The Art of the Scare

The Basic Scare
The basic scare is one of my most favorite things in the world. I love to inflict it on people and have it inflicted on me.

The best part is this - being scary is kind of like being able to tell a good joke. Maybe you aren't the best at it, but if you know just a few good jokes, with some practice, you can get good at telling them.

And anyone can do it. When I teach Middle School, one of my units that I teach every year is on ghost stories. And every year, at least one student will absolutely chill every kid in the classroom with a great ghost story. But I already said that. I talked about the twist and how that can scare anyone.

Now let's talk about how to do it.

Showing the scare right away is like giving away the punchline at the very beginning of a joke. It ruins the scare. Just like any punchline, you want to save that scare for the very end. That's where the art of horror comes in. If you wait for too long to release the scare, then your story become a bit boring and the audience frustrated. If you release the scare too early, then the audience hasn't had enough build up, and your scare is ineffectual.

Usually, a great horror story begins with a subtle change to the familiar environment. On the screen, the music cues and we start to get that uneasy feeling. At this point, a horror movie will usually slow down the action, which makes us lean forwards in the seat. What's going to happen? What's coming up next?

A great horror story requires the same thing. For example, we might talk about how John and Sarah are good friends, how they get in their car, how they go to their favorite picnic spot, how everything is going well. Then...we slow everything down. We pause for moment and explain how the lake by the picnic sight doesn't look quite right to Sarah. How it's changed somehow.

When Sarah turns to John and says that she think she can see a face just under the surface of the lake, we need to make sure our audience is cued in. And we draw them in by slowing down the pace, and then stretching things out in such a way that the audience is hypnotized. Just like we are hypnotized in the The Shining by the sound of the Big Wheel rolling around and around on that hotel floor, our own story need to entrance the audience.

Also, we need to make sure that the audience is kept interested. Slowing down the pace isn't just good enough. You have to start giving away little pieces of information. One at a time. Going back to that lake where John and Sarah are sitting...what if Sarah can start to see more and more faces just under the surface of the water? What if she starts to see something moving just beneath its mirrored veneer? John, wanting to take his upset girlfriend home, starts to escort her back to the car...but there's something in the woods. It's standing in between them and the car. They can't make it out, whatever it is. One thing is for sure, though. It's dripping wet. They can hear the sound of water dribbling on the dry leaves.

So even though the pace is slowed, we start to fill in the gaps with the audience. When we finally reveal the scare, that's the tricky part. The actual scare itself should carry some kind of revelation. It should shed some new light on the story, so that when all of the details are added together, it makes sense in a very morbid sort of way. Just like...a punchline to a joke.

So what if John starts to explain to Sarah that she doesn't need to be afraid? That the faces in the water are all just former girlfriends? And that he's taken every one of them to this very spot? And now? They all just want Sarah to join them. In fact, says John, if you listen hard enough, you might be able to hear them calling.



All for now....