Violence and Its Relationship with Film
Chris Vander Kaay
I’m always fascinated by the idea of wanting to be so accurate in the portrayal of a real event that they involve people from the actual event in the reenactment. They did...
What Survival Horror Teaches Scream Writers About Scaring People
There was a moment while I was playing Outlast (2013) that made me scream at the top of my lungs. At 2:30AM. Waking up my neighbours. And getting me a noise complaint. As the...
Art Imitates Life in Scream (1996)
Sometimes art imitates life. Other times, life imitates art. Suddenly there’s no line between what is fiction and what constitutes reality. In August of 1990, life and the art of horror collided when five...
THIRTEEN GHOSTS (2001) and a Lawyer Split in Two
As the decade shifted and the 90s became the 2000s, my taste in movies was shifting too. I was in high school then, taking in movies every weekend and contributing to the box office...
The Neon Demon: Where Visuals are More Important than Script
Welcome back to Everything but Bone! This week we are going to be examining one of the most polarizing horror films of 2016, Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon. It’s one of those love it...
Clowning Around in Krampus (2015)
“He left me, as a reminder of what happens when hope is lost, when belief is forgotten, and the Christmas spirit dies.”
Now, I know what you’re thinking: it’s Christmas and, conceptually speaking, a dead...
Location as Character with The Witch (2015)
Welcome back, Scream Writers. Have you ever noticed that some films are set in locations that feel as much, if not more, of a character than the rest of cast? Just think of The...
Psychopathy and Sociopathy in Zero Day (2003)
Let me preface this piece with a warning - the topic and film discussed here are very sensitive and disturbing. These issues have grown exponentially over the last 20 years, and to bring awareness...
Try Walking That Off …a Written in Blood Look at Misery (1990)
Creating something, regardless of your canvas of choice, is a frustrating, tumultuous process. The act requires sacrifice, both of self and ideology, resulting in something that goes out into the world and, in turn,...
The Violent Birth of the Chestburster in Alien (1979)
As a kid, I was utterly petrified by the mere idea of watching a horror film. My friends would try to get me to watch them during sleepovers or on those rare occasions where...
Monster Madness
Thrifting is one of my favourite pastimes. Specifically when it comes to looking for books. Spending hours in some dusty basement of a store filled to the brim with books from yesteryear. This is...
Session 9 (2001) and Dissociative Identity Disorder
Mental health and horror films go hand in hand. As a screenwriter in horror, reaching for a motive for a perfectly crafted character can run into a basic cop-out—“He/She/They had a mental health issue....
Canada’s Kaiju: An Exploration of the Great White North’s History of Giant Monsters
Canada is the second largest country in the world, as such if giant creatures were to exist you'd expect for at least a few of them to show up in Canada. As Canada Day...
Ripping Through Reality in IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS (1994)
Reality is a funny thing
It all boils down to perspective, doesn’t it? Each person builds their world-view based on what surrounds them, which in time becomes their reality. Still, even then, most seek out...
The Slasher Film: Memories, Murders, and Myths.
Paul Farrell
It was the summer of 1998. I was fourteen, at a sleepover with my closest friends and fighting the group’s movie choice with every fiber of my being. The night had grown dark,...
Untreated Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Takashi Miike’s Audition (1999)
I know that by now I have written a lot on PTSD and its portrayal in film. In Gerald’s Game (2017) and Strange Circus (2005), I explored the themes that resonated with me on...
Primeval Surgery in The Ruins (2008)
In my fledgling days of horror fandom, browsing the new release aisle at the local retailers was a weekly tradition. Every Tuesday, I would hit my electronics store of choice, scouring the shelves for...
Recommendations from the Non-Fiction Godzilla Library
Getting accurate information and history for giant monster films is difficult. There are a lot of voices out there and many of those voices are spouting the same five facts reported on ages ago...
Make it so! Star Trek: First Contact (1996) is a Horror Movie
Hello again! Welcome to the latest edition of Everything But Bone. This article is a little different from my previous ones, because we are finding horror in one of the biggest science fiction franchises...
The Mystical Revenge of the Mighty ORCA (1977)
Humans have the capacity for great evil. Oftentimes the public is complicit in this cruelty without their knowledge. One of the cruelest things we do as a species is cage animals and put them...
Welcome to Fear Academy
Welcome to the first semester of Fear Academy, Scriptophobic's newest column. I'm editor-in-chief, Zack Long, and I'm excited to be bringing all you Scream Scholars discussions on the best, most entertaining and educational studies...
Reasoning with the Unreasonable in No Country for Old Men
Horror, deep in its dark heart, is about forcing characters to confront the unimaginable: the killer with a knife, the book that raises the dead, the alien life-form that shouldn't exist, the haunted house...
Toku Tuesday: Project Nemesis, the Series
In the past we discussed the comic adaptation of Jeremy Robinson's novel Project Nemesis, this week we're discussing the series as a whole. Lasting five books with one prequel novel Project Nemesis is a...
Written in Blood: Introducing the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow (1999)
As were most teenagers in the late 90s, I was a Tim Burton fan. It was hard not to be given his striking aesthetic and proclivity for telling dark fairy tales in a way...
The Effects Childhood Sexual Abuse in Strange Circus
I am going to preface this article with a warning, as I have in the past. The film I am about to discuss is an incredibly accurate portrayal of the long term effects of...