Scream Writing Questions with Suri Parmar
This week Scriptophobic was lucky enough to talk to Scum of the Earth Films's Suri Parmar. Apart from tons of hands on and theoretical training in ScreamWriting, Suri has explored storytelling in prose for New Haven...
Written in Blood: Bringing Down a Chopper in The Hitcher (1986)
Horror is a genre of fear, in all of its forms. Fear of the unknown, fear of the self, fear of the other— the manifestations are endless. Still, each iteration offers a relatable thread,...
RELIC (2020) film review
A haze of red and purple light fades in and out of the blackness, their source becoming more and more distinct as the hues continue to retreat and then reappear from the originating void....
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...
Motivation and Stakes in Jaws, Death Spa, and Blue Monkey
If after the first kill in Jaws, the mayor agreed that there was clearly a shark problem and acted fast to get rid of it, then would there still be a movie? Maybe a...
“Not Everything is Black and White” by Spencer MacKay
Editor-in-chief Zack Long here. I first met Spencer in my short stint in the film program here. Spencer stood out and, as is clear through the article, can't help but stand out because of...
An Interview with Subject #44’s Spencer MacKay
This week I got a chance to sit down with my good friend Spencer MacKay and speak with him about his newest short film, Subject #44 (2019). Subject #44 was made as an entry...
Using Letterboxd as a Tool for Research, Collaboration and Fun
I’m almost done writing Scream Writing: A Comprehensive Guide to Writing the Horror Screenplay and that means I’m beginning to gear up research on my second book, Mindfulness at the Movies: A Cinephile’s Guide...
Tomb Raider: From Bullets and Busts to Grit and Empowerment
When Lara Croft first introduced herself in 1996’s Tomb Raider she directly appealed to a young male audience of gamers with a mix of guns and breasts. (It’s worth noting that the '96 graphics...
Screenwriters Talk Genre and Share Advice in These Six Video Interviews
When it comes to learning screenwriting, it never hurts to actually listen to the screenwriters rather than the directors. Seems logical, but some people get caught up in the auteur theory instead of going...
Introducing ‘Holy Horror,’ a new column by Rachel Bolton
Hello readers of Scriptophobic! As we head into a new year and a new decade, I decided it’s time for something different. Starting in January, I will be writing a new monthly column, Holy...
Gacy (2003): The American Jekyll and Hyde
In 1993 on death row in Chester, Illinois, John Wayne Gacy said: “If you serve other people, it will come back to serve you.” A chilling quote from a man who used his trusted...
Fear Academy – Beyond Hammer: British Horror Cinema Since 1970 by James Rose (2009)
Welcome back, fellow fear scholars, to another lecture here at Fear Academy. Today’s topic is on James Rose’s book Beyond Hammer: British Horror Cinema Since 1970 (2009). I was originally going to write this...
Pretending to be Alive: The Zombies of Land of the Dead (2005)
My imagination was running wild.
The menacing heads of encroaching zombies stretched as far as the yellow and black horizon, under the shadow of a dimly lit cityscape. Floating above it all in large red...
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...
The Female Gothic: Three Steps To Creating Authentic Women in Horror Literature by Meg...
There is a notion of the kick ass woman. She is strong, perhaps even muscular. She is a natural leader, tough, and quick-thinking. We’ve seen her in movies like Alien (1979) and Resident Evil (2002).
I’ve never...
Patty Jenkins and Levelling the Playing Field in Monster (2003)
The name Aileen Wuornos conjures to most the image of a wild eyed, crazed woman who shouted profanities in court after being condemned to death for the killing of several men in Florida between...
What’s Real When Everything’s Constructed in Perfect Blue
And now for something completely different, I’m going to be writing about an animated movie this time: Satoshi Kon’s 1997 masterpiece Perfect Blue. Writing about visual storytelling in animated films is different on a...
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...
Ultraman By Way of Takashi Miike
Takashi Miike is one of Japan's most prolific directors. At the age of 60, he has donned the director cap 104 times. In North America, the work he is mainly known for is his...
The Riverman (2004): Staring Into the Murderous Abyss
So much is made out of the lives of serial killers— the men who hunt, rape, torture, and kill. What about the men and women who chase them? How are their stories represented? Fictional...
The Police Incompetence and Widespread Societal Misogyny of The Chaser (2008)
Apart from the loss of lives, one of the saddest parts of any serial killer investigation is often realizing many of the victims were those in society most at risk, whether they were women,...
Raising Hell in Pet Sematary 2 (1992)
Sequels are tricky. On the one hand, they exist because the property they’re based on has some degree of popularity; people, places, and things that the general audience would like to see more of....
Speaking the Curse to Drag Me to Hell (2009)
You Shamed Me
It was early summer in 2009. Friday night. I was sitting in a movie theater, as I was prone to do and I was excited. No, scratch that… ecstatic. I was there...
In Defence of Fanfiction
Fanfiction gets a bad wrap. And I get it. It’s full of weird sex, poor spelling, and a fervent love for a fictional universe that most of us probably only have a passing interest...