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Horror etiquet

Benny the Ball

17:37 / 01.11.04

I'm trying to structure a script at the moment, have a good knowledge of horror films, but just want to have outside opinions on the matter.

Thanks

CameronStewart

17:42 / 01.11.04

Maybe it would be helpful if you gave us a little more information...the "rules" for a ghost story are likely to be pretty different than the ones for a werewolf story, or a psycho slasher story, you know?

Benny the Ball

17:55 / 01.11.04

Sorry, yeah, bit vague.

Ghost story, gothic, set in a small space that gets smaller.

Thinking of possibly setting it with potholers trapped in caves, thereby introducing the natural dangers as well as supernatural.

Characters are the main thing.

Yes it would be nice to write something new and dareing, fact is, needs american, strong female, father figure (who dies, of course) and coward.

Anything else?

Triplets

00:27 / 04.11.04

The Sceptic [nearly always dies, unless he's Jeff Goldblum]
The Kid Sidekick [not essential, a human version of Scrappy-Doo]
The Weird Girl [Phoebe from Friends meets Heather's Winona Ryder, usually outcast but possessed of strange intuition]
The Comedy Relief [see Randy from Scream 1 + 2]
The Bad Boy [the bad boy rebel without a cause playing by his own rules, with optional shades and five o clock shadow - may or may not be a hero, may or may not be the Killer]

Mr Ed

23:00 / 04.11.04

Depends on the film. If it's Scholck horror, like for Example, House of the Dead, then it's the rules espoused in Scream. Never lose you cherry, never hang round the back, etc.

If you're avoiding the gross out and going for the genuinely creepy, I think the best rule is 'anyone is disposable'. The more they look like the main character, the better.

Lord Morgue

07:14 / 05.11.04

Better, I think, if you don't try to adhere to convention, and simply write from your own fears. Wes Craven knew nothing about horror when he made Last House on the Left, and it's still one of the most effective in the genre.

Spaniel

08:29 / 05.11.04

I'm with Morque, but I would also suggest playing with genre convention.

For example, Ring fools the audience into thinking they're watching the kind of ghost story where the ghost is dangerous but ultimately misunderstood. All's needed is some caring soul to come along and right some wrongs and the ghost will be laid to rest.

NOT.

Instead it turns out that the thing is fucking evil beyond imagining. It's coming and nothing on this earth is going to stop it. The juxtaposition of the "ahh, poor old ghosty" storyline with the hideous reality serves to amplify the horror of those final scenes.

_Boboss

08:57 / 05.11.04

the only rule is : be scary. this can be done in an endless multitude of ways, but attempts to distil them into a formula with dry ice leaking over the top of the beaker is destined to be fruitless i think.

lately i've been thinking that the best way to make a really heavy, meaningful, tragic, philosophical horror, is to be in the nineteen thirties. saw the lon chaney wolfman the other day for the first time - a stunning, moving, subtle little film: you've got this explicit id versus superego thing going on, but come the end, thanks to chaney's heart rending performance, you realise this has all been a blind for the failed messy oedipal conflict that's been beneath the narrative all along. on the tv at half-two in the afternoon, told me even more about the nuances of terror and darkness than freddy 3: dream warriors.

Lord Morgue

03:08 / 06.11.04

Ever see the making of "The Gate"? The director was reading a horror novel a night to stay in the right frame of mind, and finally heard a voice ask him "Do you want to see something scary?".
I would've said yes, but you get the idea. Scare yourself silly, then show us the fallout.

sleazenation

08:43 / 06.11.04

To my mind, isolation is key to a horror film, be it physical, emotional or spiritual.

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