10 Golden Rules For Making The Perfect Horror Movie
5. Conceal The Monster
Every Horror film has a monster. Even ones that aren't monster movies. Okay, okay, I have a thing for contradictions like these.
One thing that every audience wants to do while watching a horror film (without realizing it) is use their imagination. We all possess the perfect tools with which to terrify ourselves. Whatever the principal antagonist of the film - be it a character who has lost their sanity or a demon from hell - an element of mystery and suggestion is completely necessary to let it under your skin.
If you look back at the great monsters of the silver screen, the most memorable of them are at least partial enigmas. The Xenomorph from Alien is constantly evolving and growing throughout the course of the film, always at least partially shrouded in shadow, Michael Meyers and Leatherface wear twisted masks that conceal their faces (and thus their humanity), and The Babadook is mostly viewed in a storybook.
Humans universally fear the unknown, so the second we understand the monster, the monster (and the film) loses a significant chunk of its menace.
Once again, this rule can apply in multiple ways. Jack Torrence is never visually concealed, but the spirits of the hotel causing him to go mad are barely glimpsed. We know exactly what a great white shark looks like, but Jaws (debatable horror status notwithstanding) builds our mental image of a shark in our heads for an hour before we see even a single fin.
A monster enhanced by imagination becomes both more familiar and more alien to us at the same time. There's nothing more terrifying than that.