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I think it should come as a surprise to no one that you will sometimes find overtly erotic situations in horror stories. In many respects, horror has always had erotic overtones. The vampire's bite has long been recognized as a socially acceptable stand-in for sexual intercourse. Socially acceptable, that is, in earlier times, when good authors wouldn't even think of writing about the actual sex act, but could substitute vampiric seduction for the sexual sort.

Le Fanu's Carmilla was a very thinly veiled story of lesbian seduction. A veil that has, in various film adaptations, become far less opaque and, curiously, far bloodier at the same time. The original story, after all, never metioned the usual blood sucking of classical vampirism. The beautiful countess, rather, seemed to drain the life from her victim through mere proximity.

Today, of course, there is actual sex in addition to the implied sort. The question then arises, is this erotica, or just someone tossing in a dirty story? There is, after all, a difference. Both may have a basic goal of arousing the reader, yet the former does so through the application of a distinct art form, while the latter uses crude directness. One might say that both have their place, but it isn't always the same place.

Good erotica is more likely to appeal to women than the cruder sort that will appeal mostly to men. The basic dirty story, additionally, often tends to be somewhat lacking in any real plot, like most of the porn movies being released these days.

Curiously enough, general acceptance has led to a decline in quality. In the old days, even a porn movie would have an actual plot, a story of some sort. The plot may have been rather thin, but it was there. The director had to provide some sort of "redeeming social value," after all, in order to get his product into the theaters. This no longer seems to be the case, so the story has essentially gone away. What remains is often more boring than erotic.

That, however, is cinema. My province is the written word. And, speaking of words, the question arises, do you really need dirty words?

My own feeling is that you don't. True, in moments of passion, it's rather unlikely that a character—or a real person—is going to moan, "I want you to sexual intercourse me!" in her lover's ear, or exclaim, "Let's coitus!" Sometimes the slang terms will work better (and the provenance on the obvious choice here goes back at least as far as Chaucer). But that doesn't mean these words have to be used exclusively.

Back some years ago, an author who wrote under the pen name Ted Mark set down a series of action—in more than one sense of the word—adventure novels about dashing secret agent Steve Victor, known as "The Man from O.R.G.Y" (Organization for the Rational Guidance of Youth). The character was a combination super spy and sex researcher, and spent the course of each book doing quite a lot of both. All in all, he seemed to prefer the sex research, though. A spoof of James Bond and similar secret agents (the series name is an obvious takeoff on "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."), the O.R.G.Y novels were quite funny for sex stories. Victor, for instance, found himself pregnant decades before it happened to Schwartzenegger.

But there were no dirty words. None. The action was nearly as explicit as the back-counter porn novels of the period, but everything was referred to by its proper (usually Latin) name. There were times, I'm sure, that many readers found themselves running to the dictionary in order to figure out who was doing what to what. Oddly enough, this exclusive use of scientific terminology was often hotter than if the slang terms had been used.

Eroticism in horror works on multiple levels. On the surface, erotic encounters can provide a link to the elemental emotions that are often the catalyst for the horror. Violence and jealousy are easily linked. Sexual energy calls up monsters and demons. The villain's sexual predilictions may be the root of his depradations.

Still, there is no real need for vulgarism. True eroticism is an art form, using carefully crafted imagery, not crude directness. It can create a sensual atmosphere, or a terrifying one.

Sex, after all, is a basic element in human experience. Without it, we would all die off. So it is only natural that certain sexual elements be incorporated in fiction. There are few genres where you don't find it. Even genres like military fiction usually have some sort of love interest. And horror, of course, is nearly always about sex at some level.