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Best Essays and Books About Horror Movies

Learn more about your favorite frightening films, or film theories of horror itself, with this list of creepy books and essays.

You’ve probably wondered about the inspiration behind your favorite scary movies and the background of some of those horrifying stories. Sometimes the origins of a horror movie are as simple as an author telling a scary story, and at other times films are based on more sinister, true events . You might also be interested in the making of certain horror movies or the impact they have on the audience or the cast. Maybe you're into film theory and want to study the gender dynamics, cultural and political significance, and philosophy of horror, like in Carol Clover's seminal book Men, Women, and Chainsaws . Luckily, there are plenty of resources that explore these exact topics and the development of horror movies in general.

You might be interested in why people are attracted to horror movies and the act of feeling fear. In which case, you might want to read Stephen King’s essay Why We Crave Horror Movies . Digging even deeper, you might notice horror films can help us examine fears around eating, sexuality, religion, and more. You might even wonder about the characters that often die first and why, which is explained by Lindsay King-Miller in her essay A Love Letter to the Girls Who Die First in Horror Movies . Whatever it may be, in addition to the aforementioned texts, here are the best essays and books about horror movies.

Monsters in the Movies: 100 Years of Cinematic Nightmares

Director John Landis ( American Werewolf in London, Twilight Zone: The Movie ) wrote a book on movie monsters covers some of cinema’s most terrifying creatures and their development. Landis explores the design of movie monsters and special effects, both in high and low-budget films. Monsters in the Movies includes interviews with the minds behind the monsters, their historical origins, and tricks behind bringing these ghouls to life.

Nothing Has Prepared Me for Womanhood Better than Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

Sarah Kurchak’s essay examines a subject people might not consider in horror movies. The truth is that many scary films express beliefs about women and their experiences via horror and gore. Kurchak dissects how Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 features female stereotypes in hot pants but also explores women facing the threats of men and emerging from adolescence completely altered. Kurchak argues that this horror comedy can teach female viewers about what to expect from the world and adolescence.

Stephen King At the Movies: A Complete History of Film and Television Adaptations from the Master of Horror

The chilling stories of author Stephen King have made both startling reads and frightening films. King’s works have established more than 60 horror movies and 30 television series. This book covers the making of all of them, including behind-the-scenes material and King’s opinion on some adaptations. If you’re looking to dive deeper into some iconic films based on King’s stories , consider picking up Stephen King at the Movies .

There’s Nothing Scarier than a Hungry Woman

Remember how we said that horror movies can contain messages that don’t appear obvious on the surface? Laura Maw notices how in many horror movies there is always a scene of a ravenous woman eating, and her fascinating essay considers the meaning behind that.

Related: Best Performances in Horror Films of All Time, Ranked

Maw writes that “horror invites us to sit with this disgust, this anxiety, and to acknowledge our appetite and refuse to suppress it.” Maw presents a feminist analysis of hungry women in well-known horror movies in a way which both explores and challenges preconceptions about women.

Behind the Horror: True Stories that Inspired Horror Movies

Dr. Lee Miller’s research into the origin stories of movies like The Exorcist and A Nightmare on Elm Street are compiled in this handy book. Miller details the true accounts of disappearances, murders, and hauntings that inspired these hit movies.

Behind the Horror explains the history of the serial killers featured in Silence of the Lambs and takes a good look at the possessions that motivated the making of The Exorcist and The Conjuring 2 .

My Favorite Horror Movie: 48 Essays by Horror Creators on the Film that Shaped Them

Arguably one of the best books to read if you are curious about the makers behind famous horror movies. My Favorite Horror Movie features over 20 essays from filmmakers, actors, set designers, musicians, and more about the dark works that solidified their careers.

The films discussed include It , Halloween , The Shining , and others. It’s a good book for looking at horror movies from different angles and recognizing the many minds that contributed to these iconic works.

The Art of Horror: An Illustrated History

Yet another great book for establishing a rounded perspective of horror movies, this time in a much more visual way. The Art of Horror sorts through famous illustrations, movie posters, cover art, comics, paintings, photos, and filmmakers since the beginning of horror with Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s infamous Frankenstein . Learn about these talented artists, their chilling work, and their impact on the direction of horror.

Wes Craven: Interviews

If you’re trying to hear from the best horror directors themselves, the Wes Craven interviews are a great place to start. Craven is responsible for films like Scream , The Hills Have Eyes , A Nightmare on Elm Street , and The Last House on the Left , and is often considered one of the greatest horror filmmakers of all time.

Related: The Best Scream Queens of All Time, Ranked

Craven established a particular style in his films that changed the way horror movies are made, and this book pulls information from the master himself. Wes Craven: Interviews includes almost 30 interviews with the director ranging from the 1980s until Craven passed away in 2015.

101 Horror Movies You Should See Before You Die

Ever wonder if you’re missing a great horror film from your spooky collection? This is the book for you. 101 Horror Movies You Should See Before You Die covers the absolute essentials of every kind of horror film, from gothic to slasher and international horror classics as well. Horror can take on so many different forms and this book is one of the best for finding horror films you might have missed.

The Science of Women in Horror: The Special Effects Stunts, and Stories Behind Your Every Fright

Authors Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence examine women in horror movies in this book that explores feminist horror films , and more misogynistic ones from the standpoint of feminist film theory. The Science of Women in Horror recalls the history of women in horror movies and goes on to analyze more recent, women-centered horror flicks and series such as The Haunting of Hill House and Buffy the Vampire Slayer . If you want to know more about the women on and off-screen in horror movies, check out this book!

Our Favorite Essays and Stories About Horror Films

Reading Lists

Make tonight's evil dead marathon more literary with our best writing about the genre.

It’s the spookiest day of the spookiest season, but you already had your party last weekend, and now you have to stay home and either hand out candy to grabby children or turn out all lights visible from the street and pretend you’re not home. What makes a night in both fun and seasonally appropriate? Horror movies, of course! So while you’re waiting for, or hiding from, trick-or-treaters tonight, put on a Nightmare on Elm Street marathon and make your way through some of the best stuff we’ve published about scary films.

“ There’s Nothing Scarier Than a Hungry Woman ” by Laura Maw

Maybe you haven’t noticed this, but horror movies contain a lot of scenes of women eating—and not only eating, but eating voraciously. Laura Maw has noticed, and she thinks she understands. This essay is both a sensitive cultural analysis of a horror movie trope and a beautiful personal narrative of coming to terms with both the threat and the banality of hunger.

As a woman, to say that you have found eating uncomfortable at times is not particularly groundbreaking. The anxiety has become mundane because it is so common for women, but isn’t that in itself noteworthy? Horror invites us to sit with this disgust, this anxiety, to acknowledge our appetite, to refuse to let us suppress it. There is something uncomfortable and enthralling about watching a woman devour what she likes with intent.

“ Horror Lives in the Body ” by Meg Pillow Davis

This Best American Essays notable is about the physical experience of horror—both horror films, and the familiar horrors we encounter in our normal lives, the ways we brush up against mortality and violation and fear. Why do we seek out this physical experience—”the pupil dilation, the quickening heart, the sweat forming on your upper lip and the surface of your palms, and the nearly overwhelming urge to cover your eyes or run from the room”?

If those other viewers are anything like me, they watch horror movies because they recognize the horror, because its familiarity is strange and terrifying and unavoidable. It is the lure of the uncanny filtering into the cracks and crevices of the cinematic landscape and drawing us in.

“ What ‘Halloween’ Taught Me About Queerness ” by Richard Scott Larson

Michael Myers wears a mask to hide his face while he kills—but is that the only mask he wears? Richard Scott Larson talks about watching Halloween obsessively as an adolescent, while he was starting to understand that his own desires were also considered monstrous.

The experience of adolescence as a closeted queer boy is one of constantly attempting to imitate the expression of a desire that you do not feel. Identification with a bogeyman, then, shouldn’t be so surprising when you imagine the bogeyman as unfit for society, his true nature having been rejected and deemed horrific.

“ If My Mother Was the Final Girl ” by Michelle Ross

The “final girl” is the one who’s left standing at the end of the film, the one who survives the carnage. But what do you call someone who’s still standing after childhood trauma? This short story is about horror films, but more than that, it’s about mother-daughter relationships—a deeper and more mundane form of horror than the kind in slasher flicks.

The one thing my mother and I share is a love for slasher films. When the first girl gets hacked up or sawed in half or stabbed in the breast, my mother says, “Now there’s real life for you.” And I glance at her sideways and think, you can say that again.

“ A Love Letter to the Girls Who Die First in Horror Films ” by Lindsay King-Miller

Unlike the “final girl,” the girl who dies first doesn’t have a catchy title. Lindsay King-Miller writes about the lost friend who taught her that we don’t all have it in us to be a final girl—and that we should celebrate the girl who dies first, because she’s not living in fear.

To survive a horror story you have to realize you’re in one. The girl who dies thinks she’s in a different kind of story, one that’s about her and what she wants: to dance, to party, to fuck, to feel good. She thinks she is the subject of this story, the one who watches, desires, sees, the one who acts upon the world. She does not feel the eyes on her, does not know she is being observed, that her fate is not to reshape the world but to be reshaped by it.

“ Nothing Has Prepared Me For The Reality of Womanhood Better Than ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2’ ” by Sarah Kurchak

Yes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is a cheesy horror-comedy hybrid in which women are menaced and their bodies are treated as set dressing. But so is adolescence. Sarah Kurchak writes about the many ways in which this movie taught her what to expect from the world.

Sure, this was, on many levels, a schlocky B-movie with so many of the expected hallmarks of the time — women in hot pants and peril, over-the-top gore. But it was a schlocky B-movie in which a woman faced men’s threats, both implicit and explicit, and was left breathing but almost unrecognizable at the end of it. That felt familiar.

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• Scriptwriting

How to Write Horror — Horror Writing Tips for Fiction & Film

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S o, you want to learn how to write a good horror story? Whether you want to know how to write a horror movie or how to write a horror book, the four steps outlined in this guide will get you started on the appropriate course of action and help you to align your creative goals. Writing horror isn’t all that different from writing for other genres, but it does require the right mindset and a creepy destination to work towards. Before we jump into the first of our four steps, let’s begin with a primer.

How to write horror

Before you get started.

The steps outlined in this ‘how to write horror’ guide assume that you already have a grasp over the fundamentals of writing. If you do not yet understand the basic mechanics of prose, screenwriting , or storytelling, then you might not get everything you need out of this guide. Luckily, we have a litany of informative resources that can bring you up to speed on everything you need to know.

If you intend to tell the  horror story  you have in mind as a screenplay, then the best way to fast track your screenwriting education might be to read through some of the  best screenwriting books  or to enroll in one of the  best online screenwriting courses .

Our guide to writing great scenes  is another good place to start, and our  glossary of screenwriting vocabulary  is a great resource if you encounter any unfamiliar terminology. When you’re ready to start writing, you can get going for free in  StudioBinder’s screenwriting software .

Now, we’re ready to jump into step one of our how to write horror guide. But, be warned, if you don’t already have a basic story concept in mind, you should consider that Step Zero.

There’s no concrete way to generate story ideas, but you can always look to creative writing prompts  and  indie films to kickstart inspiration .

HOW TO WRITE A HORROR MOVIE

Step 1: research and study.

Writing horror often begins by consuming great horror . We look to the stories of the past when crafting the stories of the present. Someone who has never read a horror novel or seen a horror film is going to have a much harder time writing horror than someone who is a voracious consumer of horror stories. By watching and reading, you can pick up plenty of tips for writing scary stories.

Before writing your opening line, be sure to do your research. It can be worthwhile to explore all manner of horror media. But for the purposes of this step, it’s best to focus in on the type of material you wish to create.

If you want to learn how to write a horror novel, then read as many horror novels as you can get your hands on. Our list of the  greatest horror films  ever made is a good place to conduct your research if you plan to write a horror screenplay. You can also check out our rundown of  underrated horror films for even more research.

Here are tips on how to write horror from the master himself, Stephen King. And, while you're at it, might as well catch up on the best Stephen King movies and TV based on his work!

How to write good horror  •  Stephen King offers horror writing tips

It’s important to go beyond simply reading and watching horror and to begin to analyze the material. Drill down into why certain decisions were made by the writer and try to figure out why certain elements work or don’t work. It can often be worthwhile to explore material you consider bad as well as what you consider good, so you can learn what not to do.

Check out our analysis of Midsommar   below for an example of how you can break down and explore the horror films that inspire you. You can also download the Midsommar script as a PDF to analyze the writing directly. You should check out our Best Horror Scripts post for more iconic script PDFs.

How to Write Horror  •   Read Full Midsommar Script

When consuming material to learn how to write a horror story, pay particular attention to the pacing and structure of the stories you’re inspired by. For example, if the style you find yourself most drawn to is slow-burn horror, then you might want to aim for a much slower pace than average with your story as well, but the build-up will become even more important.

Horror story writing

Step 2: decide your type of horror.

So, you’ve decided you’re writing horror, congratulations, you’ve settled on a genre. Now, it’s time to pick your sub-genre (s) and to decide on the specific avenue of horror to explore. There are many horror sub-genres to choose from. Just take a look at our ultimate guide to movie genres for quick rundown. And, check out the video below to see horror sub-genres ranked.

Ranking subgenres for inspiration  •  Horror story writing

Keep in mind that genres and subgenres can be mixed and matched in a multitude of combinations. For example, The Witch blends together the horror and historical fiction genres. From Dusk Till Dawn fuses action, crime-thriller, and vampire elements. And Shaun of the Dead fuses the horror and comedy genres by way of the zombie subgenre.

Our video essay below offers insights into Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright’s creative process. Check out our ranking of Edgar Wright’s entire filmography if you want even more.

How Edgar Wright writes and directs his movies  •   Subscribe on YouTube

Step Two is also the time to decide on the specific avenue you will exploit when writing horror. By “avenue of horror,” we mean the primary source(s) of tension and scares. Witches? Zombies? Cosmic horror? Body Horror ? Social Horror? These are all different avenues that your horror story can take on, and just like with genres and sub-genres, mixing and matching is encouraged.

A horror story that exploits kills and gore as its avenue of horror will be written in a much different manner than one that focuses on a sense of creeping dread and leaves more to the viewer or reader’s imagination.

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Step 3: Mine your fears and phobias 

You have decided on your genre and your avenue of horror, now it’s time to get more specific and drill deeper. For Step Three, go beyond asking what makes a story scary and instead figure out what makes your story frightening.

Depending on what you chose in Step Two, this might already be baked into your sub-genre and avenue of horror. For example, the home invasion sub-genre by nature mines a very real phobia that many people share.

The best home invasion films

However, if you chose to go with the zombie subgenre for example, you may need to work a little harder to discover what it is about your story that will scare audiences. Zombies on their own certainly hold the potential to be frightening, but audience overexposure to them throughout the years has gone a long way to lessen the scary impact they once had.

For examples of how to do it right, check out our rundown of the best zombie films ever made . And, for a different yet equally effective take on the sub-genre, check out our list of the  best zombie comedies .

How to write a horror story  •  Exploit common phobias

The above video breaks down the statistics surrounding a number of phobias. One common piece of writerly wisdom is “write what you know.” When writing in the horror genre, we can tweak that advice to, “write what scares you.” Mine your own fears and phobias when crafting your horror story; there are sure to be others out there who get creeped out by the same things.

This is also the step where you should try to discover your X-factor. What is it that sets your story apart from similar horror stories? If the answer is “nothing really,” then it might be time to take your concept back to the drawing board.

How to write a horror story

Step 4: keep your audience in mind.

From this point on, you are ready to start writing your horror story. Much of the writing process will be carried out in the same way as you would write a story in any other genre. But there are a few extra considerations. Put all that research you did in step one to work and ensure that your prose or screenwriting is well balanced and doles out the scares at a good pace.

You will want to find a good middle ground between sacrificing story and character development and going too long without something to keep your audience creeped out.

Narrative pacing is important in every genre, but horror writers also need to worry about pacing their scares, similar to how someone writing an action film needs to deliberately pace out their big action sequences.

How to write a horror story  •  Keep pacing in mind

Decide on who your target audience is from the jump and keep them in mind while you write. There can be a significant difference between horror aimed at teens vs. horror aimed at a mature audience. In film, this can mean the difference between shooting for a PG-13 rating instead of an R rating.

In fiction, this decision might manifest as a plan to market directly toward the young-adult crowd. Horror aimed at children, like Frankenweenie or The Nightmare Before Christmas , is drastically different from other types of horror aimed at older audiences.

Use your target audience as a guiding star that informs all of your narrative decisions as you write. Now, it’s time to put everything you just learned about how to write good horror stories to use.

The Greatest Horror Movies Ever Made 

If you are stuck on step one and looking to find some inspiration, our list of the greatest horror films ever made is a great place to look. You are sure to find something to get your creative juices flowing within this lengthy list. Writing great horror starts with consuming great horror, coming up next.

Up Next: Best Horror Movies of All Time →

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Tips For Writing Horror: 6 KEY Lessons From Genre Masters

Tales of evil spirits and witches existed long before the invention of the written word, let alone the invention of cinema. Horror is a well-tread genre, with strong antecedents in all forms. But what tips for writing horror have developed over the years for writers looking to shock their audiences?

Horror movies are a gigantic part of pop culture and the filmmakers behind some of the biggest hits (both old and new) have a lot to say about their craft. Screenwriters with an interest in the genre should pay close attention to their lessons, as these filmmakers have not only built the language of contemporary horror but also derived their inspiration from classic horror.

So in this article, we take a look at some of the best and most applicable tips for the key aspects of writing horror.

Table of Contents

The history of horror, tips for writing horror #1 – tap into relatable fears, tips for writing horror #2 – build characters with depth, tips for writing horror #3 – what is your story really about, tips for writing horror #4 – don’t just focus on scares, tips for writing horror #5 – be bold, tips for writing horror #6 – know your horror.

The House of the Devil (1896) is often considered the first horror film, a silent film telling a story of an encounter with the devil and various phantoms. Then came two decades of literary adaptations as the genre found its feet. Early versions of Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde , for instance, were scaring people in the 1900s and 1910s.

As early as the 1920s, horror was an identifiable and popular movie genre. Monumental titles like The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and Nosferatu are still considered some of the greatest horror movies ever made.

The silent era gave way to talkies in the 1930s and 1940s, and the world saw more well-known attempts at literary adaptations. Frankenstein and The Mummy , for example, led by the legendary Boris Karloff , took the world by storm.

The 1950s saw horror’s scope expand massively and the era largely became known for its disaster films. The War of the Worlds , Them! and Godzilla were hits, for example. These films often reflected societal fears at the time of their release (nuclear war, invasion, etc), adding to their inherent scares by playing on audience fears (something horror always does consistently throughout its history).

Horror in the 1960s and 1970s is not that different from the genre today. Rosemary’s Baby and Psycho proved that horror should be taken seriously both critically and commercially, and these films remain regarded as some of the genre’s finest ever made. Slashers like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween further pushed horror into the mainstream, albeit in a more gritty, grizzly, and lo-fi manner.

80s to Contemporary Horror

By the 1980s, horror was an industry staple. Slashers continued to be all-the-rage, the likes of Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th spawning decade-running franchises. These movies were huge box-office draws and remain cult classics despite their multiple offshoots.

The horror movie buzz fizzled out across the 1990s and 2000s as films had leaned a little too hard on formula and tropes . Besides a few standouts (such as Scream ) the genre was relatively quiet. This was arguably until the re-emergence of zombies in the mainstream, which 28 Days Later was the spearhead for.

But just as slashers had fizzled out, zombie films eventually became dull too. A brief era of ‘torture porn’ defined modern-horror thanks to films like Saw and Hostel , but this was mostly destined to be as short-lived as its protagonists.

The modern era of horror is now much harder to define. The horror industry is arguably thriving more than ever, continuing to draw cinema-going audiences in an ever-changing landscape. Along with superhero movies, horror is a genre that can seemingly be relatively relied on to achieve strong box-office returns.

However, when it comes to the more standout horror films, originality is the name of the game. Jordan Peele and Ari Aster, for example, made weird hits right out of the gate and drew in massive audiences. Their films are bold and original, often succeeding because of the way they subvert horror tropes as much as rely on them.

So who will be the next horror master? And how will horror continue to evolve? The below tips provide key overarching guidance for screenwriters and filmmakers looking to forge ahead in creating their own horror stories. Perhaps lying in this guidance will be the keys to the next defining horror movement of a generation.

Lots has been said about how the horror genre offers audiences a safe way to experience their greatest fears. This is not dissimilar to bungee jumping or riding a rollercoaster. People like to flirt with fears and test the limits of human experience. A good horror script can do just that.

“You don’t enter the theater and pay your money to be afraid. You enter the theater and pay your money to have the fears that are already in you when you go into a theater dealt with and put into a narrative. Stories and narratives are one of the most powerful things in humanity. They’re devices for dealing with the chaotic danger of existence” Wes Craven

Think “ What scares me?” and chances are, it scares someone else. Tap into your deepest held fears and build on this to create a horror idea that can offer both thrills and catharsis.

Very few filmmakers have ever understood how to scare an audience like Wes Craven. The Hills Have Eyes , for example, exploits our most primal fears when isolated. The Last House on the Left , meanwhile, was famously about the USA’s attitude towards violence and the characters in A Nightmare on Elm Street become victims in their dreams.

All films play on the idea of vulnerability. It’s no coincidence that teenagers are often the protagonists here, venturing into adolescence with an exposing mix of newfound independence and still being a child. This is an experience all audiences can relate to in some way, either directly identifying or remembering what it’s like to be this vulnerable.

Writing a script with sympathy for all your characters, even your villains, can make a story much more interesting than one that is approached with zero nuance. Life is complex and the best horror stories reflect this.

“In Halloween , I viewed the characters as simply normal teenagers. Laurie, Jamie Lee’s character, was shy and somewhat repressed. And Michael Myers, the killer, is definitely repressed. They have certain similarities” John Carpenter

Try considering the perspectives and motivations of each individual character in your script. Do they all make sense? Are there any missing opportunities for characterisation? Who should your audience sympathize with and why?

John Carpenter created horror history in Michael Myers, the awful incarnation of evil. It is very interesting to think this portrayal might have turned out differently had Carpenter (and Debra Hill ) plainly written the character this way. Instead, there is a depth of character that not only makes him more interesting to watch but most importantly makes him all the more relatable and terrifying.

Who are your chosen heroes and villains and why? Moreover, what will make us identify (for better or worse) with them? What’s beyond the layers of their roles within the story?

What do you want to say with your script? Every screenwriter should ask this of themselves. Horror leaves a lot of room for subtext which a writer can use to make something truly effective and meaningful. How might you add depth? What is your story truly about beyond its core parts?

“I continue to watch modern horror films, despite the constant disappointment. I don’t think a lot of the filmmakers making horror now know its worth, or realize the potential of the genre. Just because it’s a horror film doesn’t mean it can’t be deep. I think a lot of filmmakers who make horror now go in with dubious motives — money, predominantly. But horror is a pure form of cinema. I think there are some modern-day filmmakers out there who understand that. The films that will stand the test of time are the ones that have depth.” Jennifer Kent

Jordan Peele, for example, tackled racism in Get Out , Whannel confronted abuse in The Invisible Man , and Harron explored materialism in American Psycho . Horror, free from realism, always has the potential to say something meaningful. Again, by tapping into some genuine and relatable fears, one can find the ground to tell a story that not only scares but has depth and something to say about the world we live in.

In The Babadook , for instance, Jennifer Kent shocked audiences with her depiction of motherhood. She started a conversation in the way only a horror film could, tapping into genuinely held emotions and fears and taking them to an extreme place in order to depict an important theme and start a conversation. You might want to scare your audience but what message do you want them to walk away pondering?

Scares are vital to a horror screenplay. However, make sure that all your other story rules do not go out the window. Give your characters powerful and robust arcs, make the conflict interesting, and keep hold of a solid structure, for instance. After all, an invested audience means the scares will have a greater impact.

“What you don’t want is for violence and gore to become more important than character and structure. A lot of slasher movies from the eighties were only focused on violence and gore, which robs the human beings in the story of any empathetic reaction from the audience, and instead makes them cheer for the gore” Mike Flanagan

A film strives to elicit powerful emotions from an audience and fear is perhaps the most powerful emotion of all. But the best horror films affect viewers in multiple ways at once, tangling up fear, sadness, and euphoria. The supernatural can often be the most powerful and affecting way to explore normal, everyday lives and concerns. But without fleshing out those lives convincingly to start with, the genre elements won’t hit as hard.

At a very basic level, this is obvious. Every film where you root for the protagonist demonstrates this. But it can be easy when writing horror to forget about the basics of building a relatable and convincing world first and foremost. So build the horror on top of your key storytelling tenets, rather than letting horror lead the way.

“I love biting off more than I can chew and figuring it out” Jordan Peele

Arguably the most successful and distinctive horror filmmaker of the twenty-first century, every screenwriter interested in the genre should study Jordan Peele. Get Out was a critical hit upon its release. However, in retrospect, it is actually the outlier among Peele’s other films.

Us and Nope were more divisive than Get Out , and their detractors would be unsurprised to hear Peele’s mantra here. He’s seemingly most interested in spectacle and some would argue those films aimed high and fell short, ending up messy and loose. However, nobody could deny the impressive aspirations. Peele captures imaginations and attention by telling big, bold stories.

Writing a script always feels like biting off more than you can chew. The best stories are those that are ambitious and take risks, especially in horror, because this often translates into originality. Peele’s work has imagery at its heart that feels incredibly original, captivating, and cinematic. Without these aspects, his films wouldn’t be as powerful and distinctive.

The films are by no means all spectacle and no depth. In contrast, Peele’s work always has powerful messages about American society at its core. But the spectacle and boldness of his ideas are what makes them feel so original and idiosyncratic. He’s interested in taking the genre into new places, playing with and subverting tropes whilst also being deeply indebted to all that has come before.

Jordan Peele’s work demonstrates the duality of great horror – matching captivating concepts with powerful messaging, both subverting and honoring genre antecedents and forging new territory that is deeply indebted to old territory. So be bold and fearless in your ideas. After all, in a crowded genre, you’ll need something distinctive to stand out.

It perhaps goes without saying but in order to write the best horror, you must consume horror. No lesson is better than watching a horror film (or two, or ten!) and learning straight from the source. This is, of course, true of most genres. But more than other genres, horror is a genre with a rich vein of tropes , lores, archetypes , and themes.

It never dies. It just keeps getting re­invented and it always will. Horror is a universal language; we’re all afraid. We’re born afraid, we’re all afraid of things: death, disfigurement, loss of a loved one. Everything that I’m afraid of, you’re afraid of and vice versa. So everybody feels fear and suspense. John Carpenter

Ask yourself What do I like about this film? Why am I drawn to it? What is keeping me engaged? How would I do it differently? What makes this truly scary?

The best horror writers will always be thinking these things while watching or reading horror. Knowing the language you are seeking to write in sparks creativity like nothing else.

The horror genre has always developed on its past, and this shows absolutely no sign of stopping. The best horror movies are aware of what has come before. However, they’re also determined to make something new and consequently keep the genre evolving. So how will you add something both deeply satisfying and new to the horror genre?

– What did you think of this article? Share It , Like It , give it a rating, and let us know your thoughts in the comments box further down…

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This article was written by Henry Spicer and edited by IS Staff.

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2 thoughts on “Tips For Writing Horror: 6 KEY Lessons From Genre Masters”

Great write as usual, thank you. There is a lot i didn’t know. I think for my next project, I should delve into this genre.

A very good overview of the genre and great tips. Thank you so much from a Spanish Executive Producer.

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How to Write a Great Horror Movie

There's only one genre out there that everyone is buying. so in honor of halloween, i want to walk you through how to write a horror movie. get your knives ready. .

The horror genre is tried and true. It's the one genre every studio and streamer is buying. Why? 

Because it's the one that usually delivers the most profitable movies. Horror films come with a huge audience, and the nature of the stories usually keep them pretty cheap. 

But are there tricks to writing a horror screenplay that makes the process different?

I don't know about any tricks.... but I can assure you this post is a real treat! 

Okay, if that didn't chase you away or horrify you enough to stop reading, let's forge ahead into the unknown...

What's the worst that could happen? 

Table of Contents

Horror movie definition .

What is a horror movie?  

A horror movie is a film whose plot is  designed to frighten the viewer. The story must cause some sort of existential dread and invoke our very worst fears. Horror films are roller coasters for viewers often climaxing in a shocking finale. They can be cathartic or just plain fun. 

What kinds of horror movies are out there? 

There are so many different kinds of horror movies in the world. This genre contains a bunch of subgenres. Before you start writing, you should pick one, or mash a few up.

I want to address something that comes up in the comments a lot. I often get people replying "This is fine, but what actually sold with this stuff?"

I know we aren't supposed to read the comments, but the comments section is my horror movie. 

I usually don't address this stuff but I want to this time. 

Mostly because as a professional writer, horror is where I've found most of my recent work. 

Last year I wrote on a horror anthology series that was on Netflix called Don't Watch This . My episode was called Keep Out.  I've done extensive work for CryptTV .  Keep your eyes out for it. 

My point is: I have worked in this space and I want to help. 

I'm not calling myself "the authority" but I'm only going to give you the things I've used for my screenplay work. 

So let's look at some of the horror sub-genres and see what each entails. 

Horror movie sub-genres 

Slasher movies usually have killers who use knives or hooks or machetes to hack up their victims. They can be like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Scream in tone. There can be one or multiple killers. They have a lot in common with the mystery genre and thrillers. 

From Godzilla to The   Fly , monster movies come in all shapes and sizes. Usually, these monsters terrorize a small community, like in Jaws , but they can also be a global threat, like in Cloverfield . We don't always need a direct scientific explanation for why or how the monster exists, but that might clue everyone in on how you can defeat them. 

Supernatural  

Ghosts, demons, and Satan all exist within these worlds. Your demons can be like Freddy Kreuger or they can be like the possessor in The Exorcist . They can be spirits like in The Others or a riff like in Ghost . Or just straight-up horrific like in Poltergeist . 

Inanimate Objects 

A few years ago it felt like every movie had a scary doll in it. Now, with the Chucky reboot and Anabelle , these dolls don't seem like they're going away. But what about something like The Fog or Christine ? They also fall into these types. 

Found Footage 

I know this is technically a WAY to make a movie, but I wanted to address it last. While these movies are not as popular as they once were, the staples are still the most famous. The Blair Witch, The Visit, and Paranormal Activity  changed the way we viewed cinema. You have to write for found footage for it to be found footage. 

How to Write a Horror Movie (Free Outline)

Before you sit down to write or outline, I wanted to go over some of the tropes within these kinds of films. These tropes can be things you subvert or lean into depending on the situation. You can learn about them here or see them in action by d ownloading 80 Horror Screenplays for inspiration ! 

So let's ask the question...

What are some horror screenplay tropes? 

Guys, I love a great horror screenplay. They make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and make you shake with excitement. 

Common tropes of horror screenplays include:

• Action : People often creep around with little dialogue. 
• Suspense: Pacing in horror is a must. Think Hitchcock ! 
• Jumpscares : Sudden noises or reveals should POP off the page. 
• Gore : Gruesome death or torture scenes are commonplace in these movies. 
• A memorable villain: Create someone who will haunt dreams for years to come. 

Okay, you picked your horror subgenre and found our logline and treatment pages so you did your prep work. Now it's time to jump into the outline and then in your screenwriting software to type some pages. 

So what does a horror screenplay outline look like? 

The horror screenplay outline:, 1. unraveling the terror  - do you have an opening scare that defines the movie.

Do you like  Scream ? The opening scene of the  screenplay  sets the tone for the entire story. 

2. The Entry Point  - Who will be involved in these terrifying escapades and what are they dealing with? 

In a movie like  Dawn of the Dead , it's the series of scenes where we meet who will inhabit the mall. 

3. Before It Goes to Shit  - What’s a normal day look like in this world?

Think about the way the family gets by in  Poltergiest  before the ghosts show up. 

4. The Horror Sets In  - What horrific thing sets our characters off on their journey?

Nothing is worse than realizing your daughter is possessed as the characters do in  The Exorcist .   

5. The Uneasy Path - Everyone is together, what keeps them moving this way?

In something like  Godzilla , it's the reason why they deal with the monster at hand? What do they have to gain? 

6. Walking Over Broken Glass - How do our heroes deal with the problems as they go?

In the  Saw  franchise, this is how people try to get out of the sick traps and hunt Jigsaw. 

7. Through The Dark Cave  - Do you have a B story? Set that story off on its own now too.

B-stories, like the marital tension in  Rosemary's Baby , are great scenes to juxtapose against the horror at hand. 

8. Reassess the Terror  - You’re in the middle. Is there another way to get out alive?

In  Shaun of the Dead  its when they decide to go to the Winchester. 

9. People are Going to Die  - Things begin to fall apart, let the body count rise and show how they deal with it. 

In  The Descent , this is when the people in the group begin to be picked off one by one. 

10. The Fall  - The worst thing happens, something so bad you don’t think you can get up.

I n a horror movie like  The Mist , it's when they are forced outside and surrounded by the actual mist. 

11. The Hidden Clue  - What do your characters discover that they never saw before?

Is there a way out? Something they never realized, like in the  Sixth Sense  when David realizes he's a ghost. 

12. Race To the Final (Girl)  - They’re up and running no matter what. They can make it! 

This is the series of scenes that carries us toward your thrilling finale. In  Alien , it's when Ripley is confronted and has to think fast. 

13. The Moment of Relief  - Did they make it out alive? Has life returned to normal?

What does their day feel like with the problem corrected? Think about when  Jaws  finally blows up?

14. Where We Go From Here? - Show us the world in a new light, hint what’s next. Maybe the killer or monster returns for one final scare!

In every horror movie, it feels like there's one last scare. Like in  I Still Know What you did Last Summer  when it turns out the hook-handed man is under the bed! 

Horror Movies and Comedy Movies 

One last thing I wanted to address is the addition of humor to your screenplay. 

So many horror movies use comedy to help bring levity to dark things. Sure, it doesn't happen all the time, but comedy helps ease people into scenes., If you're laughing, you might be more susceptible to a jump scare or a misdirect. 

You can be as funny as Shaun of the Dead , or use the deadpan humor of The Dead Don't Die. 

Even titles as unsettling as Midsommar contain humor that helps the audience engage. 

So consider adding humor to your pages to keep them turning. 

Sam Raimi, one of the best to do it, uses comedy in all his horror films. 

What's next? Learn about Movie and TV genres ! 

Film and TV genres affect who watches your work, how it's classified, and even how it's reviewed. So how do you decide what you're writing? And which genres to mash-up? The secret is in the tropes. 

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Why We Enjoy Horror Films Essay

Horror movie critics have asserted that there is a growing tendency in making much more violent and bloody movies. At a glance, it is difficult to understand why people pay money for the ticket to watch the most horrible, thrilling, and creepy scenes at the cinema. However, deeper examination explores much more sophisticated reasons for the public’s immense interest in horror movies.

King’s statement that horror movies “have a dirty job to do” (3) can be reinterpreted to stress that contemporary production or horror films premises on people’s desire to distract themselves from the monotonous routines and realities of grim daily activities by depicting ugliness and fear.

While deliberating on the essence and purpose of horror movies, Kinds notes, “[horror film] urges us to put away our more civilized and adult penchant for analysis and to become children again, seeing things in pure blacks and whites” (2). Therefore, most individuals interested in this genre search for psychic relief because most of such pictures are premised on the simple, primitive representation of the evil and the good.

Also, the illustration of unreasonableness and outright madness is rarely observed in real life. Even though such emotions as love, compassion, sympathy, kindness, or commitment are celebrated in society, the depiction of the opposite emotions in horror movie can only enhance individual’s awareness of the significance of these aspects. Society is too bored with constant practicing of politeness and attentiveness, love and friendships.

Under these circumstances, horror movies demonstrate what could happen in case social sanity will be distorted. Human perception of insanity is relative because its normality is usually accepted by the majority. Existence of social norms allows us to be distinct between the action that makes sense and unreasonable and irrational actions.

All these dilemmas could be solved as soon as people start watching thrillers and horror films. At this point, King emphasizes, “it is morbidity unchained, our most base instincts let free, our nastiest fantasies realized…and it all happens, fittingly enough in the dark” (3). In this context, supporters of just and good lifestyle will not be able to adhere to the concepts as soon as they realize the main purpose of horror movies, as well as the techniques directors, employ to achieve this purpose.

Modern horror movies often depict monsters, psycho, or zombies chasing their victims. The viewers realize what is going on, and they often strive to help the hero to escape death. While using these techniques, horror movie directors emphasize the helplessness of a person in front of the danger, which makes all people be frightened.

The feeling of unexpected capture makes people attend such pictures frequently because they lack such emotions in life. In such a way, they also entertain themselves and even have fun when watching creepy scenes. In conclusion, the admirers of horror movie genre attend such pictures to grasp the main attributes of a new reality in which irrationality and simplicity provide them with new emotions and experiences that are impossible to perceive in real life.

By employing unexpected appearance, depicting ugliness and monsters, and revealing the scene of violence, the directors expect to frighten people who are in search of new impressions and risky situations. Although modern movies have become more bloody, the idea of this genre remains unchanged to approve such emotions as love, compassion, and kindness.

Works Cited

King, Stephen. “ Why We Crave Horror Movies ”. Web.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2022, April 28). Why We Enjoy Horror Films. https://ivypanda.com/essays/horror-movies-art/

"Why We Enjoy Horror Films." IvyPanda , 28 Apr. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/horror-movies-art/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Why We Enjoy Horror Films'. 28 April.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Why We Enjoy Horror Films." April 28, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/horror-movies-art/.

1. IvyPanda . "Why We Enjoy Horror Films." April 28, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/horror-movies-art/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Why We Enjoy Horror Films." April 28, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/horror-movies-art/.

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How to Write Horror for Film

It’s a common mistake to call a horror movie a scary movie. Not all horror movies are scary, and certainly not all scary movies are in the horror genre. Therein lies the biggest hurdle to overcome when crafting compelling horror –  figuring out just what is “scary.” That is a question so vast it can be scary itself, crippling creativity and leading to unfinished projects, self-doubt, and wasted talent. So, how do you write a horror for film that captivates an audience?

How to Write Horror for Film: 4 Essential Tips

The truth is that good horror isn’t about scaring as much as it’s about entertaining. When you set out to entertain instead of scare, you will always win the audience. In fact, the first horror film wasn’t considered a horror movie at all, as it was the first movie of its kind. Horror can be our everyday world shown through a nightmare lens and can be inspired by the situations we face and mundane parts of our day suddenly uprooted by the otherworldly. It’s the ultimate genre of escapism, and great horror writers never lose sight of that. 

Here are additional tips on how to write compelling horror.

1. Don’t Reinvent the Wheel, Just Make a Great Wheel 

In the late ’70s and early ’80s, the budding subgenre of the body-count movie was on the rise. Victor Miller, a screenwriter, and director Sean S. Cunningham were amazed by the box office success of John Carpenter’s Halloween and decided to try to replicate it with the first Friday the 13 th .

While Halloween played with suspense in its kills, Miller and Cunningham went in the opposite direction, upping the gore factor. The godfather of gore himself Tom Savini, fresh off Dawn of the Dead , was called in to bring to screen what Carpenter hid in the shadows. Practically telling the same story of teens picked off one by one by a psycho killer, both movies are seen as forefathers to the slasher subgenre yet handle it entirely differently. One chose to grotesque their audience into fear by showing the mayhem, while the other let what the audience didn’t see drive their fear. 

When it comes to writing your own horror, don’t get hung up on re-inventing it, find your angle to adapt it.  For example, in 1968, George A. Romero would forever change the idea of the zombie from Voodoo lore to the flesh-eating ghoul. Romero created an entirely new subgenre by re-contextualizing an already existing idea of the recently deceased rise from their freshly dug graves. Every zombie movie since Romero’s Night of the Living Dead has brandished the classic’s fingerprints proudly. Because it’s not always about making something new, but about making something enjoyable.

2. Watch The Best (and Worst) Horror Films 

How do you get to perform at Carnegie Hall? Practice. Nothing will beat hours upon hours of self-education on a subject. Luckily, film is a visual medium, and you can literally watch scary movies and call it research. If you’re new to the genre, grab a Top 100 list and hop into the deep end. If you’re a long-tenured fan of fright, then you’ve been doing your homework this whole time. By watching good movies and bad, you’ve seen what works and what doesn’t, which scary movie scenes scare you and which do not, and what entertains you and what doesn’t. All art grows from what came before it, so set out to consume as much horror as you can and expose yourself to all the horror subgenres and horror from other countries. The only thing that can truly hurt you in horror is a narrow imagination. 

Additionally, take the time to listen to the director’s commentary on a DVD or Blu-ray. A simple yet often overlooked tool, these pseudo-TEDtalks are goldmines of reusable info on not only filmmaking but the nature of the horror genre. Rocker turned horror auteur Rob Zombie always includes an extensive make-of documentary to show just what steps go into every step of crafting a horror movie, following from day one of production all the way to the Martini shot. These readily available resources can help you hone your skills in showing kills. 

3. Don’t Feel Pressured to Follow Trends

Horror changes quicker than any other genre. As soon as a new style of horror hits with fright fans, everyone tries to re-create the same magic. The market becomes oversaturated, and just as fast, the style falls out of favor. In 2004, James Wans’ horror debut Saw hit screens and ushered in the short-lived subgenre of Torture horror. Movies that featured exceedingly cruel and unyielding deceptions of violence, such as Hostel and Wolf Creek, are solid examples. 

Wans’ film was a masterclass in how to write horror for film and effective indie filmmaking . The young filmmaker understood how to torture his audience on a budget with implication rather than gratuity. A slew of gorier and gorier knock-offs would follow, enough that by 2007 audiences had grown desensitized to all the bloody carnage. Torture horror all but ceased overnight as Found Footage-style horror movies would find a second and steadier life. This all shows the fickle nature of audiences and that an attempt to create material simply to feed a trend can be a blind and thankless ambition.

4. Create the Horror Movie You Never Got to See

The band KISS is quoted as saying that the key to their success was being the band they never got to see growing up. That’s a beautiful way to approach any creative endeavor. Make the art you never got to enjoy. Whether your dream project deals with a murderous Easter Bunny or a haunted insane asylum, it doesn’t matter. Whatever the idea is, hold on to it and work with it, and, most importantly, make sure it’s something you yourself would want to watch. Think back to being an audience member and what style of story got you excited. If you make the story you wanted to see but never did, you may be surprised to learn just how many people are ready to be terrified by your nightmares as well. 

Learning How to Write Horror for Film

Some call a life in the arts living the dream. Well, for those who love horror, it might be a dream job, but it’s their nightmares that inspire them. So, to the future masters of horror out there, we wish you chilling nightmares, you’ll need them.

How to Write Horror: 8 Crucial Components to Terrify and Delight

by Sarah Gribble | 0 comments

The horror genre might call to mind slasher films or other monster movies your teenage friends made you watch at night to scare you out of your wits. But horror is more than a shock fest. Scary stories have the ability to reveal the human condition in ways many other genres cannot. Today let's look at how to write horror.

Types of stories

We're continuing our series on how to write each of the nine types of stories , based on values. Values are defined by what a character wants or needs most in a story. Story types can defy genre boundaries which are often more about reader expectations and specific tropes, but the two often work together to create a satisfying reader experience.

Here are the six value scales with the plot types they tend to fall into:

• Survival from Nature > Life vs. Death
• Survival from Others > Life vs. Fate Worse than Death
• Love/Community > Love vs. Hate
• Esteem > Accomplishment vs. Failure
• Personal Growth > Maturity vs. Immaturity
• Transcendence > Right vs. Wrong

With that in mind, let's delve into how to write a horror book or story.

What is horror?

Horror is a genre of literature or film that wants to evoke fear, shock, and suspense. Characters battle for their life versus a fate worse than death.

What does that mean? A fate worse than death can mean everything from experiencing embarrassment to paralyzing fear to pain to a loss of innocence.

There are many types of horror fiction sub-genres, ranging from psychological horror to horror comedy to cosmic horror, to slashers and body horror. Horror stories often (but don't have to) have supernatural horror elements, such as ghosts, monsters, vampires, and witches.

Common techniques used to create horror include jump scares, gore, unexpected twists, isolation, and eerie sound effects. Writing horror successfully requires an understanding of human psychology and the ability to create tension and suspense through careful pacing and narrative structure.

Horror isn't just about gore or terror, however. Many horror stories include societal, environmental, or psychological themes.

To write effective horror stories, authors must be able to craft believable characters that audiences can sympathize with as well as build suspense through cleverly crafted plots.

An Example of Master Horror Fiction: Poe

Edgar Allan Poe's story “The Tell Tale Heart” is a story most of us read in school. If you haven't read it or you need a refresher, read it for free on Guttenberg .

“The Tell Tale Heart”   is narrated by an unreliable, unnamed narrator who is confessing to a murder, while simultaneously trying to prove he's not insane. He's killed an old man, whom he supposedly loved, because the man's eye creeped him out. The police show up, and he's calm and collected until he thinks he can hear the old man's heart beating under the floor boards. The beating gets louder until the man confesses to the police, begging them to make the noise stop.

This story packs all the elements of horror into around 2,000 words. The unreliable narrator gives readers a sense of unease and ambiguity throughout the story. Is the man actually mad or is there something supernatural happening?

We have fear, both from the narrator (that creepy eye) and from the old man, who is blind and suspects someone is watching him. We have a murder with dismemberment. We have isolation, as the old man is alone, but the narrator also complains of being scared in the dark night by himself.

Most of all, though, we are on the life vs. fate worse than death scale. The narrator is scared of being seen as insane, which is worse than death for him and is the cause of his confession. He still ends up arrested for the murder, though, which is also a fate worse than death.

What Makes a Good Horror Story?

What makes a good horror story is the ability to tap into our deepest fears and deliver them in a captivating way. Even if you don't consider yourself a horror writer, practicing a few short stories in this genre can help you understand human fear and the way it motivates action.

Setting and atmosphere

A good horror story should start off slow, introducing the characters and setting of the story before slowly building up tension as the horror begins to unfold. The setting of horror stories is often mundane and familiar initially—a summer camp, a basement, a house—but turns sinister as the story progresses.

The more the reader or audience can relate to the setting, the scarier it will be when the protagonist encounters anything spooky. Use sensory details to build the atmosphere. Old houses or rundown buildings and impending bad weather are common in horror stories.

• Bram Stoker's Dracula begins with Jonathan Harker arriving at Dracula's castle, which is isolated, rundown, and surrounded by fog.
• Movies like  The Conjuring  and  Poltergeist  (and a ton of others) start by a family moving into a new house.
• Midsommar begins in a seemingly idyllic community.
• A lot of horror—like The Shining— uses an impending storm to indicate coming doom. The crescendo of the storm culminates in the climax.

Believable character

Characters should be relatable and sympathetic so that readers can connect with them on an emotional level. Readers need to care about what happens to them in order for the horror to be effective. Develop their backstories and motivations, so that when terrible things happen to them, it feels like a genuine tragedy.

• The Mist by Stephen King opens with a man cleaning up his property after a weird storm. We're introduced to the entire family and a neighbor and have a chance to learn the dynamics there before any of the true action happens.
• Danny in  The Shining is a rather lonely little boy who has an alcoholic for a father. The reader can't help but want to protect him. His mother is hoping the move to the Overlook will cure their family. This broken family makes Jack's devolution more horrifying and tragic.

Fleshed out antagonist

The antagonist should be well-crafted and have both human qualities and monstrous ones; this will help create a sense of dread in readers as they don’t know what to expect from the villain. Ensure that your antagonist is well-rounded and has their/its own motivations, even if that motivation is something as simple as eating or breeding.

• The antagonist in the movie Species  starts off as an alien-human hybrid lab experiment. Her core motivation is procreation and because of how she was treated by her captors in her backstory, any human sympathy she might have had is nullified in her quest.
• In  The Creature from the Black Lagoon , Gillman just wants people to leave his territory and to be left alone (preferably with Kay, who he's rather smitten with).
• In Stephen King's  Misery , Annie Wilkes wants to save her favorite author (and maybe keep him around a bit longer than necessary initially), then desperately wants to save her beloved book series.
• Hannibal Lector is a culturally refined, brilliant, manipulative cannibal who held a prestigious place in his profession and prefers to eat the rude. In later stories, we discover he was traumatized as a child.

Foreshadowing

Use subtle hints or clues that something scary is about to happen. Foreshadowing can create a sense of anticipation and dread in the audience. Some common elements of foreshadowing in horror include: mysteriously locked doors, getting a chill for seemingly no reason, something being where a character didn't think they left it, hearing a strange noise, being warned off by the locals, or learning early on of a historic tragic event.

• In  The Shining , we're told if there's a snowstorm no one would be able to get to the hotel. Jack is also warned by the hotel owner that the former caretaker killed his family before taking his own life.
• In  The Haunting of Hill House , Eleanor receives warnings in the form of signs reading “Dare” and “Evil” and someone telling her she will be sorry the gate was ever opened. (In the Netflix series based on this book, there are ghosts hidden in corners and out of focus in many scenes.)

No help in sight

As your story progresses, your characters can't simply call the police or go to a neighbor for help. If that were the case, the horror would be over in a few minutes and the story would end. It should look increasingly doubtful that your characters will escape their situation. Isolation—physical or psychological/emotional—is a common way to achieve this.

• Nick Cutter's The Troop places a boy scout troop on a remote island with only one adult. When the adult is removed from the storyline, the boys are left on their own to battle a parasitic outbreak.
• Stephen King's The Shining takes place at a remote hotel during the offseason and gets worse when a blizzard traps the Torrances.
• Most R.L. Stine books feature children who aren't physically isolated from others, but the adults don't believe them and therefore aren't going to help.
• Zoje Stage's Baby Teeth features parents who can't control their nightmare child. The help they do receive doesn't work.
• In  The Texas Chainsaw Massacre , any hope of help is dashed as the main character slowly realizes everyone in town is the enemy.

Deeper themes and ideas

Horror can be a powerful tool for exploring deeper themes and ideas. Use your writing to explore issues like mortality, identity, and the human condition. Don't just rely on jump scares and gore, but instead use horror to tell a compelling story with something to say.

• Most vampire stories are about addiction and/or the rich literally sucking the life out of the poor.
• The 2022 movie  Smile  is about the “contagious” nature of trauma and generational trauma.
• Stories like The Blob ,  Resident Evil ,  Frankenstein , and Mira Grant's Parasitology   series warn about science gone wrong.

Effective pacing

Effective horror requires careful pacing. You don't want to reveal too much too soon, but you also don't want to drag things out for too long. Use pacing to build tension and create a sense of urgency.

Keep your readers guessing and eager to find out what happens next. But don't exhaust them; every scene shouldn't be one of terror. In fact, the jump scares and ghost sightings aren't how you scare your readers. The more important part of horror is when you slow down and give your reader room to explore and get comfortable. Then you pull out the monster.

• A man runs in and says someone disappeared in the mist. (Faster.)
• Everyone agrees to stay put for a while. Things calm for a moment. (Slower.)
• Then they go to the back to fix something, and a man is pulled away by giant tentacles. (Faster.)
• When they tell everyone what happened there are a multitude of reactions, but the point is there is no immediate threat for a while from the monsters. (Slower.)
• Someone decides to lead a group of people outside and they are killed quickly. (Faster.) etc.

See how we're not seeing the monsters every scene? This gives us as readers (and the characters) time to imagine what the monsters look like, what their motivations are, and to try to come up with a way out. These slower scenes also give us time for some other elements of story, like backstory, tension, and subplots.

Twists, shocks, ambiguity, and everlasting evil

A good horror story should either end with an unexpected plot twist or shock that will leave readers stunned yet satisfied or with an ambiguous ending where the reader is left unsettled because they aren't positive what happens to the main character.

• In Ania Ahlborn's  The Shuddering , we're left with imagining what happened to the main character and his dog.
• In Dahl's  The Witches , the reader is left with the image of the boy/mouse and his grandmother bouncing around the world eradicating witches. We don't know how long they will live (ambiguity), there are still witches, even if they did defeat the specific antagonists for the book (evil still exists), and the boy remains a mouse (twist and shock).
• Every horror movie in a franchise normally ends with the antagonist making an appearance even though they're supposed to be dead and defeated by the protagonist.
• In Shirley Jackson's  The Lottery , we know exactly what happens, but we have no idea  why this stoning ritual is part of this society. We don't even know when or where this society exists.

How to Write Horror: Lean Into the Fear Factor

Fear is the crucial element in horror story writing. As a genre, horror writing leaves you plenty of room to explore themes and subplots that really dive into the dark fears of your readers—and that creates an emotional experience for your target audience. Even common fears and ordinary situations can turn dark in the hands of a master horror writer.

Dive into your biggest fears to find your best horror ideas. Then share them with us!

Want more horror prompts? Check out our 20 Spine-tingling Horror Story Prompts here.

What fears do you find most compelling in horror? Tell us in the comments .

Today, tap into that story value of life versus a fate worse than death. Set the timer for 15 minutes and make a list of fears you or a potential character might have and then create a scene where they realize their worst fears are coming true.

Share your practice in the Pro Practice Workshop here , and leave feedback for a few other writers. Not a member? Join us here . 

Sarah Gribble

Sarah Gribble is the author of dozens of short stories that explore uncomfortable situations, basic fears, and the general awe and fascination of the unknown. She just released Surviving Death , her first novel, and is currently working on her next book.

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Bestselling author with over five years of coaching experience. Sarah Gribble specializes in working with Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Horror, Speculative Fiction, and Thriller books. Sound like a good fit for you?

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The Horror Spec: How to Write a Horror Movie

October 3, 2018.

Horror movies are big business in Hollywood — with films like Get Out and A Quiet Place not only topping the box office but garnering critical acclaim, the industry is looking for the next hot horror spec. If you’re thinking about delving into the dark corners of the genre, here are 10 tips to help make your script successful and, above all else, scary (be warned, there are spoilers below).

How to Pick a Subgenre of Horror Movies

Before you start, it’s important to know exactly what kind of movie you are writing. Is it a monster movie like A Quiet Place ? A slasher film like Friday the 13th ? A supernatural thriller like Mama ? A horror-comedy like Shaun of the Dead ? Here’s a handy list to help you decide on the subgenre that fits your story best.

Making a Low-Budget Horror Film

Producers and studios love horror movies because you can make them for little money — many low-budget horror movies have gone on to make millions at the box office. Paranormal Activity , for example, was made on a budget of $15,000. The film went on to gross over $100 million in the United States alone. For Get Out , the budget was $4.5 million and at the box office, it earned $250 million.

Keep your script low-budget by thinking about ways to cut costs as you write it. If your film requires say, a monster to destroy an entire city like in Godzilla , it may be difficult to get a producer interested.

Put a New Spin on an Old Concept

Horror is a genre with tropes we see again and again: The band of survivors who come together after the apocalypse, the creepy kid who may or may not be possessed or demonic, the toy that comes to life and devastates the family. It’s okay to use these tropes, but think about new ways you can tell the story. For example, The Lost Boys was a new spin on vampire mythology, with vampires who were super cool like rock stars. Warm Bodies subverted the zombie mythology by making it a romantic comedy. Use well-established tropes, but give audiences something they’ve never seen before.

Use Existing Intellectual Property

There are plenty of well-known characters and stories in the horror universe that are public domain. For example, most of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft’s stories are in the public domain, as are stories by Edgar Allan Poe. An internet search will give you a list of preexisting intellectual property you can use (just don’t forget the advice about subverting old tropes, as these stories have usually been used countless times before).

Make Your Horror Movie Relatable

Hollywood loves stories about characters with whom the audience can relate; most haunted house movies are about families trying to protect each other from evil forces (think Insidious , The Conjuring and The Amityville Horror ) and slasher films often show teenagers who are just trying to have a good time ( Halloween , for example, and the upcoming Hell Fest ).

Making your characters relatable means there will be a wide audience for your story. If you write a horror movie about a billionaire or a supermodel, it may be difficult for audiences to relate to and sympathize with the characters’ experiences.

Horror Movie Character Development

The best horror movies have characters we root for and care about. There’s nothing worse than watching a movie with one-dimensional characters that get picked off one by one and we don’t care because they exist purely for the purpose of being killed. Take the time to tell us about your characters; give us reasons to care about them. An American Werewolf in London is a great example of a film with likable characters that audiences care about, which makes the movie an emotional journey as well as a great scarefest.

Open With a Bang

Rather than going straight to character set up, use a scary set piece to suck in the audience. Halloween opens with a brutal murder, A Nightmare on Elm Street starts with Freddy Krueger sharpening his knife glove, and The Conjuring opens with the terrifying story of Annabelle, the possessed doll. Opening with a scary scene or set piece establishes the tone for the rest of your story; if the horror doesn’t come until much later, those reading your screenplay might question whether it is really a horror script.

Give People Something to Talk About

When people talk about horror movies, they usually talk about a scene that scared the hell out of them. You should aim to have at least two or three set pieces in your script that audiences will talk about long after your film is over. Try to make your set piece something nobody has ever seen before; it’s hard to talk about The Shining without immediately thinking of the woman in the bathtub or The Exorcist without remembering the foul obscenities and lewd acts of a nice young girl.

Subvert Expectations

As we’ve discussed, most tropes in horror films have been picked apart to death (so to speak), so horror movie fans love seeing something they’ve never seen before. Look at ways you can play with the expectations of the audience. In The Cabin in the Woods , we expect the heroes will want to save the world, and they subvert our expectations by allowing it to be destroyed. In The Descent , we expect our hero to forgive her friend for sleeping with her husband, but instead she leaves her to die in the cave. Subverting expectations gives your script a fresh feeling and will make it more attractive to a buyer.

The number one purpose of a horror film is to scare your audience. Different people are scared by different things, which gives the horror writer ample material to play with. Whether its clowns or spiders or the woods, the world is full of things that terrify people. You may even take something that isn’t scary and imbue it with menace, like a harmless doll that is possessed by an evil spirit or a nice dog that gets rabies and attacks its owners. As a horror writer, if you haven’t scared your audience, you haven’t done your job. So mine your own fears for what scares you — chances are it will scare someone else, too.

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Den of Geek

How To Write a Horror Movie

Seven horror screenwriters share their tips on how to write a really scary movie.

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It’s easy to write a horror movie, isn’t it? Pack up a couple of kids, send them off somewhere isolated, and have a monster chase them through the woods. Throw in some loud bangs on the soundtrack and you’re sorted. Right?

Wrong. Well, okay, not wrong if you want to write a basic, generic, forgettable kind of horror movie. But if you want to do something better than that, things get a bit more complicated. You need a proper story; characters worth investing in; a carefully constructed atmosphere of dread punctuated by the kind of scares that make your audience hide behind their hands. And that’s not easy.

To get the lowdown on what works and what doesn’t, I interviewed some working horror writers. Here are their tips:

Find the real story

First things first: you need to know what story you’re telling, and that isn’t just going to be “people get killed.”

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“When you’re writing a horror movie, you’ve got to write two movies,” says James Moran, writer of Severance , Cockneys Vs Zombies , Tower Block , and new web series Mina Murray’s Journal . “There’s the movie that’s gonna happen if the slasher doesn’t arrive, or the ghost doesn’t possess somebody, so the horror doesn’t start happening, and that should be enough to sustain a whole 90 minute movie – and then, half an hour or so in, that’s disrupted by the horror element crashing in and stuffing everything up.”

So if you did want to write a cabin-in-the-woods story, you’d need a proper reason for your characters to be going out there, and enough drama to sustain that story even before your villain rocks up. It’s a lot to think about, but Moran reckons it’s worth it. “If you do it that way, you get fully rounded characters, and a proper situation, and a proper story,” he says. “So after 10 or 15 minutes, [your audience] is probably kind of hoping nothing bad is going to happen.”

Alice Lowe, writer and director of pregnancy slasher Prevenge , agrees it’s important to get the human side of the story sorted before introducing any extra elements. “My favorite horrors always deal with really important human stories, and then the horror comes after,” she told me. “If the human story doesn’t work, then the horror doesn’t work, either. You know, films like Carrie and Rosemary’s Baby and The Shining are all about human threats, really – fearing violence from your father, or bullying at school, or overbearing mothers, or any of those things.”

Focus on your characters

Speaking of the human side of horror, the writers I talked to all agreed that writing believable characters is essential to creating a really scary movie. “My favorite heroines in horror movies are proactive,” says Kevin Lehane, screenwriter of Grabbers and Neil Gaiman’s Likely Stories . “Like in Candyman or Nightmare On Elm Street – or sometimes in sequels like Aliens or even Halloween H20 , where the heroine has been through something and she’s determined not to go through it again – that lets you put a character in a position of jeopardy because they have an internal motivator, which is ‘I need to know what’s haunting me and destroying my life, and I need to vanquish it.’”

Since horror movies often involve characters putting themselves in danger, he reckons it’s important that there’s a reason for the audience to believe they’d actually do it – that they’re not just doing it because the horror can’t happen if they don’t.

Moran, too, reckons plausible motivation is crucial. “My thing with characters is, even if you have a crazy over-the-top supernatural situation, I want everyone to behave realistically within that context,” he says. “So even though there’s not going to be a zombie outbreak, because zombies aren’t real, you have to think, if there was, how would people react?”

He also says characters should be the kind of people an audience is happy to spend time with. “It’s not that they all have to be lovely, but you have to understand why they’re doing what they’re doing,” he clarifies. “And even if they’re horrible, you have to get behind them in some way. Like, ‘I don’t like them, but I am entertained watching their story, so I don’t want them to die right now so I can see what happens.’ If everyone’s awful, you’re just like ‘I hate these people, I want them to die, when is that going to happen please?’ And then that’s not scary.”

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Get your antagonist right

Once you’ve got your characters sorted, it’s time to think about the villain. The possibilities are basically endless – vampires, werewolves, mummies, ghosts, deranged murderers, zombies, creatures from outer space! – but choosing the right villain for the story you’re trying to tell can be key. If you’re trying to write a script and something’s not working, it might be that you’ve got the wrong monster.

Nick Ostler, who co-wrote werewolf horror Howl with Mark Huckerby, says getting the antagonist right was crucial to their story. “The creature was originally a kind of Black Shuck, this legendary character from East Anglia,” he remembers. “But for various reasons, as we were writing it developed into a werewolf, and that was the breakthrough. Suddenly, we had a creature and a mythology, and we knew what the film was going to be about: it was about this ticket inspector who’s kind of a beta male who, over the course of the film, grows to become an alpha male. And it’s all about men and how they react to different situations. The monster gave us the whole structure.”

Building on existing mythology can be helpful, of course, because audiences already know what to expect. But making up new monsters can also work. “For me, the fun in monster movies is discovering a new species and getting to see something you’ve not seen before,” says Lehane. “With Grabbers , I tried to give the monster as much personality as I could through its behaviour and its lifecycle, the fact that it needed to be wet to walk on land, and it pops people’s head off and drinks their blood. Just stuff like that. You can sort of take your monster and give it its own idiosyncratic personality and traits.”

He also recommends linking your characters to the monster. “I try to apply logic to what I’m doing, so it’s like the monster represents something about a character’s personal flaws.”

Think like a comedian

A slightly unexpected bit of advice that several writers gave me was that horror should work kind of like comedy. Mark Huckerby explains, “Nick and I started out in comedy, and we always say that comedy and horror are very close in some ways. A good joke is told with a build-up, which is the tension, and the punchline, which is the release. I don’t know whether our love of horror came from our love of making people laugh, but they’re very similar. Often, you’ll hear people in the cinema, when they’re really scared, will laugh as well as scream.”

Moran concurs, seeing an audience’s reaction to a scare as being the same kind of physical reaction that audiences will have to comedy, and that means that not every scare will work for everyone, every time. “There are some comedies you’re either gonna laugh at or you’re not, and you can sit there and explain to yourself that it’s funny because of x, y, and z, but if it doesn’t make you laugh it doesn’t make you laugh,” he says. “The same goes for horror – if it doesn’t make you jump, I could explain why it made me scared but it won’t necessarily make someone else scared.”

Push boundaries

There are plenty of films that blend horror with comedy, of course – and tons of films that use horror tropes to tell the kinds of stories you might expect to find in other genres. The Blaine Brothers, who co-wrote and co-directed Nina Forever , told me they didn’t think of their film as a horror when they made it.

“It basically came out of death and grief, first witnessing other people’s grief and then experiencing our own,” said Ben Blaine. While the film uses some pretty horrific imagery – including a woman returning from the dead, still bloody and battered – it doesn’t have a traditional horror narrative. The Blaines were happy that horror audiences embraced their film, and reckon it’s valid to cross the streams. Chris Blaine says “The exciting thing is seeing people use the genre to explain a thought or feeling or emotion; finding a way of explaining life by using a fantastical metaphor.”

Having made two films that are more ‘horror and…’ rather than straight horrors, Lowe agrees. “It’s debatable whether Prevenge is a classic horror, in the same sense that Sightseers isn’t your typical horror,” she says. “It’s got moments of horror, but other moments that dip into social satire, or realism, or even surrealism, in some parts! The best thing horror can do is be its own thing and find new genres and new ideas, rather than resorting to the same old same old, which eventually becomes predictable. That isn’t scary at all.”

So if you’ve got an off-beat idea that you’re not sure is really a proper horror film, that might actually be a great thing. “What I feel is, horror shouldn’t be treated like a box,” says Lowe. “It should be a peg that you can hang onto, along with lots of other pegs that you can put your project on. It’s something to be inspired by, rather than trapped by, really.”

Slow it down

Let’s get down to specifics. How do you make a film scary? One way is to slow down the pace, drag things out a little longer, and spend longer building atmosphere. “When you watch a film and there’s just a cheap orchestral stab, you think ‘well, that’s completely unearned.’ Anyone can say boo and make you jump,” says Huckerby. “But in more modern horror – I think James Wan is quite good at this – there’s this relentless building, and building, and holding… some of those sequences go on longer than you can even stand.”

His co-writer agrees. Talking about writing urban witch movie Don’t Knock Twice , Ostler says, “We went back to scare scenes and wrote in longer and longer build ups, because we realised that’s really where the scare comes from. Over 90 minutes, you can get away with a couple of cheap jump scares, and they can be fun, and you can get away with a dream scare, which can be fun if it’s done well, and you can even get away with one mirror scare, maybe. But if that’s all you’re relying on, you’re in trouble.”

Lehane also recommends taking your time. “[Horror] needs to be quiet, it needs to be tense, and it needs to be drawn out,” he says. “You need to avoid poking fun at your villain; even if you’re doing a horror comedy, it’s good to keep the humour on the side of the characters rather than the villain. Unless it’s a party film like Return Of The Living Dead or Evil Dead ! But otherwise, you want to make sure that your villain is legitimately dangerous and frightening. And slow it down! The moment horror movies get really fast, with running and screaming and frantic behavior, that’s terror – it’s not horror any more. Horror should be slow and creepy. You allow moments of dread to creep in, and that’s when it’s really frightening.”

Don’t give the audience too much information

‘Show, don’t tell’ is probably the oldest trick in the book, but the writers I talked to for this feature went one step further and recommended keeping some things back completely, making the audience do the work themselves.

“Almost without fail, the disappointing bit in a horror movie is when whatever it is stops being in your imagination and starts being on screen,” says Ben Blaine. “You’re like, ‘oh, I imagined it and I was scared by it, and now I’ve seen it, it’s let me down’. I think there’s something in making the audience tell the story themselves.”

Ben continues, “We got some really good advice when we were making [ Nina Forever ]. We showed a cut to some people, and they said “It’s too explained. You’re too worried about letting everyone know what’s happening, and it makes it boring.” We found that when we took out the bits where we explained what was happening, not only did people still know what was happening, but you could see that they’d reached those conclusions for themselves, and they’d really bought into the film.”

Kevin Lehane says he’s doing something similar with the script he’s currently working on, a slasher titled Heads Will Roll . “Originally I put too much backstory in about the villainess,” he says “And I’ve come to realise that the more you know about a villain, the more you understand them, and the more empathy you have for them. And once you have empathy for a villain, you want to redeem them instead of kill them.”

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So if you want to freak out an audience, keep your killer in the shadows, and hint at something scary rather than throwing it in their faces. “It’s the space between the images that works on the audience,” says Ben Blaine. “It’s not the visceral side. Like, you can see a person explode, but the stuff that really gets to you is when you go, ‘there’s an empty room and outside the room is a small boy with a weird look on his face, what does that mean?’”

Watch horror movies

This is probably the most fun tip on this list: if you want to write horror movies, try watching some. You don’t necessarily need to be an expert, and your script doesn’t need to be loaded with winks and references to the films that have gone before – that’s kind of gone out of fashion now anyway – but it definitely doesn’t hurt to be familiar with the genre.

“When I’m writing something that’s in a specific genre, I’ll watch a certain number of films that are similar in tone and execution so I don’t deviate too far from the beaten path,” says Lehane. “When I was writing Grabbers I was watching Tremors a lot – Tremors and Lake Placid ! It depends how much you want to know, but the best way is just to be aware, be literate.”

Ostler says much the same thing. When I ask if he thought you needed to watch horror movies to be able to write one, he says: “You’d be daft not to. Whatever we’ve done, we’ve schooled ourselves in that genre as much as we could, but then you’ve got to be careful of ripping off things you have seen!”

Obviously, there’s no exam you have to pass before you can think about writing your own stories, but while being accused of plagiarism is a risk, you could run into just as much trouble by not knowing what’s already out there. As Lehane says, “You don’t want to be trying to do a horror film set on Halloween about a guy in a white mask!”

Think about what really scares you

Finally, most of the writers I spoke to recommended making your story personal in some way. Not autobiographical, necessarily, but using personal experiences and perspectives can help make a story feel real, rather than generic.

Lowe, more than anyone, stresses that point. “I based [ Prevenge ] on what I felt, and my perspective of what pregnancy was like,” she says. “I felt like it was quite a psychedelic experience in some ways, it all seemed really vivid and intense to me. I think [existing portrayals of pregnancy in horror] very much focus on body horror, and there is an element of that in my film, but not as much as you might think.

“It’s more of an experiential type of thing,” she continues. “I’ve deliberately got lots of close-ups of strange objects and blood and things like that to make the audience go through the rite of passage that the main character is going through. And I was actually pregnant when I made the film so, I don’t know if that gives it an extra tangibility that makes it even more creepy and disturbing to people!”

For Moran, the best way to connect with an audience is to put himself in their shoes. “I just think about ‘what would I like to see next?’ and ‘what would I not like to see happen next?’” he explains. “And whatever I’m dreading, I have to put that in. If you treat it honestly like that, then it’ll have an effect on other people.”

Maybe it’s an obvious point to make, but if you don’t think what you’re writing is interesting, or scary, or funny, or whatever you’re aiming for, it’s unlikely anyone else is going to.

To end on an extra-encouraging note, I’ll give Kevin Lehane the last word on the subject. “Each person is unique, and we all come from different backgrounds,” he says. “So if you filter as much of yourself as you can into your stories, and make them as personal as possible, that will give them an edge no-one can replicate.”

Sarah Dobbs | @SarahDobbs

Sarah is a freelance writer and editor. She loves horror movies, unusual storytelling techniques, and smoking jackets. Ask her about the Saw movies. Go on, ask.

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Stephen King — Analysis of ‘Why We Crave Horror Movies’ by Stephen King

Analysis of 'Why We Crave Horror Movies' by Stephen King

• Categories: Stephen King

About this sample

Words: 1020 |

Published: Apr 8, 2022

Words: 1020 | Pages: 2 | 6 min read

Stephen King's essay, "Why We Crave Horror Movies," delves into the intriguing phenomenon of why people are drawn to horror films. King explores the idea that individuals enjoy challenging fear and demonstrate their bravery by willingly subjecting themselves to scary movies. He suggests that humans have an inherent desire to experience fear and that society has built norms around the acceptable ways to do so, with horror movies being one of those sanctioned outlets.

King ultimately argues that horror movies serve as a release valve for the darker aspects of our psyche, allowing us to maintain a sense of normalcy and societal conformity. He suggests that by indulging in controlled madness within the confines of a movie theater, we can better appreciate the positive emotions and values of our everyday lives.

Throughout the essay, King's thoughts evolve from an exploration of psychological impulses to a nuanced consideration of the ethical and moral dimensions of our fascination with horror. He challenges readers to contemplate the complexities of human nature and the role of horror movies in our society.

Works Cited:

• American Psychological Association. (2021). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).
• National Geographic. (n.d.). Why we believe in superstitions. http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/taboo/articles/why-we-believe-in-superstitions/
• New World Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Superstition. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Superstition
• Radford, B. (2016). Superstition: Belief in the age of science. Oxford University Press.
• Rogers, K. (2019). The power of superstition. Scientific American Mind, 30(6), 50-55.
• Sørensen, J. (2014). Superstition in the workplace: A study of a bank in Denmark. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 30(1), 34-42.
• Truzzi, M. (1999). CSIOP Investigates: Superstition and the paranormal. The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice, 1(1), 174-181.
• Vyse, S. A. (2013). Believing in magic: The psychology of superstition. Oxford University Press.
• Woolfolk, R. L. (2018). Educational psychology: Active learning edition (14th ed.). Pearson.
• Yamashita, K., & Ando, J. (2019). Superstition and work motivation: A field study in Japan. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 49(1), 28-36.

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Why We Crave Horror Movies

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Analysis: “Why We Crave Horror Movies”

The essay “Why We Crave Horror Movies” interweaves point of view , structure, and tone to address the foundational themes of fear, emotions, and “insanity” in relation to horror movies. It examines why horror films allow the expression of fearful emotions linked to irrationality. The essay integrates literary techniques and pop culture references to form a cohesive whole, and it highlights several key themes: Good Versus Bad Emotions , The Expression of Fear Through Horror Movies , and “Insanity” and Normality in Society and Horror Film .

King argues that fear and other negative emotions are universal and that horror movies are a key art form for expressing these emotions. The essay gives audiences permission to experience and enjoy these films as a vehicle for fears.

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Writing Lessons Learned from 80s Horror Movies

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In October, I did a month of movie watch parties, watching a different horror every day live on Twitch. The movies ranged from releases from the 1930s through movies that came out this year. The quality varied widely. Sometimes the poorer quality movies were the most fun to watch with viewers as we shared our suffering together in the chat.

I started to believe that the absolute widest range in quality came from horror movies released in the 1980s. This may hurt a few people to hear, but 1980 was over 40 years ago. That’s long enough that we’ve had time to decide which movies are now classics and which ones do not stand the test of time.

There’s something about 1980s horror movies though. Even the bad ones feel like something special. I’m not going to give a list of winners and losers here. That could fill a book. It could probably fill a series of books.

For this discussion, I’m going to list off general lessons I learned in my short revisit of 80s horror movies as they relate to writing good and bad horror. Whatever monsters or supernatural peril you intend to write, there is a lot to learn from these 80s offerings.

1. Sex is Dangerous

You knew this one was coming. I figured I would get it out of the way. If you have sex in an 80s horror movie, the monster can somehow smell it on you and you are done for. The audience appreciates your gratuitous sacrifice, though.

In terms of writing, there are lots of ways to mess up or waste a love scene. Sex is baked in and expected in various tropes and heat levels of romance. In horror, it can take all sorts of twists and turns. And it might turn out poorly if you don't write with intent. Is your sex scene shoehorned into your story like a low budget 80s film trying to solve all their story’s shortcomings with boobs? Is the level of graphic detail consistent with the rest of the story or are you indulging? Does it serve the story and characters? Be careful. Sex is dangerous!

2. Practical Effects Beat 1980s Lasers

Maybe it's the level of crisp and sanitized detail we get with digital effects today, but time and time again, in even the worst 80s horror movies I watched, the practical effects worked pretty well. The fact that the actors were really touching the stuff made it all seem more… real. However, in even the best the 1980s had to offer in horror, when lasers or energy bolts jumped across the frame, I felt like I was watching a pop music video for a midlist band. None of it looked right. We went from gory blood effects to a magic angry energy tornado with glowing eyes straight out of a cartoon.

This sort of thing doesn’t directly correlate to writing, but it bears mentioning in terms of what works best and what comes off as lasers scratched into the film. There are certain visceral details that draw the reader in and make them really feel, smell, and taste the world with all its peril. Then, there are details that might pull your supernatural threat out of its grounding into an animated tornado of evil whose glowing eyes make it look silly. Make it feel real.

3. Synthesizer Soundtracks Don’t Age Well

Violins were so outdated 40 years ago. Synthesizers were the hot new thing for a cheap soundtrack to set the mood. That left more money in the budget for lasers! watching a tense and moody opening scene set up a terrorizing threat tearing a family apart set to the springy boing of an 80s synthesizer makes me think, “This is the weirdest chewing gum commercial I’ve ever seen.”

Mood is important in a story. If you find a way to put an 80s synthesizer soundtrack into your book, I think you will be a god among men, honestly. But it terms of just using words, failing to set the tone can leave the audience disconnected from the characters they are supposed to care about. Lay it on too thick and you sink into melodrama or “suffering porn”. Take it easy with that keyboard.

4. Listen to the Old Man’s Warnings

If a crazy old dude warns you about the slaughterhouse you’re driving into, consider your options. If kids come running out of a house in the middle of the night reporting murder and mayhem, err on the side of caution. Now, I wouldn’t take all my life advice from the crazy old man who still lives and works at a gas station up the road from a killing field. Obviously, he hasn’t made the best choices along the way. You don’t want to end up like him in your retirement years.

These unheeded warnings make characters look stupid. You might not want your characters to look foolish. You don’t want readers thinking the story is stupid as a result. If life teaches us anything, it is that the world is full of stupid people, but that reality doesn’t always translate to the page well. Foreshadowing is great for a story. You don’t want a character to see a ghost pressing through a bleeding wall and then decide, “Well, we have to stay in this house with the bleeding wall ghosts because we’ve already sunk a lot of money into the renovations. I’m sure it will be fine. Honey? Honey?! Where are you?”

5. I Thought There’d be More Quicksand and Burial Grounds to Deal with Growing Up

As a kid watching TV in the 70s and 80s, I thought quicksand was going to be waiting for me around every corner. Characters were always falling into quicksand. I also thought amnesia was best treated by a second hit on the head and that evil twins were far more likely than statistics bear out. Likewise, evil magic around burial grounds was as common in horror as quicksand and encounters between 70s superheroes and Big Foot. Real estate agents in the 1980s really should have checked on cursed burial grounds after they saw whether the schools were good or not.

If you are seeing a trope as often as quicksand and burial grounds, you might want to look around and see what hasn’t been done in your genre as often. What is new or what is a truly new angle on the old trope?

6. It Doesn’t Pay to be the First One to Meet the Monster

If you are the first character to meet the monster, you’re having a bad night. When the credits are still rolling while you’re running away, your chances of making it to the second reel are thin.

Introducing the monster or Big Bad in your story sets up much of what is to follow. Do you hint at it or do you give a full shocking view? Does the action build or do you come out of the gate with machetes swinging? You can tell your story any way you like, but decide what kind of story you want to tell.

7. Where Are the Parents?

Holy smokes, these kids have a lot of time to do as they please. I remember roaming the Earth free in that era, left to my own devices much of the time, but my parents tended to be around at night. They asked a few more questions before just letting me sleep over at someone’s house at a moment’s notice, especially if there had been a higher than average number of killings or vampires in the neighborhood that week.

Horror stories that depend on authority being entirely absent or bumbling to the point of slapstick has its limits. If you can make the normal authority in the world still be semi-competent, but not able to overcome the threat, there is a lot of potential in that. It can raise the peril. It can ground the supernatural in the natural world.

8. Plot Holes Can Take You Anywhere

There were more than a few 80s horror movies that just didn’t care whether characters’ motives made sense or whether there was a clear line between scenes connecting the action together. They'd cut a hole through their plot wide enough to drive a train through then it was all aboard to Crazy Town.

That sort of thing is great to make fun of, but it is the stuff that makes readers put down books. It doesn’t really matter if you need the character to do something unless you can justify the character doing it. If you’ve established them as one type of person, they can change over an arc, but not on a dime because that’s just where you need the scene to go. But it’s your story. If all else fails, plot holes can literally take you anywhere like magic portals.

9. He Has Whatever Powers or Weakness We Say He Has from Scene to Scene

Much like plot holes, breaking your own rules can solve any problem in your scene or story quick and easy. No thought or creativity is required. Whether you’re dealing with zombies, vampires, or Stabby Jim the resurrected mental patient, the audience will suspend disbelief along the set of rules you reveal during the story. That agreement to suspend disbelief usually breaks with the first or second broken rule. It may look cool to have the monsters climb up a wall, but if they weren’t Spiderman in the previous scene, you sacrifice a lot for the “cool” visual later. When it is time for the Final Girl to kill the unkillable slasher, that’s a bad time to introduce the convenient weakness that wasn’t present through the rest of the story. The best stories set the rules, accomplish the action within those rules, and win creatively according to the laws of that story universe.

10. No One in Horror Movies Has Seen a Horror Movie

This is really common in zombie stories, but horror in general has operated well with characters that had no clue that horror movies existed. This is why they run upstairs instead of out the door. This is how characters blunder into situations the audience knows not to. By the mid to late 90s, a number of meta horror movies started to come out where characters knew about horror movies or even sort of knew they were in a horror movie. But that gimmick grew old after a while, too.

Many stories and movies that were seen as new at the time can look cliché in retrospect. Part of the reason that happens is because they are imitated over and over again. The longer a genre goes on, the more familiar the audience gets. Readers get more sophisticated in their tastes with exposure.

Notable author Chet Williamson recently posted that the way to resonate with readers’ expectations is to confound their expectations. That advice rings true. Sometimes that’s accomplished with a twist in the story itself, but even that can fall into old used patterns. To keep from doing what has always been done, we have to be more creative and more sophisticated with our approaches.

Readers are onto us. This has been going on long enough that the old tricks have become classics that slowly decay into cliches. You’re going to have to step it up to surprise them. If all else fails, go with synthesizers and lasers.

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Column by Jay Wilburn

Jay Wilburn lives with his wife and two sons in beautiful Conway, South Carolina. He is a full-time writer of horror and speculative fiction. Jay left his job as a teacher to become a full time writer and has never looked back. Well, that’s not entirely true. He wants to be sure he isn’t being followed, so he looks back sometimes.

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25 Films You Have to Watch If You're Writing a Horror Script

Whether it's about things that go "bump" in the night or it's a piece that's meant to be more psychological, there are movies galore that can teach you something about horror, something about suspense and scares — as well as about the intensity of emotions that are derived from the genre.

From various eras, we've found some of the best possible cinematic experiences to inspire or educate anyone looking to write their next horror of their own.

The Exorcist (1973)

Directed by: william friedkin | written by: william peter blatty.

Some of you couldn't sleep when they first saw it: this movie is the stuff of nightmares. If you ever want to instill true evil into a script you're writing, start by watching this. Maybe with the lights on, yeah?

Pet Sematary (1989)

Directed by: mary lambert | written by: stephen king.

Stephen King's answer to your questions about death. Some natural laws shouldn't be broken, some lines never crossed… but when they are, it makes for great horror.

Parasite (2019)

Written & directed by: bong joon ho.

Class wars, blackmail, and people who will do anything for their families.  Parasite  has elements of horror woven into a truly arresting and unique experience.

Hereditary (2018)

Written & directed by: ari aster.

Horror that's brutally emotional and full of true shock for an audience,  Hereditary  is known for its sustained suspense and its big finish. You've been warned.

Candyman (1992)

Directed by: bernard rose | written by: clive barker.

Slasher-inspired horror instills superstition and legend into a world so well that its mythos is recognized by horror audiences everywhere. If you like that, you'll love that a spiritual sequel to the 1992 film is coming out this week!

Alien (1979)

Directed by: ridley scott | written by: dan o'bannon.

There's something about the loneliness of the crew and the horrific creatures inspired by the art of H.R. Giger — something we can all aspire to.

Halloween (1978)

Written & directed by: john carpenter.

From the chilling music to the iconic point of view in the opening scene,  Halloween  has inspired homages in every genre, but especially within horror.

American Werewolf in London (1981)

Written & directed by: john landis.

Listen to the bones cracking, the utter intensity of the transformation sounds we hear in  American Werewolf in London . With that and the dark comedy placed throughout, this horror film is truly a can't-miss.

The Descent (2005)

Written & directed by: neil marshall.

It's all about raising the stakes in an adventure horror. The deeper they go, the more dangerous the journey — and in  The Descent , it's not just the journey that's dangerous. It's who (or what) is down there with you.

Busanhaeng / Train to Busan (2016)

Directed by: sang-ho yeon | written by: joo-suk park & sang-ho yeon.

This modern zombie movie is a beautiful example of threading emotional themes throughout, while still including a dangerous, deadly threat — like a mob of Infected on a train.

'Train to Busan'

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Directed by: george a. romero | written by: john a. russo & george a. romero.

The conception of all modern zombie movies comes chiefly from George A. Romero and this survival horror masterpiece. In it, he bred the traditional zombie with the idea of a vampire to create the most well-known fusion monster today!

Let the Right One In (2008)

Directed by: tomas alfredson | written by: john ajvide lindqvist.

A film that works mainly with deep-seated feelings, unsettling vagueness, and moments of pure shock,  Let the Right One In  is an unconventional horror that's very moving indeed.

A Quiet Place (2018)

Directed by: john krasinski | written by: scott beck, bryan woods, & john krasinski.

Everyone knows, there's something disquieting about silence, about the inability to speak — and in that way,  A Quiet Place  makes itself known for its creative horror landscape.

The Shining (1980)

Directed by: stanley kubrick | written by: stephen king, stanley kubrick, & diane johnson.

It's the perfect marriage of supernatural horror and psychological torment. Anyone who fears a loss of sanity knows exactly how good  The Shining  is at setting your teeth on edge.

Read More: How to Write a Great Christmas Horror Movie

Psycho (1960)

Directed by: alfred hitchcock | written by: joseph stefano.

Anyone here like twist endings? I won't spoil it for you — even though this film is over 60 years old — but just know you're in for a surprise that's worth imitating.

The Thing (1982)

Directed by: john carpenter | written by: bill lancaster.

Inspired and informed by another film in the '50s,  The Thing  is a John Carpenter film that channels the unknowable horror that makes Lovecraftian stories so immense and intriguing.

30 Days of Night (2007)

Directed by: david slade | written by: steve niles, stuart beattie, & brian nelson.

This film builds its world beautifully and plays with convention and suspicion in ways that only a vampire movie will. Plus, with a month-long darkness, you already know this is meant to be a monster movie.

Fright Night (2011)

Written & directed by: tom holland.

Having tons of fun with its remake of the 1985 film of the same name,  Fright Night  is what happens when vampire horror knows how to make fun of itself. Take notes.

Insidious (2010)

Directed by: james wan | written by: leigh whannell.

A supernatural movie with an imaginative world of demons and possession, this movie even has a lesson to learn for those of you trying to use innocuous songs as creepy cues for the presence of evil.

28 Days Later (2002)

Directed by: Danny Boyle | Written by: Alex Garland

If Romero designed the modern zombie, then Danny Boyle's  28 Days Later  introduced the idea of these creatures being a product of viral infection — and the source of diverse post-apocalyptic settings.

'28 Days Later'

Get Out (2017)

Written & directed by: jordan peele.

To instill social horror in a film is a careful science, but Jordan Peele does exactly that in  Get Out , a film steeped in racially targeted horror and other unsettling discoveries.

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Directed by: edward wright | written by: simon pegg & edgar wright.

Comedy first, and horror second, this intelligent and hilarious Simon Pegg film pays respect to various horror movie traditions, including those by George A. Romero as the epitome of a horror-parody combo.

The Conjuring (2013)

Directed by: michael chaves | written by: david leslie johnson-mcgoldrick.

The revival of demonic horror flicks brought on a trilogy based on real events, including  The Conjuring . This story shows that not everything in true history can be explained.

The Amityville Horror (1979)

Directed by: stuart rosenberg | written by: sandor stern.

Another one based on true crimes committed in the 1970s,  The Amityville Horror  has inspired books and films alike to make sense of the tragedy that occurred — because sometimes, the darkest tales are the most real.

The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

Directed by: alexandre aja | written by: wes craven, alexandre aja, & grégory levasseur.

This movie shows just how easy it is to make a monster through disaster — especially if the government's dangerous tests created mutant people who have forsaken their humanity to become cannibals.

'The Hills Have Eyes'

You've now got a list and a lot of stuff to draw inspiration from if you're ready to write a horror script. Just make sure you go to the restroom  before marathoning  these movies — just in case. 

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How to Write an Argumentative Essay on Horror Movies

by keeperadmin | Apr 9, 2020 | Uncategorized

Writing an argumentative essay on a horror film is interesting. You get to watch a movie and give your honest opinions about it. This sounds easy in theory but it’s tricky to pull off in practice.

This is why many students turn to the internet and type “ write my essay for me free ” to find someone from a professional academic writing service like CustomWritings who will produce customized papers in more than 80 disciplines. Many students don’t know where to begin when they have a blank paper looking at them in the face.

The key is to be well organized and that’s half the war won. The other half involves following a few simple tips.

Watch the horror film you are about to write about To give yourself the best possible chance of producing good content, you must first watch the movie. This will give you a visual representation of the characters, the story, any plot twists, the music, supporting acts, camera angles and more.

If you write an argumentative essay without watching the movie beforehand, it is like the blind leading the blind. It will not go well because you will be clueless and won’t know where to start. Never skip this tip because it is very important.

Write the introduction The introduction of this essay should touch on a few key information about the movie without giving away any spoilers. This includes the name of the director, the title of the film, when it was released and the actors.

It is all about giving the readers a brief background of the movie. To paint a clearer picture, it is wide to do some background research on the budget of the film and the person who directed it. Also in the introduction, make sure you touch on the concept of the movie a bit and give the readers a reason why this movie came to life.

Never be shy to express yourself because that is the only way to add authenticity to your work. In the closing part of your introduction, you should add a thesis. This is a simple statement that explains what your essay will focus on.

Summarise the essay  Once you have given the readers the facts about the movie in the introduction, you need to analyze it and summarise it. The key to writing a good summary is to assume that the reader which in this case is the tutor, has not watched the movie themselves.

This means you will write everything about the film to the last detail without leaving anything out. You need to cover what is known as the 5 Ws. These are where, who, when, why, what as well as how.

You can also talk about the style you used, the structure as well as anything to do with your opinion. Never forget to support your arguments with quotes from the movie otherwise it will not come across authentic.

Deeply analyze the film This is the heartbeat of the essay and where you need to make an impression on the reader. Movies can be complicated however, they do have things that connect.

* Scenes – It is all about the script at the end of the day and everyone loves a compelling script. It flashes out the characters and gives you a reason to care for them as well as present events in a logical way. These are things you should look at when writing an argumentative essay on horror films. If you are having trouble understanding some of the scenes or things that look all over the place, it means the script is poor.

* The director – The brains behind the operation are the director and they are there to make sure that things on the script are well-acted and captured. When writing this essay pay close attention to how scenes were brought to life and compare them with some of the director’s previous work. It helps you understand their method of directing and how they have evolved over the years.

* The actors – The cast is something you need to pay attention to as well and they bring the magic on paper to life on screen. When you are watching the movie, watch the actors closely. Is the acting convincing and are they conveying the message the movie is trying to tell? Music – Music in movies is important because it adds immersion and enhances certain scenes especially the jump scares in horror movies. The main thing you have to judge the music on is, does it distract you from what’s happening on screen or does it support the action?

* Visuals – You have to pay close attention to the makeup on the actors, their outfits, any special effects as well as the impact of the movie.  A movie with good visuals always leaves a good impression on viewers while awful visuals put people off

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Nicole Richie has been a “diehard fan” of the 1991 cult comedy “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead” for as long as she can remember.

“I’ve been quoting this movie my whole life,” she says.

And now, life has come full circle because the former “Simple Life” reality television icon stars in director Wade Allain-Marcus’ “Don’t Tell Mom” remake as fashion company boss Rose.

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How nervous were you for a remake? Some remakes work and some are pretty awful.

This is true, but I had the most fun doing it. I think it’s so funny. It’s very feel good, which is something that I don’t think you necessarily get all the time now. When I say feel good, I’m talking early ‘90s. It’s a family adventure comedy.

But one that pushes envelope. There’s a lot of weed in it. A lot more cursing than I expected.

Well, it is rated R. I don’t think anyone was expecting an R rating. It’s been a running joke in our group chat.

You don’t act often.

I read a lot of things, but I just want to make sure that it’s something that I can do a good job in and confidently pour my energy into and feel like I can do it. I think that this movie was a perfect example of that. I never imagined that I would ever play Rose. But now that I think about it, I’m like, “Oh, I’ve always felt spiritually connected to her.” So this was just waiting for me from day one, from 1991.

Do you remember your worst audition?

Do you have a dream role you’d like to play?

I am in the middle of writing a comedy horror movie right now that I am going to star in. This is a little more Kathleen Turner à la “Serial Mom.”

How often are being pitched a “Simple Life” reunion or reboot?

It has happened a lot, but Paris [Hilton] and I have always felt that we don’t want to do something just to do it. But it is the 20-year anniversary this year, so we have been talking about different ways to celebrate this very cool show that we did. So we’ll see.

Paris’ memoir is being adapted as a TV series.

Should I audition? That was my next question: who should play you?

Jack Black? [ Laughs ]

You made big headline news the other night at the “Don’t Tell Mom” premiere because your kids (daughter Harlow Madden, 16, and son Sparrow Madden, 14) made their red carpet debut. Was that a conscious decision, something you all talked about beforehand?

Honestly, they were just going to come with me. It was not really something that we had necessarily talked about. We were there as a family. They’re old enough now. They understand what that is.

How often do they look at old footage of you or watch the “Simple Life”?

“The Simple Life” is apparently having a big moment on TikTok, so they do tell me that they watch clips on TikTok. Their friends watch it. I get a lot of eye rolls in my house all the time. It’s right on brand with how they see me, in general.

Do they want to go into the business?

I’m not sure. I highly doubt that my son does. My daughter might but she’s not banging down my door asking about it. She’s really living that 16-year-old life.

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Caitlin Clark Takes Down Michael Che Over His Women's Sports Digs On 'Weekend Update'

Former Iowa Hawkeyes basketball star Caitlin Clark crashed “ Weekend Update ” to slam co-anchor Michael Che over his jokes about women’s sports this weekend.

Clark, the expected No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, made a surprise appearance on the “ SNL ” news segment after a historic senior season where she became the all-time scoring leader in NCAA Division I basketball history.

Che joked that Clark would have her jersey retired in Iowa and “replaced with an apron” before she criticized his “little apron joke.”

“You make a lot of jokes about women’s sports, don’t you, Michael?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t say a lot, but, you know, not on the regular,” Che replied.

“Yeah, no, it’s definitely a lot,” co-anchor Colin Jost said before tossing to a supercut of Che’s digs aimed at women’s sports.

Clark thanked Jost for providing the “receipts” before asking Che to read jokes she wrote for him on “Weekend Update.”

“This year, Caitlin Clark broke the record for 3-pointers in a single season, and I have three pointers for Michael Che. One, be. Two, funnier. Three, dumbass,” Che read before the “ SNL ” audience erupted in applause.

Che went on to wish Clark good luck in the WNBA before she paid tribute to women’s basketball players who made their marks throughout the history of the sport.

“Thanks to all the great players like Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, Cynthia Cooper, the great Dawn Staley and my basketball hero, Maya Moore,” Clark said.

“These are the women that kicked down the door so I could walk inside,” she continued. “So I want to thank them tonight for laying the foundation, and Michael, since you’re such a big fan, I brought you a souvenir — it’s an apron signed by me.”

Watch Clark’s “SNL” appearance and more “Weekend Update” clips below.

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