1: Make good use of effectively
creepy locations
Why change a winning formula? If a
place is frightening, there's nothing that can be helped so you might
as well use it to its full potential. Dark, shadowy places are
preferred by far. The more isolated and backwards, the better, since
there's little help for your poor protagonists in distress, and they
have to make do with each other and their wits (if any) to survive
their ordeal. This also creates opportunities to add some emotional
dynamics for your group of characters, since tensions and personal
issues between them will rise, meaning the danger can come from both
inside and outside the group. A good example of an ever sinister
location in this genre would be a spooky forest equipped with a
minimum of human civilization, where the main cast can be pitted
against their antagonists in peace and quiet with zero outside
interference.
2: Create archetype characters
Assuming you use more than one
protagonist (which the majority of horror movies does), make sure
they're different enough from one another. There's little point in
having five different characters if they all behave the same. Be sure
to cast both male and female actors if the script allows for it. Make
them dissimilar enough in nature so they each bring their own voice
and input to whatever perilous situation they find themselves in.
They all should have different traits to distinguish them from each
other, making them react diversely to the dangers they'll face. You
can have a nerd, a slut, a brave heroine, a coward, etc., but be sure
they compliment each other. Make them mostly likeable (again, if your
script calls for this) so we can root for them, even though we know
we will see them killed off in horrible manners (that's why it's a
horror film after all), which means their unavoidable deaths will
have meaning. Most of all, make them archetypes, not stereotypes.
It's a fine line, but it can make all the difference between a good
horror flick and a bad one.
3: Apply postmodern context,
surprise your audience
Let's face it: by now the horror genre
has seen it all. So why not use that to your advantage? Don't insult
your audience's intelligence by assuming you're the first one to come
up with certain ideas, since that will very likely work aversely.
Present your ideas knowing your viewers will be familiar with them
and play with this notion to surprise them where ever you can. Don't
be afraid to openly refer to other entries in the horror genre, it
has been proven a trite and true ingredient of successful horror by
now. Make use of established genre conventions, no matter how often
they've seen to be applied before, and then turn them on their head
so your audience will be utterly shocked. Of course there's the risk
your viewers might not go with it if you surprise them in too
bizarrely a fashion, but that's a risk you should be willing to take.
In fact, if the risk pays off, your audience will thank you for
having dared to take such chances.
4: Add some humour, but not too much
Don't cater only to the darker emotions
like shock and disgust, but also lighten up the mood at times by
adding some fun. It can take the audience off guard, playing with
their expectations of what comes next, so the following shocks hit
their mark hard. Don't overdo it though, unless you set out to make a
comedy more than an actually scary film. Certain characters naturally
lend themselves more to laughs than others (this includes the
antagonists), but don't make the humour depend on any single
character to avoid JarJarisms: nobody likes a single sidekick
providing all the jokes and ruining the overall mood (those are the
types of people we like to see brutally killed off the first), so you
better distribute it somewhat evenly among your cast of characters.
And don't be afraid to use some naughty language, a horror movie
should aim at a more restricted rating anyway.
5: Be sure your movie is still scary
enough
If you deliberately make a horror
movie, the audience will expect frightening and/or sickening moments
(or at least attempts at such), otherwise you're cheating your
viewers. So make sure to add a sufficient amount of moments of
unease, disgust or shock to your motion picture. A neatly crafted
balance between gore and suspense is always preferred, but you can
pick one over the other if it seems appropriate. Don't overdo it of
course, horror movies shouldn't rely solely on dirty scenes filled
with blood and guts, such moments should not drive the film, but be
driven themselves by the overall plot. However, if you have good
ideas to make your movie even more eerie, show no more restraint then
needed.
6: End on a downer if it works in
your film's favour
Some of the best horror movies end on a
very downbeat ending, a closure devoid of hope or happiness for your
characters (if any are still alive of course). When it makes the
movie even stronger plot wise or shock the audience that much more,
don't hesitate to use such endings. It usually also garners a fair
amount of critical acclaim and that's never a bad thing, considering
a lot of critics feel biased against horror movies that seem all too
typical on first sight.
When all of these points have been
adhered too successfully, this results in:
The Cabin in the Woods
Rating: ****/*****, or 9/10
Why not write an actual review of this
film, you might ask? I could have done that, but The Cabin in the
Woods is so loaded with plot twists it couldn't have been written
without spoilers all over it, which would give away much of the
movie's brilliant plot, and I so much want you to check out the movie
instead of just reading a synopsis. Even for people who are not at
all into horror, the way this film turns established horror
conventions topsy-turvy makes it worth a watch, if you have the
stomach for some occasional blood and gore. It proves yet again
writer/producer Joss Whedon (the man behind Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, Firefly/Serenity and this week's newly
released 'superhero spectacle to end all superhero spectacles' The
Avengers) is at the very top of his game and fully deserves the
large fanbase he has spawned over the last decades. As for director
Drew Goddard, he redeems himself for those few bad episodes of Lost
he wrote (though it must be stated he also wrote some good ones) and
he turns out to be a very capable director with great love for the
horror genre (something which was already evident to a lesser extent
in Cloverfield which he also directed). Together Whedon and
Goddard have produced one of the finest entries into the horror genre
in decades, which hopefully won't be insatiably copied,
sequeled/prequeled, remade or rebooted like too many of the scary
movies it references.
And watch the trailer here (though it's
bound to create wrong impressions, since, despite the titles claiming
differently, this trailer seems fairly standard. But then, no trailer
could ever do this film's plot justice without giving too much away):
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