With Halloween right around the corner, plenty of you are probably on the lookout for spooky films to get you in the mood. I spent one Halloween doing nothing but watching scary movies all day and night with friends, and I still consider it one of the best Halloweens I ever had. But with the plethora of creepy films out there, it can be hard to narrow your list down.
If you find yourself stumped when planning your Halloween movie marathon, you can’t go wrong with Tim Burton. This iconic filmmaker has made a career out of creating films that will both scare you and make you laugh, cry, or perhaps some combination of the two.
I have been a Tim Burton fan from a young age, starting with The Nightmare Before Christmas (included in last year’s list of Christmas movies). I have not only gotten a ton of enjoyment out of his movies but have learned a lot about storytelling from them as well. Whether your writing veers more toward horror and paranormal or not, Tim Burton’s films can teach you a great deal about how to craft a compelling story.
Here are three creepy Tim Burton movies you can study to improve your writing. All the films listed here are currently available to watch on Max, HBO’s streaming service.
Beetlejuice: Fusing Comedy and the Paranormal
This 1988 fantasy comedy is considered by many to be Burton’s breakthrough hit. It grossed $74.7 million from a low budget and won the Academy Award for Best Makeup. While the film features some fantastic worldbuilding and wonderfully zany characters, one of its best attributes is the way it combines humorous and paranormal elements. It’s a movie that will have you shivering one moment and laughing your head off the next. As per usual with my TV and movie posts, let’s discuss the opening moments of the film in order to dissect what makes it so effective.
We begin with an overhead shot of a forest which takes us into the view of a small town. We follow a road that runs through the town, then more forest, and finally arrive at a large, isolated house. Then what appears to be a giant spider crawls over the roof of the house and into Adam’s hand, revealing that the town, forest, and house were all part of a model. Adam releases the spider through the window, which shows a view of the same town in the model. Adam and his wife, Barbara, give each other “vacation gifts” (a vacation they plan to spend at home). Jane, a realtor, comes to visit, encouraging Barbara to sell the house, which is too big for her and Adam, and better suited to a couple with a family. But Barbara shoos her away, as does Adam when she tries to peek in the basement window.
Adam asks Barbara to accompany him to the hardware store. In the car, Barbara remarks that Jane thinks they should sell the house to a couple with a family and Adam says they can try again on this vacation. On the way to the store, one townsperson waves while another asks after Adam’s model (and continues to talk to himself after Adam goes in the store). Veering to avoid a dog on the way back home, their car goes off a bridge and into a river.
Next, we cut to Adam and Barbara, soaking wet, arriving back home. They find a fire burning in the fireplace, even though it wasn’t when they left. Barbara’s arm accidentally gets set on fire but she doesn’t get burned. Adam remarks that he can’t remember how they got back to the house and says he plans to go back to the bridge and retrace their steps. But when he tries to leave, he finds himself in a creepy, fantastical world. When it seems like a monster is about to attack him, Barbara snatches him back to the front steps and says he’s been gone for two hours. Barbara reveals that they now have no reflections and that there is suddenly a Handbook for the Recently Deceased on their end table. They realize that they didn’t survive the car crash and are now ghosts.
A great deal is accomplished in just the first ten minutes of this movie. The introduction of the idyllic town gives the viewer an instant sense of foreboding, as so many horror movies begin this way. Adam and Barbara’s status as a happy couple is well-established, both by their frequent physical affection toward one another and how happy they are at the prospect of two weeks at home together. There is also a touch of sadness there when Jane mentions a family—it’s clear that this is something Barbara wants but doesn’t have. Jane’s overly pesky nature and the man rambling to himself add some bits of comedy to the equation. Right from the start, you can see that Beetlejuice is a film that brings comedy, the paranormal, and horror together beautifully.
Edward Scissorhands: Telling an Outcast’s Touching Story
Even if you haven’t seen this 1990 film, you are probably familiar with the image of Johnny Depp with his wild hair, facial scars, and scissors for hands. He looks like something right out of a horror movie—so it may be surprising that Edward Scissorhands isn’t much of a horror movie at all. Instead, it tells the story of an outcast trying to fit in with society. An outcast who just happens to have been constructed by a kindly old inventor. It also features a very sweet romance between Edward and Kim, the daughter of the couple who takes Edward in after Kim’s mother, Peg, encounters him while attempting to sell Avon products.
The film begins with snow falling. Then the door opens to a Gothic mansion filled with cobwebs and strange equipment. Next, we see elderly Kim looking through the window of her home at the mansion. In bed, her granddaughter asks why it’s snowing and where it comes from. Kim sits down and begins to tell her the story of a man with scissors for hands. She explains how an inventor used to live in the mansion on the hill and created a man, but died before he could finish, leaving the man incomplete and all alone. We can see Edward looking out at the town below from the mansion.
We cut to the sunny-looking town with brightly colored houses. Peg knocks on her neighbors’ doors and tries to sell her Avon products. Frustrated by a lack of sales, Peg catches sight of the mansion on the hill in her car’s mirror. She drives toward it, the gloomy hill and mansion making a stark contrast to the cheery town below. She arrives and finds beautifully trimmed hedges in various intricate shapes. After knocking and receiving no answer, she wanders inside.
Upstairs, where much of the roof has rotted away, she finds a bed with several photos and news clippings pinned on the wall. She sees that Edward is hiding nearby and is shocked when he emerges from the shadows and reveals his frightening appearance. She tries to leave but stops when he asks her not to go. She realizes that he’s not holding weapons and that the scissors are, in fact, his hands. Quickly moving from fear to concern, she asks what happened to him and where his parents are. When it becomes clear that his guardian is dead, she asks if he’s all alone in the house. She gives him an astringent to help prevent infection on his face and says she thinks he should come home with her.
In just the first fifteen minutes or so of the film, we can see what an outcast Edward is. He lives in a dark, melancholy mansion but is able to see the bright, sunny town below. The way he reacts to Peg’s presence and kindness shows how deeply lonely he has been since his inventor died. And even before that, he had no form of interaction with anyone else. Edward may look monstrous, but he quickly reveals his sweet nature and makes the audience root for him. This movie has many horror touches that make it perfect for Halloween, but it’s also great to study if you’re writing about an outsider who’s struggling for acceptance.
Sleepy Hollow: Violence and Gore Done Right
The other two movies listed here, while creepy, don’t exactly qualify as proper scary movies. One is more of a horror comedy while the other is a Gothic coming-of-age/love story. 1999’s Sleepy Hollow, on the other hand, most definitely falls straight into the horror genre. It’s a movie that gave me nightmares after I first saw it—one of the only films other than The Neverending Story (as a child) and Sinister (as an adult) to have such an effect on me. It was only later on that I began to appreciate that for all its violence and gore, Sleepy Hollow is also a lot of fun. It manages to infuse some dark humor along the way without becoming any less haunting.
At the start of the film, what looks like blood—but is actually wax—drips onto a letter. Two women whose faces we cannot see hold hands. Then we cut to a will being signed by Peter Van Garrett, witnessed by Jonathan Masbath. It becomes clear that this is the document being sealed with the Van Garrett coat of arms. Hands place the will in a bag.
Next, we see a carriage emblazoned with the Van Garrett coat of arms and driven by Peter’s son, Dirk Van Garrett, rushing through gloomy night fog. Peter sits inside the carriage and can see a scarecrow with a jack-o’-lantern for a head through the window. There is thunder and lightning, urging Dirk to go faster.
A horse rides past the carriage and Peter hears the sound of a sword being unsheathed. He looks outside and finds that his son has been decapitated. Van Garrett jumps out of the carriage and runs through a cornfield, coming face to face with the scarecrow. He hears the horse and the sound of the sword again and is quickly decapitated as well. His blood splatters on the scarecrow’s face.
In less than five minutes, you can see exactly the sort of film Sleepy Hollow is going to be. With the will, it introduces a touch of mystery, and all great horror films involve some element of mystery. Then the fog, thunder, and lightning all create a tense and creepy atmosphere that puts the viewer on edge before anything amiss has occurred. The violent murders of Peter and his son immediately show that this is not a movie for those with weak stomachs. Though you never do actually see the decapitations in action—just the aftermath. I can say that while I’m not usually a huge fan of gore, I adore this movie and how it manages to balance its bloodiness with spookiness.
If you’re getting frustrated with the process of writing your creepy story, remember that kicking back and enjoying a Tim Burton movie marathon can both help you to recharge and teach you a lot about writing. These movies can ensure that you have a fun and spooky Halloween as well!
Soak Yourself in Fiction
Follow us on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Discord