Jaws

I'm guest blogging over on this website but that's no excuse for not writing here, too.
I was watching Jaws the other night with my wife. It's easy to forget just how good of a movie that was. It's a complete break from the modern formula. Rather than state of the art special effects, the terror is built by not showing the shark. We see his effects on midnight swimmers, lounging youths, two rednecks on a pier, and a fishing boat before we ever see him. We see a dead tiger shark, large and foreboding, only to be told that it's far too small to have made the bite marks we've seen. Even after we've seen more of the beast, the terror of the shark hunter's war story about a ship so secret no distress signal was sent hits home at our fears. Like the terrified sailors of the Indianapolis, we are alone with the shark as the movie builds to its finale.
I did not consciously write this way, but I realized that Frostbite builds in similar manner: the unseen terror known by its aftermath, the red herring of close, but not quite, all leading to the terrifying hero versus monster alone in the wild moment. It's such a great thrill ride of a classic horror build. I hope Hollywood eventually remembers that formula... sometimes a huge special effects budget detracts from the story.