Why Deer in Horror?

I’ve been meaning to write a little about why I find deer such a compelling theme in horror and I got a message that motivated me to put it in writing. While deer are beautiful creatures, often seen as delicate and gentle, every deer contains within its body a violent horror story of its own. We see this quote played out in every video of a deer trapped inside a house:

“Naturally, the nervous species are difficult to keep in captivity. If put into an enclosure, they are likely to panic, and either die of shock or batter themselves to death against the fence in their attempts to escape…No gazelle species has ever been domesticated.” Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

I have come to believe that deer make such good companions for horror because they hold multitudes within their frightened, panting bodies. We can project anything into their sweet, vacant eyes. They are prey, they are sacrifice, they are objects of veneration. They are symbols of innocence; they are vectors of disease. The sight of one in a sunlit meadow can calm your heart yet they will crash into your speeding car without a thought for their own life, or yours. They creatures of noble beauty; they are vessels for our worst nightmares.

The Vision of St. Hubert, Wilhelm Räuber, 1892