Horror Films Are Alive

Critters 4, you SUCK!

It should be obvious to horror film makers that the secret to a good film is a strong story and well-rounded characters. There is, after all, so many case studies to pour over and be inspired by. But, somehow, most people who make horror don't seem to know this. Either they are there to treat the genre as a cash cow (film makers behind empty vessels like Friday 13th, etc) or because they come from a long line of bad horror influences and don't know what makes a good scary story.

To me, it seems very obvious. Take any good horror film you have seen and think of the reasons you like them. I guarantee that your conclusion will be:

a) the film had at least one very strong and memorable character (Psycho, The Shining, Misery, Silence of the Lambs)
and/or
b) the film had a tight story in which a cast of reasonably well written characters revolved around (Rec, The Descent, The Innocents, The Haunting)

What you'll also realise is that nearly all these films (perhaps even all?) spend more time hinting at gore rather than explicitly showing it. And none of them descend into gratuitous torture scenes to scare you (that's left to film makers who can't figure out a way to scare you). Even the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre did its tricks by making you think you saw a horror when in fact it was happening off screen. It's that tried and true adage: what we can imagine is far scarier than what we can see.

Which brings me to the new Canadian film Pontypool, which I saw last night at FrightFest. It's a mostly perfect exercise on how to create horror with just a few actors and a small budget. It leads you through a bleak and snowy Canadian day where a small regional radio show in the basement of a church becomes the epicentre for news on "apparent" zombie attacks nearby. The film plays with the viewer's expectations while building on the three main characters relationships and responses to what's happening around them. It would probably work just as perfectly on the stage, thanks to the action never leaving the same few square metres nor relying on CGI. It combines characters that you care about, such as the alcoholic grump DJ Grant Mazzy, with an intriguing story that depends on your imagination to create the horror.

One of the film's producers was present and we learned that him and his partner had been planning for years to get this story onto the big screen. It's based on a novel (part of a trilogy) and, thanks to its success, a sequel is now in the pipes. It got me thinking of Julia by Peter Straub, a novel that would make a great horror film too (somebody tried before but it wasn't very good, apparently). I can live in hope that one day somebody will give it a go again now that I know there are still good people out there making films like Pontypool.