For those unfamiliar, a Dramatica Storyform divides every story (horror or not) into four different Throughlines: The Overall Story (The objective perspective that We share), the Main Character (The I perspective that we identify with), the Impact Character (the You perspective that stands in the MC's way, and represents an opposing point-of-view), and the Subjective Story (The passionate Relationship between You, the Impact Character, and I, the Main Character, and the subjective perspective that pulls the story in one direction or another).
In Horror these perspective are pretty formulaic, and in truth the genre is really driven by special effects and increasing permissiveness. That is, more gore and violence. But anyway, here we go:
Overall Story
The Overall Story places all of the characters in an extreme or unusual Situation. Features of the situation often include physical or social isolation that cuts the characters off from easy escape or access to help. There is the sense that forces are closing in on the characters who are forced against their will to deal with the unpleasant events.
Subjective Story
The Subjective perspective in a horror story is where we get into the juicy philosophical side of things. This is represented by the conflict in Fixed Attitudes between the Main Character and the Impact Character: between violence and passivity, the normal and the abnormal, the natural and the supernatural, the pure and the corrupt, pursuit and escape. This conflict is marked by the explicit transgression of order. In this aspect of the story we see that the laws and rules of every day individuals, of society, of nature, of God, or of the gods are violated, overturned, thrown into chaos, cast into doubt. The very nature of this relationship is one of inhuman criminality.
Main Character
The Main Character is the person the audience identifies with emotionally. This character is both a potential victim and the person who is most likely to survive to the end. He or she is characterized by their Psychological responses to the terrifying events. This usually is expressed by the degree to which they themselves believe in the extraordinary nature of events. They are either deeply skeptical or a true believer among skeptics. In the end, it is this character's intense fear and what they do with it (fight or flight) that makes us root for them.
Impact Character
The Impact Character is the Big Bad. A person or monster who has succumbed to evil or is an expression of some larger negative force. The point of this character is that they have already overstepped the boundaries of ordinary life. They are an angel of retribution, a doomed overreacher, a cautionary warning, or a vengeful spirit. The impact character in many ways is a tragic figure not suited to the world of the main character.
Examples
In a horror story, the Objective story and the Subjective story work together to create the overall sense of jeopardy. First, the situation is established that evil is near and there is a boundary not to be crossed. A character warns of the danger but no one listens. The rules are broken, terror is unleashed, and through the main character we witness the consequences. In other words:
- Evil - The creature is waiting
- Warning - I wouldn't go that way if I were you
- Transgression - Crossing the threshold
- Consequences - The running, and the screaming, and the death
So, if we look at our examples:
Cujo
- OS - Mother and Son trapped in car, besieged by rabid dog.
- MC - Donna. We experience her fear, claustrophobia, and desperation.
- IC - Cujo: is he possessed, or just the tragic victim of a bat bite?
- SS - Donna is metaphorically punished for her failing marriage.
The Hills Have Eyes
- OS - A family, lost in the desert, attacked by cannibals or mutants or whatever.
- MC- Brenda? She's the mom, suffers a lot, and is one of the survivors.
- IC - The Outcast inbred Cannibal mutants, or whatever they are.
- SS - The traditional nuclear family is punished by a twisted version of itself. As near as we'll get to social commentary in this sort of thing.
- OS - Characters are trapped and tested by the games of a serial killer
- MC - Adam? He's the last victim.
- IC - Jigsaw Killer.
- SS - Jigsaw tortures his victims because they don't appreciate living, or something.
Dawn of the Dead
- OS - The world is overwhelmed by a zombie plague.
- MC - Peter/Francine?
- IC - Zombies!
- SS - Society is punished by its own dead and may be responsible for the radiation that started the zombie menace in the first place. The zombie problem is a useful metaphor for a whole host of social ills.
- OS - A Great White Shark attacks holiday beach-goers.
- MC - Brody, the sheriff who tries to close the beach before it's too late
- IC - The Shark, nature's merciless killing machine
- SS - Don't go in the water! The townsfolk and vacationers are punished for their lazy and greedy disregard for nature and its dangers (?)
- OS - An evil puzzle box connects the normal world to the demonic world of the Cenobites. Frank solves the puzzle and after his death, tries to use its power to resurrect himself (it's complicated).
- MC - Kirsty, who has to survive both Pinhead and Frank.
- IC - Frank who succumbs to the box's evil and Pinhead, the tragic anti-hero of the Cenobites.
- SS - The puzzle box is an evil temptation. Those who solve it are punished by the sado-masochistic demons who promise both pleasure and pain.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
I would consider this a science fiction story, but it still fits the model.
- OS - On the Island of Dr. Moreau animals are transformed into humanoid monsters.
- MC - Prendrick who is shipwrecked on the mysterious island.
- IC - Dr. Moreau and his creations. In many versions of the story, the creatures are pretty sympathetic.
- SS - Moreau commits crimes against God and nature by creating abominations who eventually turn on him and punish him for his crime.
- OS - The circus world of Freaks.
- MC - The Freaks? We are sympathetic to them but I'm not sure we really are meant to identify with them.
- IC - Cleopatra and Hercules
- SS - Our sense of normality is inverted as the freaks are normal and the normal people are the villains. In the end Cleopatra is punished for her crimes against the Freaks by being made a freak herself.
- OS - A deranged killer escapes from a mental hospital in spite of the warnings of his psychologist. He returns to the scene of his childhood crime to go on a new killing spree.
- MC - Laurie Strode, the archetypal last girl standing. She's also the "good" girl whose repressed impulses allow her to fight back in the end.
- IC - The Shape, a horrible monster in the form of a man. He may be driven by sadism and/or misogyny but it's not clear.
- SS - Once he escapes the mental institution, he punishes the teenagers of Haddonfield for their promiscuity and substance abuse.
Conclusion
Horror stories follow a pretty simple formula and often are embellishments on basic morality tales. In terms of plot and narrative they are pretty primitive, but in terms of psychological and emotional impact they can be quite potent.
Because of the simple nature of the story, the energy of the writer must go into creating fresh scenarios for the Overall Story, evermore wicked villains for the Impact Character, and more wildly transgressive themes and punishments for the Subjective Story. One of the more transgressive practices of movies since the 70s is to shift the story emphasis to the Impact character, making him the more sympathetic character at the expense of the Main character and the other victims.
This is unfortunate because the key to a good horror story is the psychology of the main character, and by proxy, the audience. The goal is to find some overlooked piece of human psychology, something in us that is conflicted or suppressed, some crutch we use to justify or rationalize our faults. Once you have that germ of an idea, extrapolate on it. Extend it to its logical, or illogical conclusion. Allow it to manifest itself, become real, get it out there in the world. Let it be about pleasure and pain and all those ugly desires that we don't like to think about (except that we always do think about them). Give yourself the freedom to go insane.
That way, once you've shown your audience the path of destruction and warned them of the door they weren't supposed to open. Once you've made it clear that this is their last chance to turn back before it's too late -- then, you can really unleash the scares. Bring the whole thing down like a ton of bricks. Punish the sinful and exact vengeance on the unwary. For every transgression, an apocalypse. Make sure they learn, because if you don't force them to gaze into the abyss, they'll never really see the monsters gazing back.
Just keep telling yourself, it's only a story. And maybe in the end, you'll be all right. Anyway, that's my two cents.
