Rating the Business Acumen of Horror Movie Monsters

With just a few days to go before Halloween, now is the time to get that last bit of horror movie watching in. And we all know that what makes a truly great horror movie is not the hero, but rather the monster.

Great movie monsters all have different strengths, weaknesses, and character traits. It is interesting to consider how these traits would carry over in the business world. By making these observations, there may be some things we too can learn about business.

Here are pros and cons of five iconic movie monsters/villains, from a business perspective (warning: some spoilers ahead, but these movies are pretty old):

Michael Myers

Halloween

Halloween is credited with originating the “teen slasher” genre of movies, and Michael Myers is often considered the ultimate horror movie monster
Pros:

• Nimble – You may not think of Michael Myers as “nimble,” but think about it: this guy was constantly appearing and disappearing from view. One minute the main character would see him, and then, two seconds later when she looked again, he would be gone. That guy was fast! And in business, speed counts.
• Leadership – If you, like any sane intelligent person would, stopped watching the original Halloween series after the first or second movie, you may not have realized that by movie number five Michael Myers had developed a large cult following that was helping him out and doing his bidding. No other monster on this list can say he had a cult.

Cons:

• Too Tight a Niche – Niching your business is a good thing. it allows you to be the expert and attain dominance in a certain field. The key is finding a niche that is small enough that you can dominate but large enough to sustain you business. Michael Myers’ niche was too small: the Strode family. All he did was try to kill the Laurie Strode, and later her daughter (or niece – who the heck remembers, the movies got pretty bad). And he wasn’t even good at it!

Business Lesson: Think carefully about the market you are going after. Is it big enough to keep you in business for a long time? If so, go for it! If not, keep thinking.

Jaws

Jaws

I am going to call the shark from Jaws, “Jaws,” because repeatedly typing “the shark from Jaws,” is a pain and because if I called him “Bruce,” that would a) sound silly and b) make me look like I was trying a little too hard to look like a big Jaws fan by knowing the nickname of the shark on set…

Jaws (the movie) is the first true Hollywood summer blockbuster, the first movie to reach 100 million dollars, and is one of the greatest movies of all time. Jaws (the shark) is an eating machine who just knows how to swim, eat, and make baby sharks.

Pros:

• Dominant – This was one big shark. Quint, the shark hunter, was stunned when Jaws went under water even with three barrels attached to him (“Not with three barrels I tell ya,’ not with three!”) Jaws’s sheer size and strength made everyone’s life miserable. We all love the underdog/bootstrapping startup, but there is something to be said for creating a dominant position in the market.

Cons:

• Too Single Minded – In “Jaws,” Jaws is so determined to eat Chief Brody that he charges straight ahead, giving Brody a clear shot at the oxygen tank in his mouth. In “Jaws 2,” Jaws is so determined to eat Chief Brody that he charges straight ahead and instead chomps down on an electric cable. in “Jaws 3,” Jaws is so determined to eat Chief Brody’s son Michael that he charges straight ahead an exposes the grenade in his mouth. In “Jaws 4,” Jaws is so determined to be in the movies that he agrees to star in one of the worst movies of all time. Focus and goals are good, but being flexible in your approach is critical to business success.

Business Lesson: Leverage your strengths to create market dominance, but stay flexible in your approach. Don’t bully straight ahead just because you can see the end in sight; stay aware of changing conditions that might require adjustments.

Freddie Kruger

A Nightmare on Elm Street

“A Nightmare on Elm Street” scared the bejeesus out of me as a kid. Especially the first one, when you didn’t really know what the Nightmare was all about, and before Freddie became more of a comedian and less of a killer.

Pros:

• Creative – I don’t know of any other killer who attacks people in their dreams. I’m sure there are, but they were all knock offs of the original. The creative approach really helped Freddie stand out amongst the competition
• Strong Market Position – One of the best things you can do in marketing is to put yourself where prospects already are. Well, everyone has to sleep eventually! Freddie didn’t need to hope that people would come to his camp or breakdown in front of his house. He put himself where everyone was going to be anyway. Brilliant!
• Charisma – Freddie is also one of the few movie monsters who actually talks and interacts with his prey. He did it with such panache that he became an icon all on his own (and, as mentioned above, the movies soon became about his character and quips, and less about the horror). This just goes to show how far a little conversation, connection, and humor can take you.

Cons:

• Unfocused – Freddie is crazy powerful, but he got a little too into playing with his victims. This created openings for people to take him down. Had he been a little more focused, he would have been much harder to bring down.
• Too Many Weaknesses – It seemed like in every “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” movie, Freddie was taken down by a different tactic. In the first one, he was beaten when the girl stopped being afraid. In the second, he is defeated by love and burning. In the third, it has to do with his bones being properly buried. In the fourth, there’s some magic spell involving the “Gate of Good Dreams.” And so it goes. Chances are that you can’t shore up all your weaknesses, but if you have tons of holes in your strategy, you may want to consider re-evaluating your business.

Business Lesson: Take an honest look at your strengths and weaknesses, and decide whether your business model is sustainable.

The Guys from Scream

Scream

“Scream” was awesome! It was a great movie that twisted the genre, and then sadly launched a whole slew of subpar clones. But the original manages to be funny, serious, and very scary, all at the right times and in the right proportion.

Pros:

• Good Teamwork Helps – (Waning: Here’s a spoiler!) The cool thing about the first Scream is that there are two killers! While you are trying to figure out who the killer could possibly be since no one was away during all the deaths, these guys have figured out how to fool everyone by working together. If that’s not a testament to great teamwork, I don’t know what is. And they would have gotten away with it too, if not for…

Cons:

• Bad Teamwork Can Kill – Things fall apart for our villains when they start to stab each other too deeply in the end (they were supposed to cut lightly to make it appear that they were also victims). One guy gets angry, then the other guy starts to loose a lot of blood. This makes it a lot easier for the heroes to win out.

Business Lesson: Put together a great team of people, but make sure you can all trust each other and make sure you are all on the same page.

Jason Voorhees

Friday the 13th

He’s not the first, he’s not the most charismatic, but Jason may be the most well known horror movie monster ever (at least within the slasher genre). Who doesn’t recognize the hockey mask as a symbol of impending doom now? (Interesting tidbit: the hockey mask which is so part of Jason’s character, didn’t even appear until the third movie)

Pros:

• Overcoming Failure – This guy dies at the end of every single movie. And he somehow always manages to come back. What’s the old saying? “Fall down seven times, get up eight.” That’s a saying about persistence, and Jason certainly embodies that.
• Creative – Whereas Freddie had creative strategy, Jason has creative tactics. Has anyone monster ever killed so many people in so many creative ways? I think not! While he stays true to his overall goal, he finds different ways of achieving that goal over and over again.

Cons:

• Stupid – Jason’s a little dumb. He’s kind of easily fooled. In the second movie, the heroine dons a cardigan and convinces Jason that she’s his mother. That seems like a pretty simple ruse, but he falls for it.

Business Lesson: Keep going! Stay persistent! And be smart. If you’re not smart, surround yourself with smart people and listen to them.

The next time things seem to not be going so great in your business or professional life, take a lesson from some movie monsters. If they can do some things right, why can’t you? 🙂