Copyright 2019 by Gary L. Pullman
A selection of horror movies from several decades reveals the usual
suspects among villains: a gang, zombies, mad serial killers, ghosts,
demons, vampires, deranged cult members, supernatural curses, strange
pathogens, aliens, and doppelgangers. In many cases, the posters
advertising the films in which these menaces appear refer to the
antagonists:
- Poltergeist (1982): A family's home is haunted by a host of demonic ghosts.
- Fright Night (1985): A teenager discovers that the newcomer in his neighborhood is a vampire, so he turns to an actor in a television horror show for help dealing with the undead.
- Scream (1996): A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a new killer, who targets the girl and her friends by using horror films as part of a deadly game.
- The Grudge (2004): An American nurse living and working in Tokyo is exposed to a mysterious supernatural curse, one that locks a person in a powerful rage before claiming their life and spreading to another victim.
- The Wicker Man (2006): A sheriff investigating the disappearance of a young girl from a small island discovers there's a larger mystery to solve among the island's secretive, neo-pagan community.
- The Invasion (2007): As a Washington, D.C. psychiatrist unearths the origin of an alien epidemic, she also discovers her son might be the only way it can be stopped.
- Day of the Dead (2008): When a small Colorado town is overrun by the flesh-hungry dead, a small group of survivors try to escape in a last ditch effort to stay alive.
- Shutter (2008): A newly married couple discovers disturbing, ghostly images in photographs they develop after a tragic accident. Fearing the manifestations may be connected, they investigate and learn that some mysteries are better left unsolved.
- Prom Night (2008): Donna's senior prom is supposed to be the best night of her life, though a sadistic killer from her past has different plans for her and her friends.
- One Missed Call (2008): Several people start receiving voice-mails from their future selves—messages which include the date, time, and some of the details of their deaths.
- The Last House on the Left (2009): After kidnapping and brutally assaulting two young women, a gang unknowingly finds refuge at a vacation home belonging to the parents of one of the victims: a mother and father who devise an increasingly gruesome series of revenge tactics.
- Pandorum (2009): Two crew members of a spaceship wake up from hypersleep to discover that all their colleagues are missing. Despite this, it appears that they are not alone.
- The Crazies (2010): After a strange and insecure plane crash, an unusual toxic virus enters a quaint farming town. A young couple are quarantined, but they fight for survival along with help from a couple of people.
- Insidious (2010): A family looks to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Future.
- Let Me In (2010): A bullied young boy befriends a young female vampire who lives in secrecy with her guardian.
- Possession (2012): Five friends find an old bunker in the forest. There, they meet a demon that resumes to split them up. Possessed by the Demon attempting to split them up into five parts—making each of them to attempt to take possession of one friend—in order to play them off against each other.
- Mama (2013): A young couple take in their two nieces only to suspect that a supernatural spirit named Mama has latched itself to their family.
To
sell a movie, a writer must encapsulate the film's concept in a
single sentence or two much like the summaries above (courtesy of
IMDb). If the screenwriter's
sales pitch (the presentation of his or her concept) fails, the movie
won't be green lighted (approved for production). Although these
summaries weren't written by the screenwriters who sold their
scripts, they suggest their respective films' concept, or premise,
well enough to provide grounds for speculations concerning the
success of the films' various appeals to the producers who approved
them:
- Poltergeist: A family comes under attack.
- Fright Night: Stranger danger!
- Scream: Horror film tropes inspire a mad killer's killings.
- The Grudge: The “ugly American” gets hers.
- The Wicker Man: Paganism, thought long abandoned, is a live and well in the boonies.
- The Invasion: The epidemic is caused by a pathogen from outer space.
- Day of the Dead: The survival of the fittest tests who shall live—it's Darwinian evolution in progress before our eyes.
- Shutter: Everyone loves a good mystery.
- Prom Night: It's the second-most important night of a girl's life: what could go wrong?
- One Missed Call: How often does one get to meet one's future self? Never—except for these characters.
- The Last House on the Left: payback is a bitch.
- The Crazies: A small town, by definition, is anyplace—yours and mine included (even if we live in a big city).
- Insidious: A child at risk is a sure sell.
- Let Me In: Not all vampires are bad, right?
- Possession: When the chips are down, it's everyone for him- or herself, friendships be damned.
- Mama: Taking in a child to raise as one's own is just another form of stranger danger.
So,
what can we learn, concerning the theory and practice of horror
fiction, in regard to this list: Like advertisements that appear to
sell specific goods or services but actually promote other things
(Jib Fowles lists fifteen
of the basic needs advertisers routinely tap), horror movies
often address themes other than fear itself.
The theme is the “twist”
or “spin” that such movies place upon the horror they deliver,
and it's this twist that sells a movie (or doesn't). In writing
horror stories, whether for the page or the soundstage, writers
should remember horror is a reaction to a threat against something
the audience (like the characters in the story) hold near and dear:
family, safety, community, health, self-esteem, justice, social
acceptance.
Stories written with underlying themes such as these are
apt to “sell” to agents, editors, producers, readers, and
audiences alike, because they aren't just about fear and revulsion;
they're about serious threats to the values we hold dear.