A 2020 horror release, The Wretched follows a teenage boy who gets sent to live with his dad after some bad behavior and comes to suspect that a witch has taken over the body of his neighbor. It also holds the strange distinction of being the first movie since Avatar in 2009 to top the box office 6 weeks in a row (largely due to Covid theater closings).
The film deals in a lot of familiar pagan imagery – wood carvings, animal skulls & antlers, bundles of sticks. The usual stuff. There’s been a resurgence of Folk Horror and Occult films lately, a tradition this fits into nicely. But The Wretched also smartly sets itself apart through its choice of location.
Location, Location, Location
When planning your next story, an easy way to set it apart in the genre or subgenre you’re working in is just by shifting locations. Instead of the usual cabin in a woods for our folk horror, The Wretched is set by a midwestern lake. (They filmed in the directors’ hometown in Michigan).
Suddenly the familiar feels fresh. Ben meets and interacts with characters at the marina, where he has to work for his dad. The horror follows them into large lakefront vacation homes instead of cabins. The scope of the movie now deals with a community of out-of-towners rather than pure isolation. This in turn impacts all the character dynamics and how they deal with issues. Even the visuals seem new, the calm waters of the lake replacing usual shots of an imposing woods.
So for your own work, I would suggest taking stock of where your subgenre has gone before and what new place you can bring it to make the story feel fresh again.