10 Tricks Horror Movies Use To Scare You

There is no recent horror that does this better in my mind than 2020’s The Invisible Man. Leigh Whannel is an industry vet by now and his expertise shone through in all this film’s ticks and tricks.

In this context, dead space or negative space can be used in horror to suggest that there is something more that you’re not seeing. It tricks the brain into thinking that it must see something in the empty zones, and when your brain can’t see anything there it starts to send alarm signals.

We see this kind of fear-inducing emptiness in everything from It Follows and Lights Out, to older offerings like The Blair Witch Project and Ringu. You desperately search the part of the frame that is missing a subject, looking for something to focus on - in turn convincing yourself that something is lurking there and you are vulnerable because you can’t see it.

The Invisible Man did this in such a remarkable way because, due to the nature of the plot, you suspected that Adrian was ever-present even before it showed you any dead space. In Cecilia’s most nerve-wracking, stressful moments and haunting any downtime she may have had, the frame lingers just a little too long and a little too wide. He’s there, you know he is. You just can’t see him.