An excerpt from my script review for Leprechaun which will be available 03/19/19:
3.) Quality of Characters
Monster Rules.
This was one aspect of the script I enjoy, particularly in a horror.
It’s always a good idea to give your monster a set of rules that affect or determine their behavior.
In the case of Leprechaun, he’s a greedy “wee person” whose magic is based on him having possession of his gold.
The longer he is away from it, the weaker his magic gets, so he craves it and can’t be without it.
And give your monster a weakness, even if it’s a small one. This way your heroes have an opportunity to win, and part of your story will be the complexities of them discovering it.
Here it was a simple four leaf clover.
Good luck for us, bad luck for the greedy little bastard.
But I’m also reminded of my review for It Follows which was passed on by sexual intercourse, and the monster then moved at a walking pace towards its victims.
Transferred by lust and easily avoidable. In Leprechaun the sin is greed.
Both work, and in their own ways, act as a sort of moral lesson.
Giving your monster a set of rules they need to adhere to makes you horror “plausible” just as it does the inevitable victory of your main character.
The key is to not go overboard with that, giving the monster too much “magic”.
In Leprechaun I was confused what his powers were exactly, since he could pop up precisely where the characters were at some points, but then had to search for them at others.
Another aspect that added depth and was done well for me was the Leprechaun monster having his quirky mannerisms. He was a bit of a goofy little fellow, eating some strange things, so this worked.
One last thing to remember with all of this is to be consistent, even in a comedic horror!
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