Horror Family

beannadurns
Feb 17, 2016
3 min read

The Beginning

My dissertation inspired this project. The paper was on both Disney and Horror films, particularly slasher horror, and how sin relates to the villains, or other characters, of the films that I was analysing. The subject intrigued me for my love of villains more than anything. So this project was absolutely going to contain villains.

The original idea had a few, maybe three, villains from different genres of film, including Disney and horror, sitting around discussing their downfall. So each villain would have a world, a hero, and a princess. This, of course, was a big project to tackle, so as I started to work on the horror villain, I came up with a story that ultimately became the entirety of the project.

The Premise

A young couple are in love and have their first child together, but this couple are something else; their horror villains! As we all know, horror villains are born with their masks, they’re born evil; so when the baby is born, it is no surprise that he already dons a mask. As he grows up in a world of horror, he is pressured by the expectations from his parents to be a villain like them. Little do they realise he isn’t like them; he loves life, he’s squeamish, he admires moths, but most of all, he loves to dance. His parents pick up on his suspicious behaviour, and the concerned parents go to check on him, only to walk in, to their horror, on him dancing. Shocked, the mother faints; her child stands embarrassed and ashamed.

Character Outline

Son

Born into a horror family, he grows up with the pressure of being like them; murderous and bloodthirsty. However, he is not like them. He loves life. Knowing that his love of life and dance would disappoint and horrify his parents, and so he keeps it hidden, until his suspicious behaviour foils him.

Father

A slasher horror villain, he is blessed with a son who he will teach the ways of being a slasher villain, like his father before him. He dresses his son in the same overalls his father had given him, readying him to carry on the family trade. However, he notices his son is distracted, particularly by moths when out for a murder lesson. He stumbles upon the truth, to his disgust.

Mother

One in love with all things gruesome, she births a son to her slasher villain partner, and raises him proudly. She notices her child is odd, but chooses to ignore it, sure he would grow it. She, with her concerned partner, finds out the truth; the horror is too much for her.

The Rest

I researched existing horror villains to help inspire my own, and during it I decided the sort of thing I wanted for each. The father had to be a slasher horror villain, as typically they are all male. To fit into this role, he also had to wear a mask, uniform/non-descript clothing, and he had to have supernatural strength.

I wanted the mother to have a Morticia Addams vibe to her, and as there are few female horror villains that have a horror-esque look to them, I went into other areas of female villains for further inspiration. I decided she needed to be stick-thin, with harsh features and a gothic dress. I later got further inspiration from the anatomy of ants.

The son was designed last, because I felt the parents needed to feel right and fit into the horror genre, whereas the son only needed to fit with them, and not so desperately the genre. I drew male dancers to help me find a body type, and later considered flamingos with their long legs. His body became long and thin, however thicker in the torso and longer and thinner in his limbs. His mask was difficult to decide on, as he wasn’t grotesque like his father. After some research and deciding on the fathers mask, I was able to decide on the ideal mask for the son. I chose a Plague doctor mask. I chose this because there is something inherently creepy about them; however the noses were filled with aromatic items to protect the wearer from diseases such as the bubonic plague. I felt this was symbolic of the character being uncomfortable with the horror lifestyle and preferring nicer, sometimes “aromatic” things.

If I could go back…

If I had to do this all again, I’d change the line art, or remove it completely. The line isn’t what it could be, and I feel it may have let me down in some areas. Overall, I’m proud of what I made and I feel that I can see new improvements with my work all the time, even if it’s sometimes subtle.