Insights on Writing Horror Endings
TL;DR
“Horror is not about what happens. It’s about what the audience fears might happen next.”
Most effective horror endings are not because of the twist but the ate the emotional pay-off. It is the psychological residue of what is left behind.
The ambiguity is not randomness, but the best unresolved endings or open endings resolve the emotional arc of the characters. Best example here is "The Sixth Sense". The arc of Bruce Willis character is complete but a lot of questions are unanswered about the kid.
The plot revelation is ambiguous only for the audience temporarily.
The emotional arc is completely resolved.
The twist and the ambiguity is Malcolm was dead the entire time. But the real emotional story was never:
“Is he alive or dead?” because that was the twist.
It was:
Why is Cole terrified? Can Malcolm help this child?
The ending resolves all of those emotional questions. That’s why the film still works even after the twist is known.
A weaker version of the movie ends with "OMG.. Dam.. He DEAD!!" roll credits.
The actual climax continues on as he understands and helps cole gain confidence and acceptance, his emotional arc is completed when he lets go giving the audience an emotional closure and the twist works.
Another important thing is the scenes upon rewatch become emotionally impactful and retrospectively reorganizes the experience of the viewer. His unfinished work and isolation becomes a existential question fuelling the narrative engine.
Sustaining tension across 090-pages at the same intensity is next to impossible unless you are Hitchcock or Kubrick or Flanagan. WILLIAM FRIEDKIN is the master of it. But what we can learn from them is
- Fear works in the escalation cycles
- tension
- false safety
- information is controlled or hidden from audience/ character
- Escalating stakes
- THe audience should constantly feel:
- things getting worse without any help.
- characters are intelligent but they lack the understand or the knowledge. (dumb characters break the movie.)
- Evolving danger with each beat.
There also needs a promise or a hope of escalation early.
A few Examples
it Follows: The entity never stops.
The Ring: there si a deadline.
Once the audience undestand that the fear and anticipation becomes more powerful than te scare itself. Mystery is creating tension so let the characters learn and keep them in the dark. Mastery is obtained through trial. The James Wan movies do this really well.