Is this setting too overdone?

Jacob_Wallace · Aug 6, 2014

I was thinking of having a story in which a group of friends win (either a free vacation or complete ownership, I'm thinking vacation right now) a mansion out in the middle of nowhere. All is well for the first night, but they start getting picked off and all he'll breaks lose horror movie style.

I do plan to put a few twists on it. The first being that I was going to put it in a fantasy setting where everybody knows about fantasy creatures. For example, best bank in the world is run by leprechauns. That's how the movie starts off; the friends get a trip to the mansion courtesy of bank rewards, but it's a forgery by an evil clan of leprechauns who enjoy in torture and killing people. The alcohol the friends bring ends up becoming a minor plot point too (since leprechauns love their liquor).

Is the plot of 20 something's going to a secluded to party and be slaughtered just far too overdone to even be considered or did I put a significant twist on it to be interesting?

JackdeNileth · Aug 6, 2014

Jacob_Wallace said:
Is the plot of 20 something's going to a secluded to party and be slaughtered just far too overdone to even be considered or did I put a significant twist on it to be interesting?

It's been done to death, but that shouldn't stop you from writing what you find interesting. That it takes place in a fantasy-setting is a nice start, but you need to do more than that to stand out.
Characters that aren't completely dumb when he plot needs them to be couldn't hurt.

Jacob_Wallace · Aug 11, 2014

Can horror work in a world so different from our own? I don't think I've heard of a horror story set in such a fantastic setting.

Rhoda Nightingale · Aug 12, 2014

Of course it can work in a fantasy setting!

All beings experience fear, after all. You just have to show us how fear operates IN that setting.

Actually, some of my favorite horror stories operate in a fantastical setting, or at least the fantastical encrouching on our world--think Clive Barker or HP Lovecraft. But an old-fashioned haunted house in a completely different world, that's something I haven't seen before. That could work in your favor, I think.

robjvargas · Aug 12, 2014

EVERY setting is too overdone. Until it's done right.

CharleeBeck · Aug 18, 2014

The setting isn't overdone, but the premise sort of is. Still, anything an work with a spin.

Galumph_Triumph · Oct 2, 2014

Jacob_Wallace said:
Is the plot of 20 something's going to a secluded to party and be slaughtered just far too overdone to even be considered or did I put a significant twist on it to be interesting?

I have to say that as a veteran horror lover, whenever I see a movie about college students getting a bright idea to go to a haunted place, I immediately roll my eyes and bail. Also, when it's pretty obvious that the stupid characters will die and the likable characters will live. And all of the tropes used to get these stupid kids to do stupid things, like investigate noises by themselves, etc.

Why does it have to be a mansion? Why do they have to be kids? What if they were super quiet, high-strung graduate students from some sort of wizard academy? What if they were all orphans in childhood, and are returning to an orphanage where they were raised?

If you're going to do a fantasy spin on this, I would spin it hard, to distract the fact that it's got the run of the mill plot of "teenagers gonna die in a haunted place."

Forgone · Oct 20, 2014

Taking the familiar and presenting it in a fresh way never gets old, although I admit to having a soft spot for the type of setting you're considering.

I like Galumph's suggestions too.

Something that will strengthen your story is the fact that this will be a small tale in a big world.

When I hear about fantasy books, I always assume that a kingdom is going to need rescuing, a great evil is going to need defeating, ect., so to have a fully realized fictional world, yet feature a story that just revolves around a few folks in a house... that's sort of an entertaining juxtaposition.

Different genre, but it reminds me of the last Dredd film. Part of that movie's charm is that it takes place in a vast, horrible future, where we assume that such a setting necessitates a grandiose plot with people rallying together to overthrow a corrupt government, or some other extravagance, yet it's just a Day in the Life of Judge Dredd as he raids a building.

williemeikle · Oct 20, 2014

Jacob_Wallace said:
Can horror work in a world so different from our own? I don't think I've heard of a horror story set in such a fantastic setting.

Charles de Lint for one would beg to differ. He's made a very successful career out of just that.

Thomas Vail · Oct 27, 2014

It is a very tired premise, and the problem with working with very tired premises is that people are very familiar with them. Which is not to say that you still can't take it and do some pretty fun things but it, but if the first reaction everyone has to start picking it apart, asking why didn't they do this, why did they do that, then you know you might have bitten off more than you can chew.

Honestly, the pitch sounds like how the latest cheap Sy-Fy movie of the week came together. "We've got $50 bucks, a haunted house set, some leftovers from the Danny Glover 'moby dick' movie, and... the costume Warwick Davis wore in those Irish horror movies. What can we do with these?"

Is this setting too overdone?

Jacob_Wallace

JackdeNileth

Eternal Darkness

Jacob_Wallace

Rhoda Nightingale

Vampire Junkie

robjvargas

CharleeBeck

Galumph_Triumph

Forgone

williemeikle

The force is strong in this one.

Thomas Vail

What?