent...oh dear God, please protect us. Where is father? Can't he hear what's going on down stairs?" The sound of heavy foot steps slowly thump their way up the stairs, as the lad retreats back into his bed chamber and bolts the door. His heart is pounding in his chest, as the heavy foot falls come to a stop just outside his door. "He has come directly to my room...he KNOWS I am here." The boy suddenly becomes aware of a strange odor...is it wet dog? Before he can think further on it, he hears an unnerving, low, throaty, beastly growl, far more animal like than human. Slowly backing into the corner, the boy stifles a scream as the light of the full moon cascades through the window to illuminate the door. The door knob rattles... "FATHER! HELP!!!" the lad screams. A deep, bellowing, wolfish roar booms deafeningly just outside the door, as a huge fist and a muscled arm covered in dusky grayish black fur, is propelled through the wooden door with a thunderous crash. The boy screams in terror as the Lycanthrope flies into a howling frenzy and batters down the door. Paralyzed in sheer terror, the boy trembles in place, as a pair of furious eyes reflect the moon light in a sinister glow. The monstrous hulking form of the werewolf steps into the room, its chest heaving in heavy labored breathing, yet the only detail that the boy can focus on is the fact that it is wearing his father's robe... The sound of a scream of terror and a deafening howl of animal rage thunderously echoes over night time London... The constables rushing to investigate the disturbance report find the flat, with a battered down door, a door which features strange claw marks. Inside, the flat's furnishings are all broken and smashed. The carpet reeks of a foul odor, as if some large wild animal had marked its territory upon it. The steps leading upstairs are splattered with blood and at the top of the stairs is a gruesome discovery...an eyeball rests on the floor. The door to a bedroom has been battered down, again with the sinister claw marks on the wood. Inside the bedroom, the bed and furnishings are broken and the floor and walls are covered in splattered blood. Lying in the floor is the severed arm of a young boy, from the elbow down. It appears to have been bitten off. The window is open and more blood is dripping from the window ledge. Off in the distance, the constables can hear the sound of a wolf howling at the full moon.
