ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we look at the horror screenplay’s most crucial component: a fear that resonates strongly for the writer. This fear should be something that poses a threat – to the characters’ sense of self, to their community, or to their basic beliefs in the world and how it works.
Rosemary’s Baby, for example, is – on its surface – a tall tale about witchcraft in 1960s Manhattan. But the fears it’s more deeply playing upon are those of any pregnant woman, suspecting there’s something wrong with her unborn child. Beyond that particular fear is an even more general one – of being betrayed by the people one loves. Rosemary has specific strengths and weaknesses, that make her especially vulnerable to her husband’s manipulations.
The Swedish film Let the Right One In is another powerful match-up of ‘fear’ and ‘character’. A young bullied boy meets a strange new girl, who turns out to be a vampire. As their friendship deepens, the fear that unites them starts to reveal itself – the desolate feeling of always being seen as different, Other.
The chapter concludes with a look at Lights Out, a film in which the organizing fear – of mental illness – doesn’t match up well with its metaphoric depiction.
