For the past several weeks, I’ve been doing interviews with the Grand Prize winners of our worldbuilding short fiction contest. For the next few interviews, my fellow staff writer Heather will be taking the reins and talking with the Young Author Grand Prize winners—be sure to check out her interview with the author Shadonovic, out tomorrow!

 

During my break from interviews—I’ll be back at it with our People’s Choice winners in a few weeks—I thought it would be fun to continue my ongoing series of TV shows and movies that are both highly entertaining and educational for writers. Here are the previous entries in this series, where you’ll find tons of shows and films to enjoy/study:

 

 

This week, let’s celebrate the Halloween season by discussing some spooky TV shows that we writers can take several lessons from. These shows will provide thrills and chills (and sometimes laughs) but can also teach writers a great deal.

 

With each show, I’ll do an in-depth analysis of the first episode’s opening scene to show everything done well right from the start. Here are three horror TV shows that you can study to learn more about how to tell a good story.

 

 

1) The Haunting of Hill House: Story Structure

 

Where to watch it: Netflix

 

Though it was only released in 2018, this 10-episode Netflix Original series has quickly become a horror classic. It is set both in the present day when the children of the Crain family are adults, and when they spent time as kids living in the exquisitely creepy Hill House. The story expertly switches between timelines, allowing new details to come to light at just the right moment.

 

The first episode begins with a shot of Hill House looking supremely spooky, in the dark and shrouded in fog. The camera pans over photos of a happy-looking family. Steven’s voiceover tells us about the house and how it stood for a hundred years before his family moved there. A younger version of Steven is sleeping in his bed and wakes to the sound of crying. He sees his sister Theo in the hall and tells her to go back to bed. He enters a bedroom where his little brother and sister Luke and Nellie are awake in bed. Nellie explains that it was the “Bent-Neck Lady” and their father arrives.

 

 

Their father comforts Nellie and she asks how much longer they have to live in the house. He explains that she and his mother are fixing up the house, then they can leave. He leaves, then overhears his daughter Shirley saying, “Dancing in the Red Room” in her sleep. He goes back to bed with his wife, while Nellie awakens to her open bedroom door. She tries to go back to sleep, as the image of a woman creeps up behind her.

 

This opening scene accomplishes so much. Steven’s voiceover as an adult juxtaposed with the scene of him as a boy shows right away that this story will be told in two different timelines—the past and the present. You get a sense of each member of the family right away: Steven is the protective big brother, Nellie is the sensitive little sister, and the parents’ marriage is strong. This is a character-driven show that you will feel strongly and some chilling images will haunt your mind for weeks after. As the story thrills you, try to pay attention to how well it straddles these two timelines and how to apply it to your own writing.

 

 

2) iZombie: Providing a Unique Spin

 

Where to watch it: Netflix

 

iZombie definitely doesn’t depict your typical zombie apocalypse. Instead of being started by a rogue virus, the zombie epidemic comes about from a combination of spiked drugs and energy drinks. And the zombies in the show aren’t lumbering monsters; provided they get a regular supply of human brains to eat, they can pass for human—albeit humans with white hair and very pale skin (and they can get around that with hair dye and spray tans if they so choose). Eating brains also gives these zombies the ability to recall the memories of the deceased. Protagonist Liv Moore is a zombie coroner who uses her ability to help a local cop solve murder cases.

 

The first scene shows human Liv working competently as a doctor in a hospital. After work, another doctor invites her to a boat party but she declines. She meets her fiancé Major who encourages her to go to the party.

 

 

Cut to the boat party in full zombie apocalypse mode—fires, destruction, and zombies rabidly attacking everyone within striking distance. Liv tries to escape but later wakes in a body bag with a scratch on her arm and a white streak in her hair. Five months later, she has deathly pale skin and white hair and is buying bronzer and a copy of Night of the Living Dead at the grocery store.

 

It is deeply impressive how much is packed into just the first three minutes of this show. We get a sense of Liv’s overachiever attitude and how happy her relationship was with Major. We also learn very quickly how the zombies of this universe act and look. I’ve just skimmed the surface of how distinctive the zombies of iZombie are—I highly recommend studying the whole show for ideas on how to give your story’s world a fresh twist.

 

 

3) What We Do in the Shadows: Fusing Comedy and Horror

 

Where to watch it: Hulu

 

What We Do in the Shadows is less likely to bring chills than the other two entries in this blog post. Instead, it is a hilarious sendup of vampire lore, with the occasional werewolf thrown in for good measure. The show follows three traditional vampires: Nandor, Laszlo, and Nadja; Nandor’s familiar, Guillermo; and Colin, an energy vampire who live together in a house in Staten Island. The show brings together the elements of horror and humor that will have you laughing out loud. Just try to listen to Nadja attempt to pronounce the name “Jeff” and fail miserably, or Colin’s antics as he sucks the energy from his coworkers at his office, without cracking up.

 

The first episode of the show begins in a mockumentary style with Guillermo talking to the camera as he goes to wake up Nandor in an old-fashioned house. Nandor gets stuck trying to get out of his coffin and Guillermo struggles to help.

 

 

Guillermo tells the camera that tomorrow night marks his tenth anniversary of being Nandor’s familiar. He confesses that he thinks Nandor is going to make him a vampire. Finally, with the help of a butter knife, Nandor is able to rise out of his coffin. Guillermo compliments him on his cool and scary entrance.

 

The first two minutes jam in the laughs with the awkwardness of Nandor being unable to get out of his coffin. The stilted style of Guillermo’s narration also shows the viewer right away that this show has a dry, sort of uncomfortable tone that will produce a ton of laughs. If you are attempting to put a humorous spin on your horror story, there are few better TV shows you could study for inspiration. There is a very good 2014 film of the same name as well that was also written and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, the co-creators of the show.

 

Speaking of movies, don’t forget to check in next week for a few horror movies that you can watch both to celebrate the Halloween season and study to improve your writing. 

 

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