I’ve been watching a lot of horror films lately. A lot of short horror films on YouTube and they’re all made superbly well. They are masterclasses in what to do in creating a thrilling, frightening story.

I reference them a lot in my video series and I urge you all to check those out and watch them as soon as possible – especially if you’re practitioners in independent filmmaking, or you have a knack for horror filmmaking – or you’re interested in pursuing horror in general.

What I have yet to see, though is ‘daylight horror’.

I’ve yet to see it in major studio productions, let alone micro-budget indies.

Of course, horror films set in the daytime do exist, but they’re relegated to creature features. They’re zombie films, monster flicks etc, etc.

Think Jaws, Piranha, Tremors, Day of the dead.

Can there exist a daylight horror film with supernatural elements?

Can there exist a straight ‘slasher’ where there are no shadows – where the killer or the entity that is pursuing our hero, doing ‘the killing’ or ‘the frightening’ has nowhere to hide.

I’m not talking Michael Myers hiding behind a shrub. I’m talking Myers, making use of the opportunity regardless of the time of day.

Can it be as effective or do we need shadows for our fears to live in?

Are shadows the only things that make horror movies worth seeing?

What would a ghost do at midday in the middle of the Texas desert if there’s no one around for it to scare?

I believe anyone who wants to push the limits of horror filmmaking should explore questions like this because a lot of what we need to see as horror film fans is ‘envelope-pushing’.

Everything that can be done has been done and is being done, well, today in modern filmmaking. Both on a macro budgetary scale and a micro.

But what hasn’t been done that can be done – either poorly or well?

A daylight slasher.

Because, even if it’s done poorly – being done at all will sow the seeds for future ideas from future storytellers to come. For a new idea to exist – someone will take it and run with it and perhaps create something truly remarkable, truly unique and truly worthwhile in modern horror cinema.

New ideas like a killer tyre on a rolling rampage.

That’s worth making – it’s an investment in the future of storytelling.