Horror

The horror genre is made to produce a sense of fear, discomfort and/or terror. With an intended audience of around 15–25-year-olds, they tend to be marketed towards a young adult audience who are more likely to feel a pleasant thrill than older audiences.

Genre Conventions:

Content

The themes in horror films explore our deepest fears raising questions about death, mortality and what happens after we die. This genre represents the darker parts of Humanity.

Some stories are about the effects of trauma on a person. Other stories are about the villain searching for revenge. In earlier Hollywood horror films, the villains were defeated by the end, now the endings are often times more ambiguous.

There are multiple subgenres of horror:

Gothic – Based on classic horror. Include monsters from novels or myths.
Cherry Classified – Involving the supernatural and occult.
Psychological – Exploring the psychological states of people, often times not as gory as other subgenres.
Monster movies – About monsters/aliens invading our world.
Slashers – Teenage group in a suburban town face a stalker/killer.
Body horror/splatter films – Involving a graphic deformation or destruction of bodies.

Production Techniques

Shot composition:

Closeups are oftentimes used to depict the terrified emotions of the characters. Extreme wide shots portray the isolation and distance. An uncomfortable feeling is established through unusual angles.

Editing:

Fast-paced editing and multiple cuts are used to build tension. Special effects in post productions, especially in paranormal horror are sometimes used.

Sound:

High pitched stings, usually confused with music, are extremely common in horror movies to create alarm in the audience. Footsteps, creaking doors, animal noises, are common to create a sense of suspense and make the audience expect something without knowing what it is. Body trauma sounds including breaking bones, cutting flesh, slamming bodies among others create an intense sense of discomfort in the audience.

Mise-en-scence:

Locations tend to be abandoned and dark sometimes haunted. Most horror movies will include props as weapons. Colors, mainly including red and black, are used to represent danger, evil and blood. Lighting tends to be underexposed and dark.

Institutional Conventions

Marketing

Horror films are the most profitable films in the industry, mainly due to their low budgets. Many horror films marketing such as IT and Scream create a brand for the movie, or series of movies by making a character (or mask) the “face” of the film or franchise making it more recognizable and building a connection with the audience. Other methods include making an immersive campaign, such as The Blair Witch Project (more on that later) or subverting expectations through humor.

Horror Film Examples

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The Blair Witch Project (1999) is an American psychological thriller. The movie was shot and edited in a documentary-style manner. Despite being less violent and more thought provoking than most other horror films, The Blair Witch Project is many times considered to be scarier.

The Film is about 3 students who went to investigate a myth in the woods only to go missing and disappear. The movie is supposed to be the footage found. The film is especially terrifying by the handheld cameras helping create an imitation of everyday life.

This is a psychological horror film, even without any gore or monsters, the film makes the audience uncomfortable and afraid. Horror is not just about gore and violence, it is mainly (at least originally) about making the audience uncomfortable and this film is an example if that.

This film was one of the first to be marketed only through the internet. The team posted missing person flyers and fake police reports. This immersive campaign made viewers believe that the film disappearances were real. With a $60,000 budget, the movie grossed over $248M

Scream (1996)

Scream (1996) is a slasher film that reconstructed the subgenre by using clichés and tropes and subverting them. The film is about a group of teenagers on the anniversary of one of their mother’s murder becoming the victims of a serial killer known as Ghostface.

Despite being humorous at times, the film never loses suspense and terror. One of the aspects of the movie that creates an underlining sense of terror is that it is set in a regular suburb giving the audience a sense that it could be happening to them, making them fear the sounds of everyday objects (such as a phone which rings multiple times and using a Dutch angle and zoom in tight shot when its answered). Shot composition is used to create a sense of suspense through empty space, close ups and lingering on doors and/or objects.

The success of the movie paved the way to an ongoing franchise which just recently released its 6th film and is set to release a 7th one as well.