User blog comment:Parlour/Some Thoughts On Monsters/@comment-26399604-20180508011321/@comment-35353892-20180508112438

I couldn't agree more. Twisted variants of things that already exist are scary as hell, since we understand them just enough that our brains can fully take in what this thing is supposed to be, while also acknowledging that it's not as simple as that (like you said, a dog monster is a great example of that). That's why stories such as Candle Cove fascinate me so much: while not exactly a "monster" story, Candle Cove takes a mundane concept- children's tv shows- and twists it into something horrifying and unknown.

Adversely, I'm also drawn to stories like The Rake, where the monster is unlike anything the human mind has imagined before. Those types of monsters force people to tap into the darkest aspects of their imaginations to create something entirely new. I feel like the latter of the two types of monsters is where I draw most of my inspiration from, but like you said, that's the beauty of the horror genre, and the monster sub-genre in particular.