In a previous post, we
considered how to use horror movie posters to generate plot ideas. In
this post, we'll take a look at using commonplace phrases to do the
same.
Let's stay with the “bug”
them. By typing “bug” into the Internet search engine of my
choice (Bing), several links appeared, including this one: Phrases,
which lists these commonplace phrases that include the word “bug”
and the meaning associated with each:
- bug off
- bug out
- bug in her bonnet
- bug someone
- bug storm
- cute as a bug's ear
- snug as a bug in a rug
At first, not many of the
phrases may seem to inspire ideas for horror plots (or even scenes),
but, of course, the phrases are raw material; we have to work with
them a bit. Let's take “snug as a bug in a rug,” for example.
Let's jettison the “snug as” portion of the phrase, paring it
down to “a bug in a rug.” instead of the denotative, or
dictionary, meaning of “rug,” let's go with a figurative use.
Toupees are sometimes referred to, usually derogatorily, as “rugs.”
Could a
toupee-manufacturing company plant a bug inside its hairpieces?
Sure—but why? Maybe the bugs aren't really insects. Maybe they're
miniature microphones that someone plants in the toupees of certain
men ho wear “rugs.”
Okay—but why? The bald
men are spies or suspected terrorists or masters of organized crime.
Maybe the toupee company is a CIA front that makes “special”
toupees for only a select few clients.
Sounds good, maybe, but
why go through all the trouble of making toupees instead of using
more traditional ways to bug persons of interest?
No one, least of all a
spy, a suspected terrorist, or a master of organized crime, is likely
to suspect there's a listening device in his toupee. It's the perfect
hiding place—as long as the wig stays on the suspect's head, which
I likely to be most of the time that he's in public.
There's another
possibility, too. If the “rug' isn't a toupee, but a merkin, the
story takes on a whole different tone. It could take a satirical or
even an erotic twist. A merkin, after all, is a pubic wig, a toupee
worn down under (mostly by women).
Now the client is likely
to be a female spy, a female terrorist suspect, or a female head of
organized crime. The possibilities aren't endless, but they're sure
different than those that are likely to be inspired by a male
character's wearing of a toupee.
Maybe you don't like
either possibility, that of the toupee or that of the merkin.
Besides, we might wonder, where's the fear in such a conceit? There
could be one, if the bug is set to self-destruct, Mission
Impossible style, after so many
hours or days, killing its wearer out at the same time. Some
suspense, or even terror, could flow from the thought that the
presence of the bug, over time, scrambles the brains of the
surveilled suspect—and those around him or her. Perhaps the
government agency that sells the implanted toupee or merkin knows
that this effect will occur; maybe they discover it as the “bugs”
are put into use. Alternatively, maybe the “bugs” have this
effect only on some suspects, and the government agency must discover
why and how to prevent the effect from occurring.
The
possibilities are many, and they have all resulted from brainstorming
about a phrase that includes the word “bug.”
Of
course, if you don't like the results of using “bug” phrases, you
can always substitute a word associated with another horror trope or
theme and brainstorm about phrases containing this (or these)
term(s).
To
find such tropes, check out images of horror movie posters. You'll
find that many of them contain the same types of images, such as
dolls (Abandoned,
Dolls, Worry
Dolls, The Doll,
Finders Keepers, Doll
in the Dark, Child's
Play, Annabelle, The Devil Doll);
heads (Pumpkinhead,
Hatchet, Shrunken
Heads, The Brain That
Wouldn't Die, Hostel);
eyes (The Eye, Would
You Rather?, The
Crawling Eye, Candyman
3, The Theater
Bizarre, The Return,
Cat's Eye).
Just
a few of the many phrases that contain the word “eye” or closely
related words include:
- up to your (my) eyeballs
- your (my) eyes are bigger than your (my) stomach
- a bird's-eye view
- a feast for the eyes
- a jaundiced eye
- a roving eye
- a worm's-eye view
- all eyes are on someone (something)
- an eagle eye
- an eye for an eye
- as far as the eye can see
- bat one's eye
- bawl one's eyes out
- easy on the eyes
- bedroom eyes
- eye opener
- eye to eye
- eyes in the back of your head
- eye popper
- eyes only
- get some shuteye
- give your eyeteeth for
- stars in your eyes
- in the wink of an eye
- keep a weather eye on
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