There’s truly nothing like an effective villain or monster. The feeling you get when you first encounter characters such as Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, Jigsaw or Hannibal Lecter is second to none.
I know especially as a younger teenager haunting characters such as It’s Pennywise and Aliens Xenomorph greatly influenced my writing of creature horror.
There’s something so alluring about a genuinely evil embodiment of fear and terror.
Creating your own haunting and memorable villains is a great way to embody fear and evil in your stories, which will have a greatly contrasting effect with your protagonist.
So here it is, some of my favorite techniques to create chilling characters that blend the supernatural with human fear and vulnerability.
The Psychology Behind Chilling Characters
In their essence, truly terrifying characters are the embodiment of common fears among humans.
These are called Primal Fears.
Primal fears are what kept our berry-gathering relatives safe from whatever they had to deal with back then.
Luckily for us, nature decided we still need those fears for our safety.
This is where great writers tap into these fears to create terrifying characters.
A few primal fears are;
- Fear of the Dark
- Fear of Heights
- Fear of Snakes/ Spiders
- Fear of Enclosed Spaces
- Fear of Loud Noises
- Fear of Predators
- Fear of Abandonment
- Fear of Drowning/ Fire
All of these primal fears can be traced back to stimuli in our hunter-gatherer relatives’ environments.
This is how producers create terrifying villains, they mix one or more of these primal fears to elicit a genuine fear response in us.
For example, the infamous jumpscare.
Jumpscares are when the viewer is treated to something jumping at their face paired with a loud noise that is completely unexpected.
This fear tactic works with the fear of loud noises, predators, and enclosed spaces to a degree.
Thus, creating a truly visceral fear reaction for poor viewers.
The interesting thing to note about jumpscares is that the thing jumping at you (the villain) doesn’t need to be something scary.
A good example I hate to say was in the Nun 2.
There’s a scene at the start of the film where the character is in a library in a basement sorta thing. The scene is silent when suddenly a soccer ball is kicked at a window making a large bang.
This scared the daylights out of me.
However it is important to note that fear is a response to a perceived threat, not necessarily an actual threat.
This is where creepiness comes in.
The Science of Creepiness
There’s a trend at the minute on TikTok around the Uncanny Valley concept.
Uncanny Valley is about things that look human but we can tell there’s something slightly off about them.
For example, the characters in The Polar Express have this eerie quality about them.
But why does this creep us out?
There’s nothing particularly scary about most of these things yet it is incredibly uncomfortable to look at.
This is because of how our brain processes danger.
The brain is always monitoring our environment for potential dangers, that’s why you can feel something is wrong before you even see the threat, your brain is always working.
When your brain comes across something that it’s not sure whether it’s a threat or not it will default to labeling it as a threat.
So we consider things creepy when they seem to be neither positive, negative, or neutral.
This is why when the brain notices something different about a character’s face such as in Uncanny Valley posts, you become creeped out/ uncomfortable.
Putting it Together
When crafting your villains if you want to elicit fear in your audience use primal fears and the science of creepy to create effective monsters.
You want your villains to have an immediate effect on your audience without even understanding their motives yet.
You can use primal fears by designing your villains to specifically target some primal fears.
For instance, Dracula targets fears of the dark, snakes/ spiders, enclosed spaces, and predators.
If you craft your character around a primal fear your readers WILL have an emotional reaction.
Similarly, use the power of creepiness to unnerve your readers.
Using Dracula again in Bram Stoker’s first descriptions of Count Dracula he is described as a thin pale man, with a long white mustache, pointed ears, and sharp teeth.
The addition of pale skin and long gangly limbs creates an image of a creature that is human adjacent but there’s something not quite right.
Use these techniques and scare the daylights out of your readers on a subconscious level.
Monstrous Depth: Building Multi-Dimensional Monsters
In their essence, effective villains are terrifying because of how close they are to me and you.
A great monster design highlights the similarities between this symbol of chaos and your identity.
A perfect example is Bruce the Shark from Jaws.
Bruce, the great white shark that is the monstrous man-eating creature for the Jaws franchise is all and all an embodiment of chaos and rage, however, the shark is given the human-like quality of intelligence.
This monster is a little too self-aware it acts in ways that give the audience a sense of intelligence.
Our self-aware intelligence mirrored in this monster is greatly unnerving.
For a great monster design, there needs to be a balance between malevolence and complexity.
Characters like Dracula, Jaws/ Bruce, and Frankenstein’s Monster walk the line between monstrousness and intelligence, that’s a major factor why they are so terrifying.
Adding Depth
The art of a great character design is the additional depth the monster is given.
Whether, you understand exactly how the villain is created such as in Frankenstein, or do not even know what the creature looks like such as the monsters from Bird Box, the additional information we are given as readers adds to the effect of the monster.
A common means of establishing a villain is to give them an empathetic backstory to contrast with their actions, which is greatly effective when considering monster design.
Make sure your characters are purposefully fed the backstory of your monster in as much or as little as you intend.
However, your details NEED to be purposeful, always anchoring on your primal fears a terrifying monster is bound to be created.
In Conclusion. . .
To recap the key techniques that can elevate your character development to spine-chilling heights;
- Leverage the psychological impacts of primal fears
- Use creepiness to unnerve your readers
- Balance malevolence with intelligence
- Create an interesting backstory to add depth
Finally, as you immerse yourself in the creative process of crafting characters that send shivers down the spine, embrace your creative instincts.
Push the boundaries of conventional storytelling, challenge yourself to subvert expectations, and let your imagination run wild. In the realm of haunting characters, there are no limits — only unexplored territories waiting for your unique touch.
So, fellow writers, as you venture forth into the realms of the unknown and the terrifying, remember the power you hold to create characters that linger in the shadows of your readers’ minds.
Embrace the fear, weave the supernatural with the human, and let your creativity be the guiding force in your pursuit of crafting truly haunting characters.
The world awaits the birth of your literary specters — may they haunt dreams and captivate minds for generations to come.
Happy Writing 🙂
If you enjoyed this post I’m sure you’ll love this one about effective worldbuilding;
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