At the outset of a project – and when you’re planning a rewrite – I think it’s good to ask yourself what the the project is about. What’s it really about?
When it comes to horror themes and story elements, I think this list almost covers it and almost any horror book, film or TV is one or more of these:
- Good vs Evil
- Depression
- Religion
- Childhood issues
- Revenge
- Supernatural
- Beyond death
- Science gone bad
- Zombie Apocalypse
- Nightmares
- Madness
- Insanity
- Lust
- Envy
- Suicide
- ‘Self-consciousness’ – making you question what is real and not.
Source: http://iconicpictures.weebly.com/conventions-of-horror.html
Although I think we might need one more category to cover something like “Aliens” (my favorite horror-action movie ever and, I think, one of the best movies ever made!). It’s sort of ‘Revenge’ and sort of ‘Beyond death’ and sort of ‘Nightmares’, and you could consider the aliens a form of ‘Zombie Apocalypse’, but… what about ‘Facing Your Demons’, ‘Redemption’ or straight-up ‘Slaying the Dragon(s)’?