Sunday Picture Post 33 / What is Scary?

Bloody child bride murky water cemetery
Creative Commons License photo credit: mani-B)-

SCREENWRITING TIP OF THE DAY: WHAT IS SCARY?

There are a few things that I find most scary in movies.

1) Mystery and the unknown: wondering what is happening, hearing mysterious noises, seeing bizarre signs, not knowing where is the bad guy or what he is doing.

2) True horror stories.

3) Suspense: knowing something is going to happen, but not knowing when or how. This makes me sick to my stomach.

4) Horrific acts that I never could have imagined.

What are the best scare tactics you have experienced?

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SUNDAY PICTURE POST

For The Sunday Picture Post, we flip upside-down the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Thousands of words are great if you are writing a novel, but if you are writing a screenplay, you need to do the opposite and be as concise as possible.

Each Sunday, I post a picture. For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, using the image above, please post one or all of the following:

  • A title for this movie
  • 1 word describing the theme, mood, or scene
  • 1 sentence to describe the scene
  • A pitch to sell the entire movie

The more colorful and creative you are, the better! Use any genre.

A good screenwriter is laconic, using a few words to say a lot.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

October 30, 2008 | Filed Under Hollywood Horror Stories, Screenwriting Tips, Sunday Picture Posts 

Comments

2 Responses to “Sunday Picture Post 33 / What is Scary?”

  1. t.sterling on November 2nd, 2008 6:00 pm

    Allow me to first state that “scary” was never my forte. I don’t care much for scary movies, and I usually avoided them when I was wee. Nowadays I’ll watch one here and there, but under certain conditions… like it MUST be daytime, among many other things.

    However, I’ll watch TV shows with ghost/paranormal investigations, and I like suspense thrillers. I usually just pass on gore-filled movies with violence and buckets of blood and such. I’m not saying its bad, it’s just not for me.

    I’ve never been great at horror/suspense stories, but I’ll give it a try.

    “Lost Witnesses”

    discovery

    A ghost recently murdered leads a psychic to clues about her death.

    I have no pitch :o(
    If I took charge of this project, I’d find a way to make it a comedy. Somehow.

  2. Jaden on November 4th, 2008 1:33 pm

    t.sterling — Yes, doing a genre twist and making it funny is a good idea. Great title!

Got something to say?