Horror movies… you either love them or you hate them. While not much different from making any other kind of movie, there are a few steps specific to the horror genre that you may want to pay attention to.
The major steps in making a horror movie, or any movie for that matter, are conception, pre production, the shoot, post production and the movie release. Each is extremely important and requires lots of planning and execution.
Horror films are notorious for not focusing too much on story and character building. While this could be a way to elevate the film above and beyond the traditional offerings in the genre, it tends to take a back seat to the build up of suspense and the action sequences.
A mistake many people make when it comes to making a movie is an over emphasis on the shoot and not enough importance placed on the pre and post production steps. Especially for horror films it is critical to plan everything out so that shooting will be much easier and you will know how you want each shot to look. This also goes for the music you plan on adding to the final cut of the film. When building suspense, music can be one of the most important tools. Add in some sound effects and it will take the horror scenes over the top!
