Greetings! We are Gene & Paul, The Brothers Langlais. We specialize in what we call intelligent horror/thriller screenplays. You're probably saying to yourself either a) "finally!!" or b) "huh?". For all the huhs out there, here's what we mean.
Why "horror/thriller"?
Far too often, the term "horror" has come to signify "meaningless crap." Whenever we told people we write horror, they would usually make a pitiable moaning sound — like we confessed to having self-inflicted brain damage. That's because mindless creature-features and soulless torture-porn has ruined the genre.
Well…that and because, admittedly, a lot of horror flicks really are meaningless crap.
But not the good ones!
Our writing delves into the dark mysteries of FEAR and EVIL on emotional, intellectual, and spiritual levels. Monsters and gore may be tools we use to tell a story, but they're not the point of the story.
To our mind, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and SE7EN are true horror films. But most people consider them thrillers, so hey, guess that means we write thrillers.
In other words, by "horror/thriller" we really just mean horror that doesn't suck.
What's so "intelligent" about it?
Unfortunately, the goal of most horror movies is simply to scare the audience.
Well, that's kinda stupid.
The goal of horror is to inspire fear in the audience. Fear isn't being startled. It's not being grossed out. Those are just animal reflexes. Fear–true fear–is a function of thought. It's what stays with you after the movie is over and you're alone in a dark room…or even a well lit room — because now you see that the true darkness is ALWAYS there.
And now you have to think about it.
It HAUNTS you.
Why does horror have to be intelligent?
Nothing is more inimical to a sense of abject terror than abject stupidity .
We're tired of horror movies abusing their audiences by forcing "scares" by making characters do deliberately stupid things to put them in peril ("oh gee, my flashlight burnt out…guess I'll go down into the dark basement to investigate that slithering sound anyway").
We're tired of screenwriters making creepy things happen just for the sake of being creepy, no matter how illogical or contrived they are ("I think the serial killer's gonna hide under the bed, and wait for the person to wake up and see the message on the wall that reads 'I'M UNDER THE BED!' and then reach out and pull her under! Yeah, that would be totally badass! And he'd totally do that too — because it's scary!").
We don't do that.
We put in the effort to make scenes terrifying because the characters behave rationally; victims die because EVIL kills them, not because they're morons. And the EVIL behaves with its own logic…however deranged that logic may be.
We make certain that every creepy scene has a reason — even if, just as with real life horrors, the reason isn't always completely apparent or readily comprehensible; nevertheless, the reason exists, and an intelligent audience can sense and appreciate that (and ponder it in the small hours of the night).
So is that all it takes to make a story intelligent?
It doesn't matter how cleverly crafted a plot is if the story doesn't actually mean anything. We promise that our stories will always be ABOUT SOMETHING. They will always have a point. We don't want to tell audiences what to think — just give them something to think about. We seek to frighten to enlighten.
…But what about the stupid audiences?
Honestly, we don't believe there is such a thing. Most people — even younger ones — are smart enough to want intelligent entertainment.
But, for the sake of the argument, let's say that there are some stupid audience members. They're not gonna care about any of this. But it's been our experience that even stupid moviegoers are rarely offended by horror movies that do actually make sense. So we figure, why not make intelligent movies that appeal to all viewers? It's not like it costs that much more to make a smart horror movie than a moronic one…right?
Seems like a no-brainer…
You're right!! Intelligent horror/thrillers are freakin' awesome!!
YES.