Horror Film Dialogue

"Wendy? Darling? Light of my life?... I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just gonna bash your brains in. I'm gonna bash em right the fuck in!" - Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) The Shining, 1980.

When we talk of dialogue in horror films it is important to remember that there are two main types of horror films. Those that involve some sort of supernatural event occurring. Films like The shining, the omen and Nightmare on Elm Street all revolve around a central "killing" figure. In the shining it is an old hotel that supernaturally takes over Jacks mind. In The Omen the supernatural force happens to be the devil himself; disguised as a little boy, Damien. Finally in Nightmare on Elm Street we are dealing with a rip between the dream world and the world of reality. Meanwhile, the other type if horror film doesn't involve a supernatural figure. These are films like The last house on the left which is a bunch of crazy people killing people. Another well known film is Psycho. Psycho isn't a film about a supernatural killer but rather a film about a man gone mad. I'm going to focus on the Supernatural horror films and the dialogue contained in these films.

The number one dialogue pattern used in these films is Awkwardness and grammatical mistakes. According to the book Overhearing Film Dialogue by Sarah Kozloff; this is a really common pattern in comedies. She makes references to numerous films all of which are comedies. I have noticed this similar dialogue pattern in Supernatural horror films. One example of this dialogue pattern really stands out in the movie The Omen; Damien is standing there and his father asked that he be ready to go to church. The character gave some strange looks and really reacted towards the word "church." Damien's mother, upon informing him that he will be going to church asked what was wrong with him.

She says "...is something wrong? ...He's scared to death ...He's trembling all over." He starts to completely freak out in the car and the parents are talking about taking him to a doctor. This dialogue pattern is not just unique to this film but is common in most supernatural horror films. In this case, the possessed boy isn't doing the speaking and the awkward speech patterns are coming from the people around him. This similar pattern is evident in the film poltergeist. In the movie Poltergeist the little girl Carol Anne is so mesmerized by the television that the others talk around her. Once again the main character isn't doing most of the talking. Not only do the others talk for her and about her, they also speak with a sort of nervous stutter. When carol Anne does speak she speaks in very short sentences. The line "Closet light, closet light" comes to mind. She is asking that the light stay on so she can go to sleep. Although she is demonstrating the similar dialogue patterns of a little girl afraid of the dark; she is also exposing her character with the awkward speech patterns so prevalent in horror films.

The main reason that these speech patterns work so well is that in a horror film people are scared. I can't think of a more appropriate place for people for people to stutter and to exhibit signs of confusion in their speech patterns.

The next common dialogue pattern is the usage of toppers. The usage of toppers in horror films is pretty common. Although, I have noticed that is used more often at the end of the film to pave the way for a sequel. A classic example of the "topper" in horror films would be in the movie Nightmare on Elm Street. At the very end of the film Freddy, the supernatural killer and the character Nancy have this conversation. First Freddy says "...and now you die!" then Nancy comes back with a topper "...it's too late, I know the secret now...so fuck off! I want my mother and friends again." Freddy comes back "You what?" Finally Nancy replies with "I take back every bit of energy I ever gave you. You're nothing. You're shit."

We can clearly see that toppers are everywhere within the horror film genre. Toppers assimilate themselves into the horror film just as well as they would in a comedy or a drama.

Finally, I would like to talk about illocutionary acts. These are simply doing something while the character is speaking. These are common in all films particularly in horror films. This adds to the nervousness of the character who is scared of something (we are talking horror films here.) A great example of this is at the end of the movie Poltergeist. In one of the scenes Diane is trying to run backwards while screaming for help at the same time; she yells "Steve! Anyone! Help me!" It was a particularly awkward moment. She seemed to have a difficult time running backward and screaming. Another great example of illocutionary acts in horror films is Nightmare on Elm Street. Once again a character is entering his house and messing with his key while strangely blurting out "I'm going to punch out your ugly lights. Whoever you are."

I don't think it is strange to have illocutionary acts in horror films. Your typical horror film has characters that are usually running away from "monsters" sometimes they are running towards them, hunting them, while they are being hunted as well. Either way these characters are required to speak while running, or driving or even to pack quickly while a killer waits just outside the door. These are all examples of illocutionary acts.

The two films Phantasm and The Exorcist are great representations of the three common film dialogue patterns used in horror films. Awkwardness and grammatical mistakes, toppers and illocutionary acts.

Phantasm is the story of "The tall man." This supernatural character was sent here from another world. He has supernatural strength as well as a little killing "machine." This "machine" that he uses is a sphere that flies through the air. It has a knife like device that pops out of the front moments before impaling the brains of the victim. How he controls this device isn't entirely understood in this first film; of four. Right from the beginning the awkward speech patterns begin. Jody first meats the tall man inside what looks like a mausoleum. Jody is snooping around; he is there to attend the funeral of a friend of his. Upon his initial encounter with the tall man; the man comes up behind Jody, slaps his hand on his shoulder and say "The funeral is about to begin, sir." The tall man speaks with great authority and confidence. Meanwhile Jody takes a step back his voice becomes shuttered as he replies with a very startled "OK" he regains his composure and proceeds with a somewhat sarcastic topper "Sir."

This film contains your normal illocutionary acts that you see in horror films. This had the normal scenes such as Mike, Jody's over protective little brother, frantically loading a gun while screaming. This film had another unique take on the illocutionary act. Sarah Kozloff defines a illocutionary act as "when someone talks, one is doing something." Throughout the movie Mike is speaking while trying to evade the tall man and his little army. His brother Jody does the same. At one point Jody opens a coffin, while trying to solve the mystery of what is going on in this little town. He says "He has to be in there." The coffin was empty. We are given the impression that he is looking for the body of his deceased friend. Mike too approaches the coffin and starts talking to it while lifting the lid "I'm sorry Danny, we had to, he screams while running away. Oh my god "he yells as the sphere came flying through the air. It's a good thing his brother has a shotgun. Towards the end Mike is standing there holding a knife towards this woman who was actually the tall man, who was able to turn himself into anything he wanted to. Mike murmured the word "Fear." That was all he said as he approached her.

At the end they dropped a giant boulder on the tall man; Jody's best friend Reggie consoles Mike. Mike says to him "First they took mom and dad, then Jody now they are after me." Then Reggie comes back with a topper, "What we need here is a change of scenery..." Reggie plays the guitar as Mike packs. Then Mike hears the tell man yell "BOY" and he grabs Mike pulling him through the door.

Another interesting movie is The exorcist. This movie also fits the three components of dialogue. First of all every time the priest is in the room with Regan there is awkwardness in speech. It's almost like they don't believe what they are seeing. Regan's mother starts freaking out, throwing her arms in the air yelling at the two doctors. "For christ's sake, can't you see...it's like a split personality..." This was from the two doctors; they actually exhibited a level of confidence in their speech. Now when we examine the priests in the same situation we can hear an extreme awkwardness in their speech patterns. At one point one of the priests yells "shut up!" at Regan. You could hear the shakiness in his voice as he attempted to quiet Regan so the Cardinal could perform the exorcism. When Regan begins to float into the air there is a moment of awkwardness. This moment of awkwardness is represented by the silence. The room went from what seemed like anarchy to silence. Sometimes the lack of dialogue can have just a strong of effect as the prescience of dialogue. This moment of silence is an excellent example of such a condition.

Toppers in this film are represented by Regan's outcries. One example is when she screamed "Fuck me, fuck me..." I thought that was a topper to the way she was being treated by the church officials. She would randomly yell out things that would in fact "top" whatever was said to her.

This film contained one illocutionary act that really caught my attention. While Regan was floating above the bed the two church officials were chanting "The power of Christ compels you." As they were chanting they were also splashing holy water on Regan.

At the very end of the film there was a series of toppers. First Kinderman says that "I am reminded of a film Casablanca; at the end Bogart says to Cladue Rains 'I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Dyer responds with "You look a bit like Bogart."
That was followed by "You noticed."

As you can see, there are three components that are prevalent In your typical Horror film. The first being the awkwardness and grammatical mistakes used in speech. The second is the usage of toppers throughout the film and more commonly at the end. Finally the illocutionary acts. These caused the characters to do one thing while speaking. It really makes sense, in a horror film typically people are trying to stay alive this act may require doing more than one thing at a time.

Good thing I didn't kill anyone. -Stephen King

Bibliography
Dirks, Tim. "Top 50 popular lines from the movies." Filmsite. AMC. 14 Mar. 2009 .

Drew. "The Exorcist script Dialogue Transcript." The exorcist script. Drews script o rama. 14 Mar. 2009 .

Kozloff, Sarah. Overhearing Film Dialogue. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of california press, 2000.

The LAst House on the Left. Dir. Wes Cravin. Perf. David Hess. DVD. 1972.

Nightmare on Elm Street. Dir. Wes Cravin. Perf. Robert Englund. DVD. Media Home Entertainment, 1984.

"Nightmare on Elm Street 1984." Screen Plays for You. IMDb.com. 14 Mar. 2009 .

The Omen. Dir. Richard Donner. Perf. Gregory Peck. DVD. 1976.

Phantasm. Dir. Don Coscarelli. Perf. Bill Thornberry and Michael Baldwin. DVD. 1979.

Phycho. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Perf. Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh. DVD. Universal, 1960.

Poltergeist. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Craig T. Nelson and Jo Beth Williams. DVD. 1982.

The shining. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. Perf. Jack Nicholson, Shelly Duvall, Danny Lloyd. DVD. WB, 1980.