Typical Synopsis

TYPICAL SYNOPSIS

The synopsis is the plot of a film. The typical synopsis of psychological horror would be about a character who has a split personality or a mental conflict. The character can be either the protagonist or the antagonist. Throughout the film the character attempts to solve his conflict or work out who he is. Two good examples of this are Identity and Shutter Island.

In Identity, Malcolm Rivers has 10 different personalities, one of whom is responsible for his murders. The film revolves around the personalities being killed until Malcolm only has one personality. In Shutter Island Edward Daniels sent to a criminally insane hospital to investigate the escape of a patient. As he investigates the case he is later told that he is in fact a patient and he just thought that he was an investigator as part of a test that was created to break his insanity after murdering his wife who had drowned their children.

An alternative plot is when there is a psychopathic killer who is killing for revenge or some other mysterious reason. The film would be about the protagonist/s defeating the antagonist or escaping.
A good example of this is Nightmare on Elm Street where Freddy Krueger is out for revenge by killing his enemies children until one child fights back leading to a long term battle as the child attempts to bring Freddy to the real world, where e can be killed. The film may occasionally have a plot twist at the end such as in Final Destination, where they believe they have defeated death only to be killed later.