The newest from microbudget genre writer/director/star Jeremy Gardner, After Midnight focuses on a man in the throes of a break-up who every night must face down an alien intruder trying to break into his remote home. While people in town think he’s losing it over the woman who left him, our main character must use everything at his disposal to survive.
As a movie, After Midnight is as interested in the emotional turmoil of its main character as the sci-fi horror hijinks he gets into. A major part of how it draws us into the experience of this break-up is through its unusual structure for a horror movie.
It just so happens that’s what we’re going to talk about today.
Steal From Other Genres
After Midnight is definitely a sci-fi horror movie. A cat gets eaten, blood gets spilled, and strange creatures prowl at night. But this is buttressed by an emotional relationship story told in a series of interlocking flashbacks similar to Blue Valentine.
Like in that indie drama, moments in the present link to memories in the past, resulting in parallel timelines playing out. While this isn’t the most original structure for a drama, when combined with the bones of a genre piece, suddenly you have something that feels new and exciting.
Now I don’t know that Gardner specifically looked at Blue Valentine and then asked himself how he could use elements in his own script. But I can confirm that After Midnight has real relationship bonafides, and part of that is thanks to structure. And if being movie magpie gets you to the same result, seems like a good result to me.
Apply To Your Own Writing
Don’t be afraid to look at successful movies from other genres, especially when there are parallel elements. Here we have two movies joined by a break-up and wanting to contrast the good times and the bad. Thus the same structure, even though they’re different genres.
For your own piece, look for elements that also transcend genres. Use that to find your way a bit farther afield than the usual suspects. Find something in a rom-com you can use in your thriller. Take an element of a hard sci-fi picture and smuggle it into your indie dramedy. Steal, but steal widely.
It’s in that fusion you’ll find something new and fresh to do with your story.