Let’s talk about genres.

The genre. The main squeeze. Maybe you’re playing the field with a couple of genres, a couple a squeezes, spreading the old creative seed around, seeing what really grows. Let’s talk about it.

Why are we drawn to certain genres when writing scripts? Some writers go for the genres they think will sell — which is a shot in the dark because who the hell knows what sells. Just look at the original films coming out of Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, there’s every genre represented in all sorts of packages. A lot doesn’t stick, a ton leave my mind the second the movie’s done. I often struggle to place the theme, tone, reason to exist in many of these movies that are hitting streaming. Not all, mind you, there are some that have really hit. Examples? The Cleansing Hour, Spiral, Room, Haunt, I could go on but quickly, notice a trend. These are all Shudder “Originals”, the genre is set, maybe there’s subsets of the genre (horror-comedy, psychological horror, supernatural horror) but the genre is not in question. This means that the mood you’re in will be met if you hop onto Shudder and push a button.

The idea of genre hopping is confounding to me. Not sub-genre hopping, I get that. But the idea that a screenwriter should be able to write any genre so that they are more “marketable” leaves me feeling a little hollow. Of course, some brilliant writers may be able to cross genres successfully, and definitely not to say that we should just sequester ourselves in a box and refuse to reach outside of that. Please don’t mistake my words as advice. It’s more an observation. To write a good horror script, I believe the writer should know the genre. We should be watching horror, reading horror — lights out, no blanket, maybe a little buzzed. We need to know how fear feels and how to portray images on a page that will frighten, which in turn can be transferred to the screen to terrify. We need to absorb the genre.

I’ve read horror scripts where I truly believe the writer hates horror. Or, at least, they hate fear and so don’t immerse themselves in the genre and therefore produce work that falls headfirst into cliches and predictability. I’ve also read most of the greatest horror scripts ever written and produced, and I feel the lo-o-ove. When I write horror, it’s out of love. And it often veers into dramatic themes and familial trauma, not strictly positioning the characters in typical “horror” scenarios and plots, but the genre is very clearly horror.

What I love about the horror genre is that it can hold every other genre inside of it. In fact, a good horror film is broad-shouldered and bold. For example, The Babadook is a supernatural horror at the surface level, deeper in we have a haunted house, a mother-son drama, and a war story (a character at war with herself), and an examination of grief. These are themes that could be applied to any other genre, but in The Babadook, they are explored in a horrific fashion that elicits fear and, a bit deeper, self-reflection. Every time I watch the film I find myself putting myself in that house, with that child, carrying that loss. And there’s an understanding of what the character is going through, even without ever going through those things myself, and then there is the catharsis at the tail-end, which is not an actual end, because grief is never-ending.

I appreciate those who write comedy, drama, period pieces, all of it. But I think we can agree that writing a good script is difficult, and it helps to know the line’s on your genre’s hands, the color of its eyes, the smell of it and taste and feel. And like it or not, that takes work, practice, loyalty.

I am drawn to the horror genre because fear was a huge part of my life at a very young age. I find peace in the dark, solace in the shadowy corners where I can just make out a shape and maybe it’s nefarious but maybe, just maybe, it’s not. That’s it, that’s the story. Maybe the shapes moving in broad daylight are scarier, more evil, more duplicitous. Either way, the genre thrills me and that's why I indulge myself in writing it. What thrills you?