Halloween In Horror Movies... A Great Setting For A Scary Story

Halloween (1978) a true classic with an awesome story setting!

Halloween, now the origins of the actual holiday can actually be traced back to the pagan Holiday of, 'Samhain', a festival that has it's roots in deep mysticism, and with religious overtones that stated in Irish myth that the doors to the world of the Undead are opened and the dead are allowed to come in to our world...

In more modern times, Halloween is still celebrated at the same time, but the truth is, is that it is more of an opportunity at this point for kids to dress up in costumes and head out with their parents for that time honored tradition of, 'trick 'r treating'...

So the question in all of this that I am sure comes to mind for some is, 'why is an event that is meant at this time for the enjoyment of kids, such an awesome setting for horror movies?'

Friday The 13th... A classic horror movie series that is great to watch on, 'Halloween!'

Well first off, in slasher movies, Halloween is a great setting to hide your villain til the bitter end, as most the time in movies, almost all people under the age of 18 are usually in some sort of costume... And continuing on in that logic, another plus point to setting  your story on Halloween is the fact that not only is this holiday already designed to be terrifying, but with the holiday usually being celebrated at night... It is a great creepy setting for either a movie, tv show, or book!

As a side note on this mode, if you are just getting in to writing your first screen play, beware of one problem that can trip you up... That being the fact that even though this is a great setting, it has been done a lot in movies, and it can become to easy to make your movie snippets from other movies... Make your movie as original as possible, and with a setting like one on, 'Halloween', you will almost certainly have a truly classic horror film!

Now there is another side that I wanted to talk about here, and that is the, 'Samhain' angle... The truth is (and I have never quite understood why this is, because it is a fun angle that I think can be a lot of fun to work with,) but Samhain is a Halloween setting that seems to not be used as much in movies set around Halloween...

A scene in Halloween 2 (1981)

If you are writing a movie based in Halloween, try working it around, 'Samhain',  the concept behind this festival, rather or not you intend to embellish it, or stick strictly to the original festival itself can be pretty scary in and of itself, and if used right can be on it's own a movie that will scare the hell out of your  girlfriend/wife, or just be something that, (after being made,) is just something that you and your friends will really enjoy!

Anyway, there ya go, a freebie story idea,  try it out... You might find writing that movie just about as much fun as watching it for the first time after it is made!