Come closer, my dear. Closer. The cauldron is bubbling and I do so love company.

Oh, don't mind the smell. That's only last week's new subscribers, simmering gently.

It's the dark of the year now, when the veil grows thin and the crows gather on the rooftops to gossip about you. I've been watching you scroll, you know. Thumb twitching, eyes glowing in the blue light of your little screen, so certain you're safe. Ha.

Tonight we have brewed you something special. A little frost, a little fear, a pinch of the truth that nobody wants to hear. Stir it in and sip slowly.

What’s in store:

Read Time: 🎃 minutes

HALLOWEEN

Make your own mini horror movie with AI

There are a million and one ways to get creative with AI this Halloween.

And considering how much AI has advanced since last October 31st, I wanted to try something a little more ambitious: making my own 60-second horror movie.

Just me, a creepy idea I’ve had, and AI to bring it to life. (Or to death.)

Though I’ve heard Claude’s Opus 5.5 is capable of this, actually working with it turned out to be a different experience.

Thankfully, using the right combination of tools can give you more treats than tricks!

Here's what happened

I opened Claude, selected Opus 5.5, and asked it to create a 60-second psychological horror movie.

Claude happily gave me a screenplay.

So I tried again, this time asking for a video and a little more prompting details. 

Then, it gave me a detailed storyboard.

Which was great, except…I wanted an actual movie.

Claude can write code to create animations, but it can't generate photorealistic, cinematic footage on its own. So, my horror movie had a great concept and plot line…even some visuals…but the characters looked like they were made on Microsoft Paint. 

So, Claude is great for storyboarding, but not at bringing the horror to life.

So, how do you actually make the movie?

If you want your horror movie to look like real footage, you'll still need a true AI video generator.

Here are three options:

You can use Claude to brainstorm your plot or develop scene-by-scene prompts, ask it for a README file with a prompt specified for whichever tool you’re using. But, it's not a necessary step.

For this experiment, I'd start with Google Flow.

Give your horror movie some direction

Before you start generating footage, think about what kind of horror movie you want to create.

For example:

The more specific you are, the better.

"A woman standing outside a house" is one thing.

"A motionless woman in a yellow raincoat standing outside a suburban home at 3:17 a.m., filmed through a grainy security camera in heavy rain" is something else entirely.

You can obviously get much more detailed with this. 

Now, make your movie

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve gotten with AI video generating is that most AI video generators work best with shorter clips. This means that rather than trying to generate the entire 60 seconds at once, start with individual scenes.

Try this: 

Start with…

Create an 8-second, photorealistic psychological horror video that looks like authentic doorbell security-camera footage.

Then…

It's 3:17 a.m. in a quiet suburban neighborhood. Heavy rain falls as a motionless woman in a yellow raincoat stands across the street, staring directly into the camera. The footage is grainy, with a fixed wide-angle security-camera perspective, muted colors, realistic nighttime lighting, and subtle digital distortion.

Next…

The woman doesn't move. In the final two seconds, the porch light flickers, and she suddenly appears several feet closer.

And…

Be sure to include realistic rain sounds, distant wind, and a faint electronic hum. No dialogue, music, gore, or exaggerated monsters. The finished result should look like real security footage, not an animation or slideshow.

Generate your first clip, then build on the story with additional scenes thereafter. 

Pro-tip: Keep the same character descriptions, lighting, and setting in every prompt. Otherwise, your main character might mysteriously change faces halfway through the movie.

Once you've generated your clips, combine them in an editor like CapCut. Add eerie music, a few strategically placed sound effects, and maybe one perfectly timed moment of silence.

And there you have it: your own AI horror short.

Screenshot this

Remember: Tell AI exactly what you want delivered, not just what you want to help create. And, be specific about the finished result you want, but make sure you're using an AI tool that can actually deliver it.

Because unless your idea of a scary movie is a 12-page screenplay that requires frustrating prompting and edits, you'll want to get that part right. - HL

You can get our free AI video stack to learn how to make the best AI video!

THAT’S ACTUALLY WILD

In Victorian England, families sometimes photographed loved ones after they died, occasionally posing them as though they were sleeping or still alive.

Known as post-mortem photography, the practice became popular as cameras grew more affordable in the mid-1800s. For many grieving families, particularly those who had lost children, it was their only chance to preserve a photograph of someone they loved.

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