5 tips for writing a Great Horror Film

Hey, out there this article is about how to write the Screenplay for your next Horror Film. You will learn the technique on how to make a horror movie starting with the script. 

So the list we gonna discuss is known as the traditional structure of how to write a horror movie and this structure was super helpful for many writers when they wanted to start with the writing process. 

We are sure that it will help you to organize your thoughts into a

a timeline that made sense and gradually will help you get a locked screenplay for your film. 

This 10 step guide to writing a blockbuster screenplay for your next Horror movie.  

01. Hook Your audience with a suspense 

On the list is the hook you want to start your movie with something that

sets the tone and immediately causes the viewer to feel the suspense.  

For example In the movie Evil Dead by Sam Remi — He sets the right tone when one of his characters finds out the tape recorder which tells the experiment with the evil spirits. 

Or in the Darkness falls (2003) film which establishes that how Kyle Walsh (Kley), witnesses his mother’s murder at the hands of the spirit of a woman lynched by an angry mob more than 150 years ago and even after becoming an adult he is suffering from the phobia of that spirit.  

The first 15 minutes of your film is very crucial if you are not able to Hook your audience you not gonna buy their attention for the whole movie. So work it out in your story and then imbibed it in your screenplay 

02. Relationship audience with Characters 

Your story must establish the relationship of the audience with the characters of the story In the movie Evil Dead Director easily  

builds the bond between its main character Ashley  and the audience by showing that he has a girlfriend and is preparing to propose to her for the marriage 

Or  In another movie by Sam Remi “Drag me to Hell “The Director establishes the loan officer (Alison Lohman) who had to make a hard decision to save her job to reject the loan of a Gypsy Women. The same women take on her revenge. The situation is well crafted by Ivan and Sam Remi to pull the emotions of the audience towards its characters. 

03. Searching & Finding 

The screenplay must be constructed in such a way that it must have a goal for something. This goal becomes a tool for the solution of the problem. Of course, the main problem should be the evil spirit but developing a different track helps the audience to get stick to their chair and keep watching the movie.  

For example in the Ring movie, the Samar’s videotape and its origin become a goal for the main character to search while the killings on the other hand continue. 

04. Jump Scares 

There are people who always make fun of Jump Scares but they do work if executed in a good manner. The Jump scares are constructed right in the screenplay sometimes occasionally throw the cinematography or in the post-production.   

But a good screenplay writer provides the scope of Jump Scares in his writing only rather than later being added in the post-production through sound and jump cuts. 

The visualization of camera movements along with the narration of your story will help you to create some really scary Jump Scares which hold the moments of your screenplay. They can bring the element of surprise, laugh, and shock to the audience’s mood. so never fall for the trap that Jump Scares doesn’t work anymore. They do but they needed to be constructed in a good manner. 

05. The Open End 

The expert can have a different opinion upon the Open End but this helps you to engage your audience even after they have left the theater. It creates stimuli for the next version of the film which isis loved by the producer. Remember that everything in screenplay writing is not the automatic flow but a designed flow. This world is an Intelligent Design so is the design of the screenplay.  

We hope that these four tips will give you an upper hand for writing a perfect Horror Screenplay for your next film