Horror on Soaps

[y&r_fan]

Does Hayley Erin count as horror?

[SFK]

Yeah, I guess it's all a matter of context for me. Like, I can't imagine watching a scene with Erica and Kendall, and the next scene being about a man with a melty face shape-shifting in the mirror, it's just not the same show, the same universe for me as a fan. I'll grin and bear Myrtle/Mrs. Claus. Now, I can't imagine Paul Rauch fantasy storylines in the days of Gottlieb/Malone and the AIDS quilt, yet, I could imagine a controversial s/l involving a colleage of Andrew's who believed in gay exorcism, contacted by the Douglases and going so far as to perform the ritual on Billy.

[Vee]

Ah, but in that same era with Billy Douglas, Malone and Gottlieb did Megan's ghost (which I like) and Luna haunted by the ghost of Bobby Ever. Which, well, is not on their highlight reel, so never mind.

I just think you can do two different types of storytelling on one show if the characters and the overall atmosphere of the program remain consistent no matter what's happening. If the place, the people, the environment feel real, and the themes seem to correspond to the characters (like Mitch and the hyper-gothic Lords, versus the Vegas of Angel Square), then I think it can work.

And then of course, there was Camille Hawkins.

[quartermainefan]

A Mitch Laurence type character is the perfect gateway to telling a thriller of some sort. It is only a hop skip and a jump from a wacky cult to whatever thing they believe in is actually true. Watching OLTL this week, it would have been cool as hell (and I would have been hooked) if Nash just rose out of his chair.

[DRW50]

I know that isn't horror but didn't the last year of the Doctors have a story about a woman who robbed graves and committed other crimes to get a potion that would make her look young and beautiful? Then the man she was in love with, Jean LeClerc, fell for her daughter, and at the end of the show, her aging formula had worn off, and she sat in the church watching him marry her daughter.

Was that story any good?

[dm.]

SuBe's terror island was pretty good, IMO.

[All My Shadows]

A horror soap can be done (Dark Shadows!) but the question is whether or not the audience will accept it. I'm not a fan of introducing strange, supernatural elements into established shows because we spend so much time complaining that our shows have strayed so far away from their original idea, and I don't see how adding vampires, werewolves, and witches can not aid in the straying.

I love soaps like DS and EON because they are two of the very few soaps that usually get some kind of adjective thrown before "soap opera" when described. DS is the "Gothic soap opera" or the "horror soap" or the "vampire soap." EON is the "mystery soap" or the "crime soap." They had elements, from the very beginning, that were meant to distinguish them from the other soaps, and based on how most people look back at those shows with admiration because they were different, it worked. They are other types of genres that can be serialized and daytimed, and just because we've already had horror soaps and a mystery soap, that doesn't mean that those genres can't be done again with different plots, different settings, different themes, etc. The whole "13 Bourbon Street" always sounded like a good idea to me because how many TV shows have delved into the whole magic and allure of New Orleans? Growing up an hour's drive from the city, I've always wanted to see something like that on TV.

Then there are the genres that could still be touched. Too bad daytime is dying because they won't get the chance, though. How about a Western soap opera? Something like Little House on the Prairie, but with lots of backstabbing and bitchery? A town like Walnut Grove EASILY lends itself to soapy plotlines. Hell, some might argue very valiantly that LHOTP was basically a non-serialized primetime soap. They've tried teen soaps before, but why not try again? They're always talking about wanting to capture the teen audience, but throwing a few teens on grandma's stories isn't going to get the teen audience to tune in. Give them their own show...look at how many people remember "Swans Crossing" in a beloved way. It doesn't have to be this long, decades-running soap...just put it on for a year or two.

I'm constantly thinking of ways that daytime could structure itself to give it more variety. You could have all of the long-running, "grandma's stories" on in the early part of the afternoon (say, 11am-2pm CT) and then in later part of the afternoon, you could have different types of serialized shows that come and go just like primetime shows do. They'd be year-round shows, but they'd be on a set "season" as well, and after each season, some would get renewed and some would get canceled.

I guess the gist of what I'm saying is something that I've been saying for a while: whoever decided that a daytime soap has to run for 10 or 20 years to be considered "successful" was nuts, because the only ones that have managed to last that long are all basically about the same exact thing: "The trials and tribulations of the ___, ___, ___, and ___ families in the town of ___." They don't seem to be too keen on trying anything else.

[JackPeyton]

yes there is a place for this on soaps.

the thing with soaps is that they can go anywhere, do anything. they just have to make it work and sell the story. take the audience there. oh, and great actors help.

[cityfan01]

FLOVED Terror Island! I was in middle school at the time. I distinctly remember going to Scream 2 with my parents and then coming home to watch Elizabeth (Sean's short-term gf) get slaughtered and then fed to sharks. It was really some scary stuff.

The moment when Mark pulled off the killer's mask only to see Ben's face? Terrifying.

I have it on a 6 hr edit tape and still pull it out to watch every so often.

[EricMontreal22]

I would love a good horror soap though they are hard to pull off (even on Primetime--remember Point Pleasant--which I admit I loved lol). I remember when Passions was being advertised they made it seem like it would genuinely be SCARY--so I watched. Boooo

It's interesting though that some of the traditional soap names have some interest in this. Agnes Nixon seems to have a love for the gothic that she can't quite suppress even though sometimes (the Loving "sell your soul to the devil" story which she even said was a fave of hers) they don't go over well with audiences. Doug Marland also constantly seemed to want to do gothic yet had trouble with it(I know gothic isn't full blown horror but if you're not willing to go supernatural, it's about as close as you can get)

[Pine Charles]

Agreed.

Daytime soaps can't do horror properly with the resources and limits they have..... it comes off as cheese.

The possession on DOOL was so lame (just the mattress moving, not the entire bed) I mean, maybe if they had Marlena masturbating with a crucifix and shouting "Your mother sucks c*cks in hell!" to the priest (like Regan in The Exorcist)..... but they obviously can't, so just leave it be.

[Paul Raven]

There is a great 40's movie called The Uninvited.It deals with a ghost.The storyline could easily be used on a soap.

having said that,I'm not sure that soaps should go down that path.