horror and what is concealed

As I've been writing plays the past few months, most of which incorporate horror elements if not outright horror itself, I find it very interesting to contemplate how the stage differs vastly from other art forms in terms of concealment and reveal, and how much that plays a role in making the horror work and be.. well. horrific...in the ways we want. With writing, the writers conceals and reveals at will. As readers, we are wholly in the hands of how the author has us experience its worlds and characters. Depending on the POV of any given passage of writing, we know only what that POV tells us, notices, experiences, ect. Film is obviously different and a form where things are concealed and revealed by camera focus and camera work, which gives us our experience. I was thinking of this when watching OBSESSION recently in the theater..how well the lighting and shadow effects worked to conceal faces and rooms to excellent effect. Or how the P-O-V footage of BACKROOMS, which we saw the…