Horror screen writing the nature of fear

Taking seriously a much-maligned genre, Devin Watson doesn’t just teach the reader, he collaborates with the reader He walks us through every step of what makes great horror, from its cinematic history to the nature of the beast, and he does so in such an engaging, conversational style that it’s easy to forget he also knows far too many ways to kill a man — Robert Grant, SCI-FI-LONDON With a style that is personal and engaging, and with first-rate content, Watson leads the aspiring horror writer through a step-by-step process of creating a screenplay that speaks to all that is great, resonant, and desired in the horror genre Watson makes fine use of examples and analysis of known works while challenging the reader to create an original script, and once that script is done, he gives tips on how to get it into the marketplace! For those writing in the horror genre, this book is indispensable — Jule Selbo is an Associate Professor, Screenwriting, in the Radio-TV-Film Department at California State University, Fullerton Professional writing credits include feature films and television series: Hard Promises, Hunchback of Notre Dame Part Deux, Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Melrose Place,and Maya and Miguel Her recent books include Screenplay: Idea to Successful Script(2007) and the companion volume The Rewrite: First Draft to Marketplace (2008) Horror Screenwriting just became one of my favorite writing books Devin Watson deftly explains why creepy is cool and how you can scare people for fun and profit Fear was never so much fun! — Paula Berinstein, producer and host, “The Writing Show” www.writingshow.com Devin Watson’s Horror Screenwriting: The Nature of Fear is unequivocally the greatest book about writing horror that exists Devin covers everything: the history of horror, the etiology of fear, horror genres, styles From there he goes on to talk about pacing, avoiding talking heads, keeping the “stakes” up (particularly valuable if you’re writing about vampires), how to get the most out of dialogue in horror, and all of the other basic ghouls (sorry) of the trade This is just a great book whether or not your genre is horror It’s someone speaking — not preaching — from experience about how to write a truly dramatic, original, commercial screenplay which, last time I checked, screenwriting is supposed to be about — Jeffrey M Freedman, Screenwriter, Vivaldi, Bad Numbers www.jeffreymfreedman.com/vivaldi.htm Devin Watson does an excellent job: taking a popular film genre and turning it inside out to expose all the elements If you’ve ever wanted to write a horror film, or even if you’re just a fan of horror films, this book will not disappoint — Matthew Terry, Filmmaker, Screenwriter, Teacher, and Columnist for www.hollywoodlitsales.com I’ve always recommended to my film students that the horror genre is one of the best for making a calling card feature film Devin Watson’s Horror Screenwriting provides the structure, blueprint, tricks, and tips that will make that starter feature ignite on the screen! — Rob Goald, Film Department, University of Nevada, Las Vegas This book may very well be the difference between writing horror and writing great horror — Eric Henninger, Technical Review/Screenwriter, MicroFilmmaker Magazine, www.microfilmmaker.com HORROR SCREENWRITING The Nature of Fear DEVIN WATSON MICHAEL WIESE PRODUCTIONS Published by Michael Wiese Productions 12400 Ventura Blvd #1111 Studio City, CA 91604 (818) 379-8799, (818) 986-3408 (FAX) mw@mwp.com www.mwp.com Cover design by MWP Interior design by William Morosi Copyediting by MWP Printed by McNaughton & Gunn Manufactured in the United States of America Copyright 2009 Devin Watson All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Watson, Devin, 1978– Horror screenwriting : the nature of fear / by Devin Watson p cm Includes index ISBN 978-1-932907-60-5 Horror films—Authorship Motion picture plays—Technique I Title PN1995.9.H6W32 2009 808’.066791—dc22 200901335 Printed on Recycled Stock TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION BY SPECIAL EFFECTS ARTIST GENE WITHAM PREFACE: THE EDUCATION OF THE HORROR SCREENWRITER (AND WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM THIS BOOK) A GUIDED TOUR OF HELL Before Jigsaw, Leatherface, Freddy, and Jason, there was Dr Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Wolfman Early horror film masters such as James Whale and William Castle paved the way for Monsters, Atomic Monsters, and the Monster Next Door Then came Satan, Slashers, and Sequels Galore Get a crash course in the history of horror films from the days of Edison up to the twenty-first century Learn how trends in society and culture shaped films that, in turn, influenced other horror films around the world THE NATURE OF FEAR Besides death and taxes there are a few other universal things in life Fear is one of those other ones that nobody mentions, like the cousin in prison In order to scare people, you have to know what creates fear Learn where all fear comes from and what it means to you as a writer Discover what scares you and how to use it in your own stories We’ll start forming our ideas for a story and begin the process of putting it to paper PREPARING YOUR ZOMBIE–FIGHTING ARSENAL Guns, knives, flamethrowers — all those are well and good But if you don’t have your trusty writing implement, you can’t write home about how you finished off those hordes of zombies A quick run-down of the types of horror that are out there We nail down what kind of horror story ours is The tools of the screenwriting trade LAYING DOWN YOUR SCENES Horror, suspense, thrills and chills You’ll need them all to make your scenes engaging and keep the story moving Learn about pacing and how to keep the tension and scares going all the way to the end Avoiding the “talking heads” problem We continue with our story by developing the first fifteen pages of the script WRITING EFFECTIVE SCREAMS Dialogue in any kind of film is worth having Find out how you can make it better and make your characters more believable, even while being chased by an axe-wielding maniac through the woods What dialogue is and isn’t in a screenplay and how to use it properly How to say more with less Know when to listen to your characters speak Examples of “before and after” dialogue tweaking that make the story flow better THE LIFE OF A HORROR CHARACTER Creating a character in a horror script can be as challenging as it is in any other genre — or even more so Here we go through the process of characterization in a horror story Plotting out a character’s lifeline throughout the story Knowing your characters’ places and why horror has disposable ones Understand how plot points are created by or are affected by characters’ actions COMPLETING THE FIRST DRAFT Most screenplays don’t make it because the writer simply stops Here we discuss how to keep the story alive and fresh, and ways you can adapt these techniques into your own routines Avoiding some of the more common pitfalls in screenwriting Adding extra twists and turns Ratcheting up tension and suspense Why getting the first draft done is more important than being correct EVERYTHING ELSE: TIPS AND TRICKS All of the general tips and wisdom on screenwriting that can help you in the process Copyrighting your work Getting an agent or manager Know what you’re getting into with screenwriting How to measure your story’s velocity in a quantifiable manner ACKNOWLEDGMENTS BIBLIOGRAPHY FILMOGRAPHY ABOUT THE AUTHOR INTRODUCTION I first met Devin several years ago on the pages of a script he had written entitled Tenebrous Having read many scripts in my forty-plus years as a Make-Up Director/Artist, I was intrigued by this man and his concepts I had never read a script with as much enthusiasm and interest It flowed so seamlessly and evenly that I just couldn’t put it down until I had completely read it Then all that I could say was a resounding “Wow!” He has mastered an art form that is often maligned by people who don’t have the slightest interest in studying the basic points of screenwriting Make no mistake, there is a structure and template that should be learned in order to produce a screenplay that will read well in the mind’s eye However, I must admit, most printed matter that delves into this arena is stilted and boring Devin, however, has managed to develop a teaching style that is laid back and relaxed and anything but pretentious He makes it fun to learn and fun to practice this enjoyable form He manages to help you get to where you want to go, before you even realize you want to be there And with a minimum of hassles I have learned more from this man in a short period of time than I had learned in several years of formal college studies Screenwriting is a challenge, as well as an art form This work captures the history of the genre and how it has influenced moviemaking throughout the world The facts are considerable, the history immense, and the learning experience is magnificent My hat is off to you, Devin .kudos to you, my Brother — Gene Witham 2008 Gene Witham is an actor, stuntman, producer, and artist of special make-up effects who has worked on films such as Baby Blues, Side Sho, The Cursed, Manhunter, Grizzly,and Planet of the Apes PREFACE THE EDUCATION OF A HORROR SCREENWRITER My love affair with horror began when I was a small child I was often sick with one illness or another Pneumonia, bronchitis, and tonsillitis visited me annually, like family members coming to visit from out of state Each new bout of illness would put me down on the couch in the living room or back in my own bedroom for weeks on end Playing with other kids was out of the question And so I discov ered books, movies — and my own imagination It’s hard to say exactly when I became fascinated with horror stories My brother, who was twelve years older than I, often showed me scary books and movies from the time I was very young One of the earliest horror films I saw was Poltergeist, which was released when I was only four It scared the pants off me — but I loved it In the beginning, though, I mostly lived in a world of stories I got from printed books, not from the screen Strange as it may sound, many of the ones that frightened me the most were from the Bible Some of these tales I read in children’s versions of Bible stories, each bound in a booklet of about ten or fifteen pages, that my parents bought me Other stories I heard at the private Christian elementary school I attended I was wideeyed at the fantastic aspects of some of the Bible stories: Jonah being swallowed by the whale, Lot’s wife turning into a pillar of salt I would imagine the particular details of each tale The destruction of Lot’s wife conjured up not only the strangeness of a human body turning into a rigid figure, but also images of Sodom and Gomorrah, of fire and brimstone I was also taken by the story of Moses and the ten plagues, each of which was worse than the one before, the last of which was God’s killing the firstborn of the Egyptians, because they had enslaved the Jews, who were saved from this final plague by marking the doors of their houses with the blood of a lamb Could there be stories with more horror than these? The teachers and the principal at my school were dead set against showing violence on television, yet in class we were reading stories of death and destruction in graphic detail! Later I also read some of the apocryphal books of the Bible, which left me full of questions about what might have been left out of the official canon of the Bible What else could have happened? Like many other kids, I was a voracious reader of mythology, which started when I found a copy of Edith Hamilton’s book that belonged to my brother I was intrigued by the pantheon of Greek and Roman gods, and for the first time I understood that there was a world of ideas and beliefs other than the ones I’d grown up with I was also fascinated by SELLING YOUR SCRIPT Horror scripts sell Why? Because, as a foreign distributor once told me, “they are very easy to translate overseas.” The best films show you the fear And fear is fear, in any language It doesn’t matter what it is, if it’s scary in English, it’s scary in Chinese You don’t need subtitles to know what’s going on Look at the Dracula movies of the 1960s They were shown all over the world and they made money all over the world There’s nothing like a six-foot tall skinny vampire with a British accent, looking into the eyes of a scantily-clad British actress to say so much to the audience Of course it had sexual innuendo It was meant to But most important of all was that it scared people in any language We are now experiencing a wave of horror films coming to us from other countries — often their interpretations of American horror films The most famous of these is the Japanese Ringu (The Ring) and Ju-On (The Grudge) Now from Australia we have Wolf Creek and pretty soon several others, depending on how they do Another reason horror films are made all over the world is that, out of all the genres, they are the cheapest to make with the best financial return You really don’t need a named lead actor Just look at the British 28 Days Later and several other American horror film classics You really didn’t know the names, but you went because you wanted to get scared and they did a pretty good job of it Look at the first A Nightmare on Elm Street No one in that cast was known at all except for the actress playing the mother, and even she wasn’t that big Sure, Johnny Depp is a household name now, but that was his first feature, and Freddy made sure he didn’t survive to the end Scream basically got a bunch of television names together, put them into the horror film genre, and hoped for lightning to strike, which it did several times over Since horror films are not that expensive to make, the studios and investors don’t feel like they’re investing too much if they let a first time director take the helm That way, if it’s successful, they’ve discovered the next big directing talent If it fails, they don’t know the bum, what do you want from a first time director (And hell will freeze over before you see this guy’s name on another film.) Production companies are searching for a good horror script with a different take on the horror genre Even if you think that everything has already been done, you still can be surprised when you see something original on the screen And that is the hardest thing to Find something original and write it Something that will knock their socks off or make them sleep with their lights on for a couple of nights I remember reading Stephen King’s The Shining I read it and couldn’t sleep without the lights on for several nights It was disturbing, but most of all it was scary as hell, and what made it scary were the little things, such as the feeling of claustrophobia and frustration described by King It was enough to make me want to not be alone — and definitely not be stranded in an old house or hotel miles from civilization with a crazed family member trying to bury a roque mallet in my head Visualize your own fear in your mind and try to put it down on paper Think about how your character would react to this fear: Would they react exactly like you or differently, more like the character that you created? SO WHAT’S NEXT? Here’s your first rule of screenwriting Emblazon it in large letters over your keyboard: NEVER SEND A SCRIPT OUT WITHOUT GETTING IT REGISTERED!!! Is that loud enough? Get on the Internet and look up the Writers Guild of America West With a credit card you can register your script online for about $20 The WGA is a good, quick way to secure your script initially, but you’ll have to do a little more leg work Trust me, the WGA is not the be-all or end-all of copy protection for your intellectual property If your script is only registered with the Writer’s Guild, there is no direct legal recourse for you if your ideas are stolen However, putting the WGA registration number on the fly cover of your script is more or less a way of saying that you are a professional and want to deal only with other professionals Send it off to the U.S Copyright Office (see “Copyrighting Your Work” above) Form PA is the one you’ll need to register it Get this done as soon as possible Any draft will do, but the best one to use is the one that you send out with any query letters WHO TO SEND YOUR SCRIPT TO Okay, like a lot of new writers, you don’t have representation Here’s an opportunity to get one Is it easy? Hell, no, if it were easy everyone would have a rep of some kind Do I get an agent or manager? Good question Let’s look at what each one does An agent is basically representing you as a writer for ten percent of the sale Most of the time they might represent actors and other talented people as well In fact they might have a lot of people that they rep, so that’s good news and bad news You’ve got an agent — good news Unless you are the hottest writer in Los Angeles whose scripts are sold for seven figures or more, you can’t reach your agent every time you call — bad news Now, if you go out and sell your script, get a producer who reads it and loves it, then your agent will gladly step in and get his ten percent Does that sound fair? You do all the work and the agent will gladly close the deal for you Now a manager gets a little more, sometimes 25% of your sale, but the difference is that the manager will go out and sell you They will try to get your script out in front of producers who are reading and looking for new projects Don’t get too thrilled yet The manager will also get all of his/her clients’ scripts out in front of the same producer It’s an opportunity to get to that producer, so the manager will hit them with everything they have You just happen to be one of the many scripts to be sent out Is it wrong? No, not really — at least you can get your script out WRITING THE SYNOPSIS The first thing you need to send out is a synopsis of your script If you’ve ever seen a script coverage report, you notice how they write it to make it understandable at the lowest level It’s a good idea to write your synopsis this way It must be very, very simply written Anybody should be able to very easily follow your synopsis, with just one quick read Your synopsis has to have a quick, easy feel to it and yet interest the producer You do not interest a producer by making it complicated (From their point of view, if they can’t easily comprehend it, how on earth are they going to be able to pitch it to the studios?) Each paragraph should easily lead into the next One line of thought should flow smoothly to the next line of thought I would suggest that when you have finished your synopsis and logline, have some of your writing peers read it and give you pointers If it doesn’t make them want to see the movie, rewrite it Writing a good synopsis and logline for a script takes practice These are not something you write with only a passing importance Without a good logline and synopsis, you drastically reduce the chances of getting your script read So, keep your synopsis quick, maybe no more than two paragraphs, keep it smooth and running together Why should you write such a short synopsis? Production companies often receive over a hundred scripts a week, sometimes even more They simply don’t have the time or manpower to read them all They will pick the ones that give them the best idea, the quickest read about the story Those will go to a reader for coverage, maybe five to eight scripts out of the hundred If there’s a package attached (actors, directors, and so forth) they will go to that one first Keep your synopsis short and to the point Think of it like a mini-skirt: long enough to cover the topic, but short enough to keep it interesting HOW TO SELL YOURSELF You’ve learned a lot from the material in this book Usually most of this would be covered in a semester, but let’s face it, you guys are smart enough to catch on quicker and you don’t have other books to read If you’ve written scripts previously, I hope that this book has helped you to go back and look over your stories and maybe, just maybe, make some changes and move things around so now you can send them out Now, let’s talk about you We talked about agents and managers and the difference between them Now the question some of you have is: “How I get an agent or manager?” Well, first off neither one is easy, but if I had to say, a manager is probably the easier of the two to get The best way to get a manager is to enter some script contests Even if you don’t win first prize but you place in the top whatever, that’s good enough to send the info to some managers in a query letter and see what happens If your script was good enough to place, they will become interested They know how many hundreds of scripts these contests get and to place in the top ten or so is very good indeed Another way is to place your script on the Internet on sites such as Ink Tip You pay a price about $60 for a six-month placement on their site Your script will be seen They are one of the few Internet organizations that I can recommend to young writers Managers, producers, agents and studio executives go over the Ink Tip site and read the synopses to see if there is something that catches their eye Sometimes they will download a script and if they like your style they will contact you Several people have gotten representation using this method It usually averages about two to three a month and they have been known to have scripts sell from this posting If you can’t be in L.A for whatever reason, this is not a bad way to get seen and read If you get a representative from this site, your job is not over, it’s just beginning Like I mentioned earlier, an agent usually has so many clients that they can’t hold your hand and you have to go out and sell your script Once a script sells an agent is all of a sudden in love with you You made him/her money and that is very important in their relationship with you A manager will start working with you, trying to develop you into a serious writer if they feel there is talent there They may have some changes for you to and maybe another angle for your story Listen to them They know what is in demand because they deal with it every day Learn from your manager If you start thinking that you know more about your script than they do, you might be right, but they know more about marketing your script than you will ever know These short synopses that I’ve been telling you to write are important in the industry, because people working in the field just not have the time to read your beautifullywritten ten pages (or even your beautifully-written five pages) If you’re lucky, they will read two paragraphs Yes, just two paragraphs and in those two paragraphs you will place everything that you need to get this story idea across to the manager It will be the two best paragraphs ever written It will catch the essence of your story, it will blow their minds, it will make them jump up and say they want more That’s when you hit them with the dynamic ten-page synopsis or even the script itself Not only do people in the movie business not have the time to read, they also don’t have the numbers of people they used to have during the golden days of the studios, because they can’t afford them A good script reader costs almost a hundred dollars a script to read and give back information as to whether the production company wants to get involved with the story A good script reader can go through about five to eight scripts a day A production company that wants to get involved with a script will then send it off to their budget and casting people to see how much it might cost and who they can get Everyone who touches the script costs money, whether they are on salary or they are freelance If everyone agrees this is a doable script, then the process begins of negotiating with the writer and his or her agent for the rewrites that will be needed Everyone who has touched that script since it came into the production company and the studio has written notes for the writer, notes that will take your simple screenplay and turn it into something so bastardized that even you, the creator of it, won’t recognize it other than by the fact that your name is on the cover page Still interested in becoming a screenwriter? You will sign on for maybe two to three rewrites After that, if they don’t see any progress in your writing, another writer will be brought into the picture and you will have to share credit with them After all, they will be “saving” the script that you butchered yourself, so the studio will be told Yes, I know it was the notes Notes from people you didn’t even know existed until only a few weeks before, when you got their twenty pages of notes with things written on them that you still can’t decode: More character development I didn’t realize the hero was the hero; I thought it was the monster When do the horses come in? Why is the girl a girl? Don’t vampires have to visit a dentist once in a while?Yes, these are the kind of notes you sometimes get You are left wondering what script they were reading This is the script that you wrote during all your waking hours, the script that you agonized over, the story and dialogue that tortured you It is no longer yours You sold it to a production company and it now belongs to them, forever and ever Does it scare you off or are you finding the premise exciting? If you say “exciting,” you’re perfect to write strange films, especially horror The only thing left to is to go and write your horror Don’t just write one, write several of them The more scripts you have the more chances you have to sell them I’ve often had scripts that I’ve gone back and updated and sold, some of them going as far back as ten years, because this is the reality of the game What you write today may not be perfect for today’s market, but three or five years from now, it might be the thing that some producer is looking for Although horror films stay popular year after year, because of the cycles in the market, you never know what the market for these films is going to be from one year to the next You do know this: that well-written suspense or horror stories will sell So get out there, watch horror movies to see what does and doesn’t scare you, what’s been done before, and which writers and films are your competition Then make your fears into horror movies of your own! 1 As Joe Ezterhaus confessed was his reason for writing Showgirls Hey, it happens to the best of us ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Books are never written in a vacuum Helping and motivating every author are dozens of teachers, mentors, and friends Besides those the writer knows personally, there are many others — heroes, models, and influences — who also offer guidance along the often treacherous path of writing Without the following people, I would not be where I am now in the field of screenwriting and horror: Lew Hunter, Claudia Johnson, Robert McKee, Phil Melfi, George Fernandez, Gene Witham, and my mother BIBLIOGRAPHY —— Psalms 139:16, Holy Bible, King James Version Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1984 Anderson, Fred Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1776 New York: Knopf, 2000 Benshoff, Harry M Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997 Buehrer, Beverly Bare Boris Karloff: A Bio-bibliography Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993 Castle, William Step Right Up! I’m Gonna Scare the Pants Off America: Memoirs of a BMovie Mogul New York: Pharos Books, 1992 Cocker, Mark Rivers of Blood, Rivers of Gold: Europe’s Conquest of Indigenous Peoples New York: Grove Press, 2001 Cohen, Abraham Everyman’s Talmud: The Major Teachings of the Rabbinic Sages New York: Schocken Books, 1995 Cotterell, Arthur, and Rachel Storm The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology Hong Kong: Anness Publishing Limited, 1999 Ellis, Reed A Journey Into Darkness: The Art of James Whale’s Horror Films New York: Arno Press, 1980 Florescu, Radu R., and Raymond T McNally Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and Times Boston: Little Brown, 1989 Fowler, W.M Empires at War: The French and Indian War and the Struggle for North America, 1754-1763 New York: Walker, 2005 Hunter, Lew Screenwriting 434 New York: Perigee Books, 1994 Johnson, Claudia H Crafting Short Screenplays That Connect, Edition Boston, MA: Focal Press, 2005 Johnson, Robert A Owning Your Own Shadow: Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche New York: HarperCollins, 1991 Kreibernik, Manfred Journal of Assyriology and Near Eastern Archeology, Seventy-Sixth Edition Berlin: Walter de Gruyer, 1986 McKee, Robert Story New York: HarperEntertainment, 1997 Neusner, Jacob The Mishnah: A New Translation New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1991 Steinsaltz, Adin Rabbi The Essential Talmud New York: Basic Books, 2006 Wehner, Christopher Screenwriting on the Internet: Researching, Writing and Selling Your Script on the Web Studio City, Calif.: Michael Wiese Productions, 2001 FILMS DISCUSSED IN THIS BOOK The author acknowledges the copyright owners of the following motion pictures from which screenplay excerpts have been used in this book for purposes of commentary, criticism, and scholarship under the Fair Use Doctrine 12 Monkeys Directed by Terry Gilliam Written by Chris Marker and David Webb Peoples Universal City, California: Universal Pictures, 1995 All rights reserved Pet Sematary Directed by Mary Lambert Novel and screenplay written by Stephen King Hollywood, California: Paramount Pictures, 1989 All rights reserved THE FOLLOWING FILMS HAVE ALSO BEEN DISCUSSED IN THIS BOOK: A Nightmare on Elm Street Directed by Wes Craven Los Angeles, California: New Line Home Video, 1984 All Rights Reserved Alien Directed by Ridley Scott Los Angeles, California: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, 1979 All Rights Reserved All Quiet on the Western Front Directed by Lewis Milestone Burbank, California: Universal Pictures, 1930 All Rights Reserved American Psycho Directed by Mary Harron Burbank, California: Universal Pictures, 2000 All Rights Reserved Arachnophobia Directed by Frank Marshall Universal City, California: Amblin Entertainment, 1990 All Rights Reserved Bram Stoker’s Dracula Directed by Francis Ford Coppola Culver City, California: Columbia Pictures Corporation, 1992 All Rights Reserved Cannibal Holocaust Directed by Ruggero Deodato Los Angeles, California: Grindhouse Releasing 1980 All Rights Reserved Cease Fire Directed by David Nutter London, UK: Cineworld Releasing, 1985 All Rights Reserved Close Encounters of the Third Kind Directed by Steven Spielberg Culver City, California: Columbia Pictures Corporation, 1977 All Rights Reserved Dracula Directed by Tod Browning Burbank, California: Universal Pictures, 1931 All Rights Reserved E T Directed by Steven Spielberg Burbank, California: Universal Pictures, 1982 All Rights Reserved Event Horizon Directed by Paul Anderson Los Angeles, California: Paramount Pictures, 1997 All Rights Reserved Faces of Death Directed by Conan Le Cilaire Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Gorgon Video/MPI Media Group, 2008 All Rights Reserved First Blood Directed by Ted Kotcheff Los Angeles, California: Orion Pictures Corporation, 1982 All Rights Reserved Frankenstein Directed by J Searle Dawley Edison Manufacturing Company, 1910 Released into public domain Frankenstein Directed by James Whale Burbank, California: Universal Pictures, 1931 All Rights Reserved Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare Directed by Rachel Talalay Los Angeles, California: New Line Home Video, 2006 All Rights Reserved Friday the 13th Directed by Sean S Cunningham Los Angeles, California: Paramount Pictures, 1980 All Rights Reserved Ginger Snaps Directed by John Fawcett Seattle, Washington: Unapix Entertainment Productions, 2000 All Rights Reserved Godzilla Directed by Ishiro Honda Tokyo, Japan: Toho Company, 1954 All Rights Reserved Halloween Directed by John Carpenter Burbank, California: Universal Pictures, 1978 All Rights Reserved Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer Directed by John McNaughton Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: MPI Home Video, 1986 All Rights Reserved Insomnia Directed by Christopher Nolan Burbank, California: Warner Brothers Pictures, 2002 All Rights Reserved Ju-On Directed by Takashi Shimizu Tokyo, Japan: Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., 2000 All Rights Reserved Memento Directed by Christopher Nolan Beverly Hills, California: Newmarket Films, 2000 All Rights Reserved Mondo Cane Directed by Paolo Cavara West Hollywood, California: Blue Underground, 1962 All Rights Reserved Mondo Topless Directed by Russ Meyer Los Angeles, California: Eve Productions, 1966 All Rights Reserved Monster Directed by Patty Jenkins Beverly Hills, California: Newmarket Films, 2003 All Rights Reserved Night of the Living Dead Directed by George A Romero 1968 Released into public domain Nosferatu Directed by F.W Murnau 1922 Released into public domain Poltergeist Directed by Tobe Hooper Los Angeles, California: MGM/UA Entertainment, 1982 All Rights Reserved Psycho Directed by Alfred Hitchcock Los Angeles, California: Paramount Pictures, 1960 All Rights Reserved Remember Last Night? Directed by James Whale Burbank, California: Universal Pictures, 1935 All Rights Reserved Ringu Directed by Hideo Nakata Universal City, California: DreamWorks Entertainment, 1998 All Rights Reserved Rolling Thunder Directed by John Flynn Los Angeles, California: American International Pictures, 1977 All Rights Reserved Rosemary’s Baby Directed by Roman Polanski Los Angeles, California: Paramount Pictures, 1968 All Rights Reserved Shivers Directed by David Cronenberg Trans American Films, 1975 All Rights Reserved Show Boat Directed by James Whale Burbank, California: Universal Pictures, 1936 All Rights Reserved Showgirls Directed by Paul Verhoeven Los Angeles, California: MGM/UA Entertainment, 1997 All Rights Reserved Suspiria Directed by Dario Argento West Hollywood, California: Blue Underground, 2007 All Rights Reserved Tarantula Directed by Jack Arnold Burbank, California: Universal Pictures, 1955 All Rights Reserved The Blair Witch Project Directed by Daniel Myrick Los Angeles, California: Artisan Entertainment 1999 All Rights Reserved The Cabinet of Dr Caligari Directed by Robert Wiene Decla-Bioscop AG, 1920 Released into public domain The Cursed Directed by Joel Bender Santa Monica, California: TriCoat Studios, 2008 All Rights Reserved The Day the Earth Stood Still Directed by Robert Wise Los Angeles, California: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, 1951 All Rights Reserved The Death of Dracula Directed by Károly Lajthay 1921 Released into public domain The Devil’s Castle Directed by Georges Méliès 1896 Released into public domain The Entity Directed by Sidney J Furie Los Angeles, California: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, 1981 All Rights Reserved The Exorcist Directed by William Friedkin Burbank, California: Warner Brothers Pictures, 1973 All Rights Reserved The Fly Directed by David Cronenberg Los Angeles, California: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, 1986 All Rights Reserved The Golem Directed by Henrik Galeen 1915 Released into public domain The Golem and the Dancer Directed by Rochus Gliese 1917 Released into public domain The Great Garrick Directed by James Whale Burbank, California: Warner Brothers Pictures, 1937 All Rights Reserved The Great Train Robbery Directed by Edwin S Porter 1903 Released into public domain The Grudge Directed by Takashi Shimizu Culver City, California: Sony Pictures Entertainment, 2004 All Rights Reserved The Haunting Directed by Robert Wise Los Angeles, California: MGM/UA Entertainment, 1963 All Rights Reserved The House on Haunted Hill Directed by William Castle Hacienda Heights, California: Allied Artists Pictures, 1959 All Rights Reserved The Hunchback of Notre Dame Directed by Wallace Worsley Burbank, California: Universal Pictures, 1923 All Rights Reserved The Incredible Shrinking Man Directed by Jack Arnold Burbank, California: Universal Picture, 1957 All Rights Reserved The Last House on the Left Directed by Wes Craven Hallmark Releasing Corp., 1972 All Rights Reserved The Man in the Iron Mask Directed by James Whale Los Angeles, California: United Artists, 1939 All Rights Reserved The Monster of Fate Directed by Henrik Galeen 1914 Released into public domain The Omen Directed by Richard Donner Los Angeles, California: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, 1976 All Rights Reserved The Phantom of the Opera Directed by Rupert Julian Burbank, California: Universal Pictures, 1925 All Rights Reserved The Ring Directed by Gore Verbinski Universal City, California: DreamWorks Entertainment, 2002 All Rights Reserved The Road Back Directed by James Whale Burbank, California: Universal Pictures, 1937 All Rights Reserved The Shining Directed by Stanley Kubrick Burbank, California: Warner Brothers Pictures, 1979 All Rights Reserved The Shining Directed by Mick Garris Burbank, California: Warner Brothers Television, 1997 All Rights Reserved The Silence of the Lambs Directed by Jonathan Demme Los Angeles, California: Orion Pictures Corporation, 1991 All Rights Reserved The Sixth Sense Directed by M Night Shyamalan Burbank, California: Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 1999 All Rights Reserved The Thing Directed by John Carpenter Burbank, California: Universal Pictures, 1982 All Rights Reserved The Thing From Another World Directed by Christian Nyby Los Angeles, California: RKO Radio Pictures, 1951 All Rights Reserved Them! Directed by Gordon Douglas Burbank, California: Warner Brothers Pictures, 1954 All Rights Reserved THX-1138 Directed by George Lucas Burbank, California: Warner Brothers Pictures, 1971 All Rights Reserved Vertigo Directed by Alfred Hitchcock Los Angeles, California: Paramount Pictures, 1958 All Rights Reserved War of the Worlds Directed by Byron Haskin Los Angeles, California: Paramount Pictures, 1953 All Rights Reserved Waterloo Bridge Directed by James Whale Burbank, California: Universal Pictures, 1931 All Rights Reserved When Worlds Collide Directed by Rudolph Maté Los Angeles, California: Paramount Pictures, 1951 All Rights Reserved Zombie Directed by Lucio Fulci West Hollywood, California: Blue Underground, 2004 All Rights Reserved ABOUT THE AUTHOR DEVIN WATSON was born in Brunswick, Georgia, in 1978 Growing up watching countless horror films due to many childhood maladies, he harbored an active imagination and a love of writing Even through high school and college, graduating with a degree in Computer Science, he pursued his study of screenwriting, culminating in the production of The Cursed in 2007 He is the co-founder of Screenwriter’s Utopia, one of the largest online communities of professional and amateur screenwriters In addition, he runs MoviePartners, which seeks to help independent filmmakers produce the highest quality films they can make without compromising their art He can be reached at devin@moviepartners.com ... — Paula Berinstein, producer and host, The Writing Show” www.writingshow.com Devin Watson’s Horror Screenwriting: The Nature of Fear is unequivocally the greatest book about writing horror that exists Devin covers everything: the history of horror, ... trusty writing implement, you can’t write home about how you finished off those hordes of zombies A quick run-down of the types of horror that are out there We nail down what kind of horror story ours is The tools of the screenwriting trade LAYING DOWN YOUR SCENES... I was also taken by the story of Moses and the ten plagues, each of which was worse than the one before, the last of which was God’s killing the firstborn of the Egyptians, because they had enslaved the Jews,