geminye

I am trying to categorize the different antagonistic motivations used primarily in the horror genre. For those horror buffs out there, and others who would like to add to this, i would be greatful.

Categores of Evil (Horror):
-Natural: Storms, animal attacks, accidents...
-Man Made: Psychotics, Dictators, genetic alteration...
-Paranormal: Ghosts, spirits...
-Religous: Demons, possession, occult, apocalypse...
-Extra-Terrestrial: Aliens, E.T. viruses...
-Unexplained: The born evil syndrome (i.e. Michael Myers?)

Catalysts for Evil:
-Wrongful actions: Murder, negligence, betrayal...
-Temping universal powers: Deals w/ the Devil, turning from God, genetic meddling...
-Interaction w/new elements: Going beyond reaches of reality, exploring unknown recesses of mind/body/world/universe, ect...(Event Horizon, Altered States, ect.)

Any thoughts? I'm trying to break the existing examples down so that my horror antagonists will elevate beyond the conventions of the horror genre.

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Suffer the little children...

Rahvin

Well, to be honest, what you've got there seems pretty much it. But then, I'm not much of a horror buff, so...

What I'd do, though, is avoid doing this, and instead focus on creating the character first. If you create a set of motivations, and then build a character around them, it's going to be a bit... I dunno, hollow (I think). What I do is come up with a character, and then get his/her motivations from their personality. I know, it seems like a small difference, but it boils down to creating a character not a set of circumstances. I'll attempt to show this below:

Well, the first way:
Ok, the baddie. Well, he needs something to make him bad - let's say he's a classic evil genius. Now, he's trying to take over the world, so he needs some form of weapon to do it with... Oh yeah, a name. Let's call him Dave for now.

Now, the other way:
Ok, let's see... He's a guy, and smart. Too smart. Yeah, what if he got a bit disillusioned with how stupid he thinks everyone is in society? Yeah, that works. But what would he do about it? Well, he's too smart to think it'll just go away, so he'd have to take action. And he does like millitary stuff - maybe he's got a gun collection in his house - so he might try to do it by force. Obviosuly, he'd need a big enough threat... Now, I'll call him Dave, for now...

See what I mean? Thne first way, it's a character based on a series of events. The second way, it's a series of events based off a character. Basically, what I'm trying to say (in this very long-winded fashion) is that you shouldn't worry about doing something original, and just do something that fits the character.

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geminye

That is very true. I think that is my crutch. I want so badly to be original, that i focus on that instead of perfecting the writing itself. I have a really hard time coming up with interesting plots though.

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Suffer the little children...

playstation60

If the best lie that can be said is the one rooted in truth, then the most evil person is the one rooted in virtuosity. It is up to you to figure out how to apply such principles to your given genre.

Take the Saw movies, for example, the MC, Jigsaw, captures these people and puts them in terrible situations to give them a chance to appreciate life. He does this because he realizes that his own life is to be soon at an end.

Not saying that those movies are the pinnacle of your genre, just a common example.

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24,372/50,000

WriterDude

You forgot AI in your list. Villains like this include SkyNet from the Terminator movies, HAL from 2001 and Shodan from the System Shock games. They are all artificial intelligences who turn bad. SkyNet is a bit more ambitious than the others, but the basics are the same. AI gone bad, humans not doing very well. The problem with these is that while SkyNet simply wants to destroy the humans and make machines the dominant species, HAL and Shodan didn't think they were doing anything wrong. This kinda screws up the whole "villain" part. Is a person evil if he thinks he's doing something good? As a drastic example, were the inquisitors evil? Sure they tortured and killed a lot of innocent people, but they believed they were doing the work of God and therefore punished evil people.

If you want to be original, I suggest you combine parts of that list. How about an evil dictator that force the scientists to develop a deadly virus and release it? He knows perfectly well it will kill thousands, but he also knows the remaining people will obey him in fear of another attack. How about a mad scientist who genetically change trained animals and let them do his dirty work? He or she could even appear as a regular person (or even surviving victim) for a long time before he reveals who he or she really is. Just a thought.

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lin

The cheapest one is insanity. He's killing all those people because he's crazy.

Or just plain, premeditated evil with no particular cause. Hannibal the Cannibal.

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Jusso

There are many different forms of Insanity.

1. Insanity caused by learning something, seeing something,ect. Insanity as a side effect.
2. Man made Insanity, a person could degrade someone else down until they snap, and go insane.
3. Insanity randomly affecting a person.

Unexplained wouldn't be Meyers, he was born with it, which is explained. Unexplained would be those things in the night, the things that we shouldn't know or see.

That is all that I can think of .

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"Horus was weak. Horus was a fool. He had the whole galaxy within his grasp and he let it slip away." -Abbadon The Despoiler

WriterDude

Unexplained would be Jason. How do you from a dead kid to that big, psycho zombie? What is his body made of anyway?

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geminye

That's a good point. He went from a 12 year old to a bodybuilder!

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Suffer the little children...

Jusso

Its called unrealistic exaggeration making a stupid idea into a crappier movie.

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"Horus was weak. Horus was a fool. He had the whole galaxy within his grasp and he let it slip away." -Abbadon The Despoiler

lin

Probably the only thing worse than inexplicable crazy murder monsters is the ones with the token explanation...jittery black and white scenes showing their uncles fucking them or whatever made them decide to dash out and buy hockey masks and machetes.

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MrWalker

Hmm, WriterDude, that sounds alot like V for Vendetta.

Balmarog

The best evil is the one you can relate to on some level. The one where you can understand, even if only a little, why this individual is slaughtering everyone in the orphanage and eating the charred remains.

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"Science again! I said science again!"
-Homestarrunner

eliec

Depends if you really seem him as the greater evil. Not to stray too much off topic, but isn't the lesser evil technically, well....good?

At balmarog: Look at the movie "The Downfall". I felt sick at the end for pitying Hitler.

lin

Yeah, I felt the same way watching "Springtime for Hitler". Just laughing through the tears.

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