How to Make a Horror Film That Stands Out From the Crowd

The horror genre is one of the most crowded with films, and it’s important to stand out from the crowd by crafting a unique story. While you can’t avoid using some of the more well-worn conventions of horror movie making, you can be more creative and take risks to create a compelling film.

Scaring the audience is one of the most important parts of any film, but it’s especially crucial in a horror film. The best way to do this is to deliver a series of effective, unnerving and spellbinding scares that have the power to keep your audience on edge throughout the film.

To do this, you’ll need to set up the right conditions and then pay off at the perfect moment – which means that you should plan out each scare in advance. You can use a scare template as a guide to help you structure your story, but it’s also essential that you think about what will work in each scene and how you’ll build up towards the scare.

The best horror movies are not only about the monsters or maniacs that terrorise the protagonists, but also about the characters themselves. For this reason, it’s essential that you spend a lot of time writing profiles for each of your characters and consider what makes them tick. Having detailed character profiles will ensure that when your audience sees the character on screen, they’ll care about them and want to see what happens to them.

Horror fans have become desensitised to certain horror tropes, so you need to be inventive with your scares and make sure that you’re paying off on your promises. This could mean that you tease your audience by letting them think they’ve got the running-from-a-masked-maniac out of the picture, only for the villain to reappear at the most inconvenient moment possible. It could be anything from a sudden noise to the appearance of an old photograph – whichever method you choose, just make sure that your audience is left with no doubt about what is happening and that they’re on the edge of their seats.

Poor dialogue is something that regularly lets down horror films, but it’s a cheap and easy thing to fix on set. To make your film more believable, you should focus on creating a script with interesting and original lines for all of your characters. This will help to create a world that feels authentic and realistic, and it’s something that even entry level filmmakers can master with practice.

Choosing the right locations is also an essential part of filming horror. Try to pick a location that is creepy and will help to create the mood you’re going for. This will save you money on your budget and will make it easier to build suspense in each scene. Remember to light your shots well, and don’t be afraid to over-light the set if it helps to create a more sinister and eerie atmosphere. Just be sure that you don’t go too dark, as this will be difficult to read on camera and will lead to grainy footage that looks bad in post-production.