Monster Mash?
May 19, 2011 8:49 PM Subscribe
I am currently writing short form fiction rooted in the horror genre. I am interested in playing with the traditional archetypes of monsters in super natural horror. What hybrid-monster combinations (preferably three or more, I especially like zombies, vampires, werewolves, ninjas, and mummies) would create a compelling but tragically sympathetic main character?
Best answer: I would suggest having someone be bit by a vampire, zombie and werewolf at the same time.
Though I wonder what would happen.
posted by empath at 9:02 PM on May 19, 2011 [7 favorites]
Though I wonder what would happen.
posted by empath at 9:02 PM on May 19, 2011 [7 favorites]
Is there any sort of monster that thrives in the sunlight? Because a vampire/whatever-that-is hybrid would be pretty hilarious. (And tragic.)
posted by phunniemee at 9:12 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by phunniemee at 9:12 PM on May 19, 2011
Best answer: A pharaoh, bitten by a zombie slave he kept for amusement, wakes up and escapes his tomb. Dead, ancient, on the run, perhaps hounded by historians, archaeologists, tomb-raiders, the media and so on sounds like a rather tragically sympathetic character to me.
posted by Senza Volto at 9:17 PM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Senza Volto at 9:17 PM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
You got me thinking of a Romeo & Juliet remake between, say, zombies and mummies.
posted by trinity8-director at 9:22 PM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by trinity8-director at 9:22 PM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I'm imagining something like a ghost unknowingly possessing a soon-to-be-zombiefied... wizard (?) to be interesting. "Yes, I'm alive again! And in a pretty talented character, to boot! ... Aw damn, I'm trapped in a corpse, now. Maybe I can reanimate myself...?"
posted by Rhaomi at 9:30 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by Rhaomi at 9:30 PM on May 19, 2011
I have trouble reading a triple hybrid as 'compelling' rather than 'absurd,' but a ninja witch seems pretty easy to recombine--just a human who has studied martial and mystic arts. With that much granted, it's not a stretch for her to become a ghost, werewolf, vampire, or demon against her will.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 9:32 PM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Monsieur Caution at 9:32 PM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I'm imagining this seems awfully familiar.
posted by timsteil at 9:37 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by timsteil at 9:37 PM on May 19, 2011
Best answer: George Lucas already did magic ninjas/samurai.
I think if you start crossing creatures that survive by feeding off different elements of humanity (blood, brains, vital life force, fear, whatever), it will become conflicting and ridiculous pretty quick.
I like the idea of combining ghostitudiness with other creaturishness. Part of ghost-hood is a denial of essential nature. A zombie that can't consume brains. A vampire that cannot feed on blood. How the hell do the undead become a ghost anyway?
posted by Seamus at 9:42 PM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
I think if you start crossing creatures that survive by feeding off different elements of humanity (blood, brains, vital life force, fear, whatever), it will become conflicting and ridiculous pretty quick.
I like the idea of combining ghostitudiness with other creaturishness. Part of ghost-hood is a denial of essential nature. A zombie that can't consume brains. A vampire that cannot feed on blood. How the hell do the undead become a ghost anyway?
posted by Seamus at 9:42 PM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
Darin Morgan had an unproduced script about a werehuman - a beast bitten by a human, who became a human only during the fool moon. Think about things in that vein, where the tropes are upended to make some sort of satirical point. Also, Darin Morgan is awesome.
Hey, here's an idea: what about a werechangeling? Every full moon, your guy becomes someone else, not quite himself, but barely different enough to be able to tell.
posted by Sticherbeast at 10:09 PM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
Hey, here's an idea: what about a werechangeling? Every full moon, your guy becomes someone else, not quite himself, but barely different enough to be able to tell.
posted by Sticherbeast at 10:09 PM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
ninja witch seems pretty easy to recombine--just a human who has studied martial and mystic arts. With that much granted, it's not a stretch for her to become a ghost, werewolf, vampire, or demon against her will.
that's basically Bayonetta. She's a witch who uses martial arts and can transform into a cat. She also acts like a ghost sometimes, since she can go into limbo. It ends up almost being coherent.
wasn't there a World of Darkness character named something like 'Sam Height' who was a ghost, werewolf, vampire, and mage?
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:49 PM on May 19, 2011
that's basically Bayonetta. She's a witch who uses martial arts and can transform into a cat. She also acts like a ghost sometimes, since she can go into limbo. It ends up almost being coherent.
wasn't there a World of Darkness character named something like 'Sam Height' who was a ghost, werewolf, vampire, and mage?
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:49 PM on May 19, 2011
I have trouble reading a triple hybrid as 'compelling' rather than 'absurd,' but a ninja witch seems pretty easy to recombine--just a human who has studied martial and mystic arts. With that much granted, it's not a stretch for her to become a ghost, werewolf, vampire, or demon against her will.
This basically describes Rachel Morgan from Kim Harrison's Hollows series- she's a cop who's also a witch who hangs out with vampires and werewolves enough to pick up some of their abilities, plus she's actually part demon. It actually works surprisingly well.
One way to do this is to have the "virus" (vampirism, wereism, whatever) be genetic and then throw together some star-crossed lovers who produce hybrid offspring. Yeah, it takes some tweaking of the mythology, but hey, just look at how popular Twilight is.
posted by Nixy at 12:29 AM on May 20, 2011
This basically describes Rachel Morgan from Kim Harrison's Hollows series- she's a cop who's also a witch who hangs out with vampires and werewolves enough to pick up some of their abilities, plus she's actually part demon. It actually works surprisingly well.
One way to do this is to have the "virus" (vampirism, wereism, whatever) be genetic and then throw together some star-crossed lovers who produce hybrid offspring. Yeah, it takes some tweaking of the mythology, but hey, just look at how popular Twilight is.
posted by Nixy at 12:29 AM on May 20, 2011
Read I am Legend.
The book is IMHO brilliant and it combines horror, zombies, vampires with a bit of sci fi thrown in.
posted by mkdirusername at 2:28 AM on May 20, 2011
The book is IMHO brilliant and it combines horror, zombies, vampires with a bit of sci fi thrown in.
posted by mkdirusername at 2:28 AM on May 20, 2011
Best answer: What about gargoyles? You know how vampires in some stories transform a bit when they get angry? Eyes get red, claws get longer, senses go into hyperdrive? What if this reaction just...kinda got out of control & you ended up with something that really didn't resemble a human anymore, with a sensory range that couldn't really process human speech, and had the kind of strength that could rip a vampire in half without really trying? And then it kind of got stuck in that mode. Justify some stony hard skin into the mutation instead of the traditional skin-of-steel, & voila! Gargoyle. Oh, & add crazy just for fun. Biological Whoops takes them from rational to attacks-anything-that-moves...mostly. Now imagine a plague of this over-transformation running through the vampire community. Must be hard not being the top of the food chain anymore; I'm guessing vampires wouldn't take that lying down (insert overly spikey grin here). I think for a tragic main character I'd have an unaffected partner/friend/fledge/whatever trying to figure out if anything of value was left inside the monster (and, of course, hanging onto the hope that it somehow could be reverted back). But having a main character who's completely lost his/her shit but retains some awareness of their lost self could be fun too.
Yeah...it's 5:30 am & the brain's bubbling over.
posted by Ys at 2:34 AM on May 20, 2011
Yeah...it's 5:30 am & the brain's bubbling over.
posted by Ys at 2:34 AM on May 20, 2011
If you actually want it to be creepy, you have to combine it with something innocent. And thus the phrase "vampire fairy" and "zombie unicorn" are waiting to be popular.
posted by Gucky at 8:16 AM on May 20, 2011
posted by Gucky at 8:16 AM on May 20, 2011
If you actually want it to be creepy, you have to combine it with something innocent.
See Bunnicula.
posted by phunniemee at 8:19 AM on May 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
See Bunnicula.
posted by phunniemee at 8:19 AM on May 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
What hybrid-monster combinations (preferably three or more, I especially like zombies, vampires, werewolves, ninjas, and mummies) would create a compelling but tragically sympathetic main character?
Hybrid-monster combinations do not automatically create a compelling but tragic sympathetic character. You still gotta do your homework.
The easiest thing would be to make a priest or nun become a vampire or werewolf.
Or kick it up notch and use a real life person. What if Mother Teresa was bitten turned into vampire, how would that conflict with her faith and goals as a missionary?
What about a regular person that turned into a werewolf who winds up mauling their lover or worse, their child? A lotta metaphors for relationships could exist there!
But back to the hybrids: Why would someone do such a thing? An eccentric scientist testing dna? Maybe a Bin Laden type figure looking to create a bioweapon to use? Hell, pick any displaced or abused minority and you've got neat ideas. How would South Africa have turned out if the majority, but subjugated populace unleashed werewolves that specifically sought out the powerful minority?
Think BIG.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:14 AM on May 20, 2011
Hybrid-monster combinations do not automatically create a compelling but tragic sympathetic character. You still gotta do your homework.
The easiest thing would be to make a priest or nun become a vampire or werewolf.
Or kick it up notch and use a real life person. What if Mother Teresa was bitten turned into vampire, how would that conflict with her faith and goals as a missionary?
What about a regular person that turned into a werewolf who winds up mauling their lover or worse, their child? A lotta metaphors for relationships could exist there!
But back to the hybrids: Why would someone do such a thing? An eccentric scientist testing dna? Maybe a Bin Laden type figure looking to create a bioweapon to use? Hell, pick any displaced or abused minority and you've got neat ideas. How would South Africa have turned out if the majority, but subjugated populace unleashed werewolves that specifically sought out the powerful minority?
Think BIG.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:14 AM on May 20, 2011
ObTVTropes: See the various subtropes listed under Our Monsters Are Different.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:03 PM on May 20, 2011
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:03 PM on May 20, 2011
This doesn't meet the requirements of the OP, sorry, but I couldn't resist suggesting a zombie coming-of-age novel. Like a teen gets zombie-itis. So he can't kiss a girl because he smells bad. But! He can beat up the kids who bullied him before. And turn them into zombies!
posted by angrycat at 1:56 PM on May 20, 2011
posted by angrycat at 1:56 PM on May 20, 2011
Shit, and I just realized why The Passage works so magnificently.
The zombies are vampires. Plus it's the end of the world, so it's apoco-rockin.
posted by angrycat at 1:58 PM on May 20, 2011
The zombies are vampires. Plus it's the end of the world, so it's apoco-rockin.
posted by angrycat at 1:58 PM on May 20, 2011
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posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:56 PM on May 19, 2011