Horror vs. Thriller
Last week, I was fortunate enough to be asked to speak on Network ISA’s online panel event ‘Writing a Hit Horror Movie’ with other horror writers. Now, admittedly, I’ve only written three horror movies: Summer’s Moon, Cannibals, and Zombie at 17.
Summer’s Moon, which starred Ashley Greene who finds out her father, whom her mother told her was dead, is actually alive and travels to a small town to find him. That could be the logline for pretty much any genre—romcom, thriller, drama… but in this case, she finds her father, who happens to be a serial killer, and his new family, who all happen to also be serial killers including her half-brother Tom who routinely abducts girls and keeps them chained up in his basement. It’s a fun romp.
Cannibals was never produced. A companion piece to Ruggero Deodato’s cult horror film Cannibal Holocaust, I was hired over a decade ago to write the script, but the project fell apart in pre-production due to creative differences between Deodato and the producers. Cannibals (the script) was a contemporary take on the themes in Cannibal Holocaust, but without the graphic torture porn and actual animal killings (which I found incredibly hard to watch).
And my most recent horror film, Zombie at 17, was written for Lifetime Network as the final installment in their ‘at 17’ franchise, a series of multiple stand-alone films in which the lead characters are always seventeen years old. All of the previous films in the franchise were thrillers (three of which I turned into YA novels), but Zombie at 17 was a family-friendly-ish horror-thriller-hybrid and it premiered on Halloween.
There were a lot of good questions asked at the event, including one that I wanted to explore in today’s post-- what’s the difference between horror films and thrillers?
To answer that, I think it’s important to first explore the similarities, primarily, that as a writer, you need to successfully scare your audience.
While horror films rely on jump scares and terrifying creatures (including humans), thrillers rely on being scared of what you don’t see or know. Jason Voorhees is evil and scary looking and has superhuman abilities that all make him an adversary worthy of multiple installments. Seeing him in his creepy hockey mask and knowing he can’t be reasoned with and that he’s little more than a killing machine is why Friday the 13th is a successful horror movie franchise.
But imagine if Jason was just a typical guy—a good looking one even—that you, as a single woman, met as you moved into your new apartment. Jason could be your neighbor, your landlord, or the roommate you found online when you realized you couldn’t afford the rent all by yourself. And now imagine that Jason, whom you think you know at least superficially, is actually someone who wants to stalk you, maybe even kill you. Strange, even dangerous things begin to happen—you come home to find your front door unlocked or you wake up to find a fire has ‘accidentally’ started in the kitchen… but luckily, Jason is always near by to help out. The audience knows that Jason is pulling the strings, manipulating you, his cathexis is spiraling out of control, and that he may even have had a dark past in which he stalked and killed another woman, but you (the character in the thriller) don’t.
While there might be a few jump scares in thrillers, they’re not scary for that reason. They’re scary because the scenario presented feels like it could happen to any of us at any time. Something or someone that is part of our ordinary lives turns out to be a threat. In horror films, the villain is something uniquely grotesque and infallible—something out of the ordinary.
Horror villains:
Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street - a deformed man with knives for fingers that kills you in your dreams causing you to die in real life)
Creeper (Jeepers Creepers – a grotesque killer that comes out to hunt once a year who kills people to take their eyes)
Candyman (Candyman—a creature that looks human except for his hook hand and being surrounded by bees that returns as an urban legend when summoned)
Dracula (Bram Stoker’s Dracula—a creature that looks human but turns into a killer that must drink the blood of humans while also being able to turn into a bat)
Thriller villains:
Oliver Lang (Arlington Road – the neighbor who might or might not be a terrorist)
Jack Torrance (The Shining – the murderous husband that loses his mind after being cooped up all winter in a haunted hotel)
Amy Dunne (Gone Girl – the wife who fakes her own murder and frames her husband for it)
Annie Wilkes (Misery – the obsessed fan who nurses her favorite author back to health so that she can keep him trapped inside her house)
Horror villains aren’t always creatures. They can be conceptual as well. In the Final Destination franchise, the antagonist is death itself. If you are lucky enough to escape death, death comes back to claim you with a vengeance. In IT, the villain is Pennywise the Clown, but Pennywise can take on other forms—he becomes whatever his victim fears most.
Another element that sets horrors and thrillers apart is the shock value. Horror films rely on shock value while thrillers do not. In a horror film, it’s common to see limbs torn off, eviscerated bodies hanging from hooks, and decapitated heads. There is a gross factor designed to make the audience squirm. It’s part of the fun and it relates to another element you’ll find in horror that you won’t find as commonly in thrillers—black comedy.
Because horror films embrace and poke fun at human mortality which is an uncomfortable subject, they’re ripe for depicting the absurd, from a decapitated head rolling down a hill and landing in the lap of someone having picnic to a log from a log truck shattering the windshield and crushing someone’s skull. It’s gross and funny and it makes the audience Oooooh and cringe before they laugh.
When you write a horror movie, you ask, What scares me the most? Death? Being tortured? Being alone? The dark? Floating in the ocean unable to see what’s below you? Being locked in a pit all alone? Being buried alive? Losing a loved one? Ghosts? The undead? Serial killers? Monsters?
When you write a thriller, you ask, What’s the scariest thing that could happen to me? Your child being abducted? You’re drawn into a cult? Your car breaks down on a desolate road? You’re kidnapped and trafficked? You’re falsely accused of a crime? You’re targeted because you accidentally witnessed something you should have? You inadvertently piss off a crazy neighbor? You marry someone with a secret life?
Here are a few titles of thrillers I’ve written which tells you what mundane concept I’ve twisted into something spooky:
The Perfect Roommate (she’s anything but perfect)
Killer Island (not the best place for a vacationI)
Boy in the Attic (have you ever heard noises coming from your attic?)
A Housekeeper’s Revenge (be careful who you allow into your home)
The Mentor (you probably shouldn’t take advice from just anyone)
The Husband She Met Online (it’s not the ideal marriage)
My Nanny’s Secret (again, be careful who you allow into your home)
Framed for Murder (you didn’t do it, but they all think you did)
The Perfect Assistant (she’s anything but perfect, too)
Christie’s Revenge (you should never have pissed off Christie)
Pretty much any of these concepts could happen to any of us…
“Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.”
- Stephen King
Why do these movies work? Frankly, being scared is an adrenaline rush. It’s the same adrenaline rush we feel when the roller coaster we’re on reaches the peak before it plummets hundreds of feet. It’s the same rush we get when we navigate our way through a haunted maze knowing that actors dressed like maniacs and monsters are lurking behind every corner. Nothing makes one feel more alive than being scared.
If you’re interested in honing your horror and thriller writing skills, check out Dan Calvisi’s upcoming The Story Maps Horror & Thriller Seminar, and Write Now! Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror by Laurie Lamson.
Until next time, happy writing, friends!
Christine Conradt is a screenwriter/director/producer/author with three YA thriller novels published by HarperCollins and more than 100 produced film credits. You can find her movies on Lifetime, LMN, Showtime, Amazon, Hallmark, Hallmark Mystery, and Pureflix.
Thanks for the info. Good stuff. 😱😳