Sutton Filmmakers Spooktacular – Part 2

The Horror Rules Change

It’s clever. It’s creative. And it’s constantly evolving.

Over the course of the evening, we’ll travel through the decades, from the raw rebellion of the ’70s, to the blood-soaked excess of the ’80s, the self-aware ’90s, and the chilling influence of Japanese horror and “torture porn” in the 2000s.

With each era, the rules change: who survives, who falls, and what we’re really afraid of.

We’ll also explore why horror works so well in short films, and why those ideas don’t always translate to feature-length films.

Short horror thrives on the event itself: the shock, the tension, the atmosphere, while features often focus on the people experiencing the event.

We’ll also look at how horror shares a lot in common with comedy: it’s all about the build-up, the suspense, and the punchline, or in horror’s case, the reveal that makes your heart skip a beat. By the end of the night, you’ll understand not just why horror works, but how to craft it yourselves.