Any horror writers here? What kind of characters are best to kill off first?

Any horror writers here? What kind of characters are best to kill off first?

niggers, but you shouldnt put them in your movies anyway

Don't kill everyone. Write horror without victims.

Horror neckbeard here

Why kill off characters in the formulaic slasher trope? Why not play with the idea a little bit. Kill them all. Kill one. Don't kill any and have a sense of dread permeate them.

Use your imagination senpai.

where's my fedora? because i support that post 100%

It's funny, you see, because there's a picture of a man who's most likely autistic, with a terrible fashion sense.... and next to him is a quote missing citations, that could have been written by anyone at all, seemingly linking "atheism" to this unkempt, unfashionable and grotesquely-overweight man.

I like this idea, it's quite humourous. Do you have any more of these pictures, my anonymously-posting friend?

I've written over 45 horror short story's and 2 screenplay's. Kill off powerful character's first, that's the answer. It makes the situation's seem worser and worser when the most powerful character's keep dying off and only the weaker character's are left behind to deal with the situation's you set up. When your at the end and only have the weakest character or character's left, then and only then you have them find inner strength and overcome.

>Kill them all
overdone
>Kill one
for what purpose
>Don't kill any and have a sense of dread permeate them.
this is interesting. but I feel it wouldnt work with the most common themes in horror. you would have to bring it to real life fears like abandonment, suicide, disease, old age, betrayal. what do you think

incredibly lame

...

b8

>it follows

I LIKE it!

You can use real-life fears and blow them up to ridiculous proportions. It's why Jason from the Friday the 13th movies isn't Jason-he symbolizes the inevitability of death with a side of guilt. Most of the monsters of film are symbols-godzilla being about the atomic age etc.

I also like playing with the idea of losing one's mind or grip on reality.

The dumb idea that formula's and trope's are bad thing's is one of the worst cancer's of the modern internet's. Cliche's work because they stir emotion's in people which is the point of any dramatic exercise. Making film's without trope's is like painting picture's without color's.

>All the characters die except one
>Suddenly he discovers the vigor to dispel his fears and confront the indescribable evil which had destroyed every last one who had come before him
Whenever you come to despair, and fear your end may be upon you, just remember the Alamo, and you will find the strength to overcome

Assuming you're writing trope-ridden flick and wan't to set a serious tone for the story.
If you don't actually want to kill off anyone important, then set up (like actually set up) a useful, not annoying, but a comic-relief character. Then kill him off at the end of the first arc to give a sense of no-joke danger to the audience.
Event Horizon should've done that

Ha HA! This one's HILARIOUS!

The real problem is teh way he approaches the story as a substance

When I read a horror story, I always assume it's true, because without that aspect it's really just snuff

Tropes work well for other movies but horror movies are unique in the respect that when they become cliche they lose all power to invoke the very emotion they were created to stir.

A formula works great for a romantic comedy. It's death for horror.

In a movie, the likable ones.

In a book, no one should be truly likable, but at the same time you can get away with giving a side-character their own chapter at some point that ends with their death, but the formula for literary horror is vastly different.

But it also depends on the story.
For a slasher piece, it's about the deaths, not the characters.
For a monster story, it's about the danger of the monster, supernatural or otherwise, and the person/people struggling to stop/kill it.
For a more abstract thing, like Lovecraftian or modern cosmic horror, you can basically do whatever you want, and you should.

In my opinion, the deaths that really stick in my mind, are the unfair or unyielding ones. If it's a character you liked for whatever reason, you related to them, or it's a cute girl who didn't deserve it, or whatever, that can bug people.

And by unyielding, I don't just mean brutal. For instance, if someone is dragged off by a wild animal or monster they have no hope of combating, it's not that they should just die, or die gruesomely, the real movement of the death comes from the dying character's reaction. For a properly traumatic death, there should be an element of madness to it, frenzy, of screaming. Imagine someone you care about being eaten alive by a bear, the sounds they'd make, the things they'd scream, or at least the things that you think they would, that would make you the most horrified or uncomfortable.

Because at the end of the day, you should write what you know. Even if it's a totally unrealistic piece of fiction, you should always put yourself into it, because odds are, there are people who'd relate, and relating to the characters in a horror piece is key to being moved by it.

I'm calling bullshit on that one. Supply a source, you fucking cuckold, and that motherfucker better be AIR-TIGHT.

I only have the anecdotal evidence of my own personal taste, fellow neckbeard.

didn't open any of your images btw

didn't open any of your images btw

This is great.
I'm not a huge fan of horror, but the best factors in making me feel the horror (in any movie, not just horror) is the reactions of people being killed. Weather the death is quick and simple, sudden, or a spectacularly gruesome show, make your audience FEEL the horrors that poor character is feeling right then and there as they're dying, or make your audience feel the horrors that the onlooking characters are feeling.