INSIDE THE ART, CRAFT AND BUSINESS OF WRITING for Film, TV, Books, Stage, Print or Digital Media (with Particular Attention to Comedy)
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:
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)’?