What do you think a good Horror story needs?
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The Stuff
- Wonder Man
- Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.
9 comments:
Subtlety.
Suspense.
Something obvious.
Innocence threatened.
I think the four things Damien points out are perfect aspects of good horror.
Too many horror films try too hard, sometimes subtle is better. I don't think you can go wrong with good old fashioned suspense.
Too many modern horror films rely on "the twist" and that worked for the first few years, but now it just feels lame most of the time.
Who couldn't feel for an innocent threatened? Emotionally, that sucks you in right away.
I think horror is one of the toughest genres to write. There seems to be a fine line between scary and camp/silly. Tension is required. Great dialogue between the characters is very important. That is where so many horror scripts/stories go bad.
Screaming bitches. (That's also the name of my music collection) lol.
I'm doing some research for a writing project and when I read about this critter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsehair_worms) I thought about your question. And I felt this brushing around my legs and have totally freaked myself out.
My favorite "SCREAM QUEEN" is the character NANCY from the "A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET" series. I need to feel the hero's growth from victim to hero, which is what I thought she did. Freddy made her a stronger person and I liked that.
Human imagination is the best tool for horror. Older, black & white films were written and directed so that audiences relied on personal fears, etc. to imagine what the "evil" was; what atrocities would be heaped on the victim in the dark, shadowed room, what the monster under the bed looked like.
Smart people doing the best they can, making intelligent decisions - and still getting eaten by monsters.
... survivors. We need survivors, too.
Characters to whom you can relate and find yourself attracted..people you don't want to be killed.
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