horror codes and conventions

genre theory is the categorization of different structural elements and patterns which can be found in collections of stories.

Genre Theory and codes and conventions

horror codes and conventions

1. knives
2. guns
3. hidden identity of villains
4. isolated areas
5. woods
6. haunted houses
7. scary music
8. screaming
9. zombies
10. vampires
11. monsters
12. murderers
13. clowns
14. crows
15. bats
16. suicide
17. ghosts
18. revenge
19. basements
20. mansions

it uses dark lighting, with lots of shadows, to make the audience feel tense, and they use sound to create a sense of danger for the audience

Horror uses unique and unusual angles to create confusion and an unsettling feel with the viewer.

Subgenres of horror

Examples of horror films

movies have a bunch of codes in them which make up the genre, for example horror would use scary music and jumpscares, sci-fi would use spaceships and aliens, action would use violence, musicals have music to show the characters emotions, comedies try to make us laugh

IT, IT Chapter 2, Last Night in Soho, Scream, Smile, Unbreakable, split and glass

Demonic possession, Paranormal, Monster, Slasher, Zombie, Gore, Witchcraft, Vampire, Psychological, supernatural

I define horror as a movie that is designed to scare you, and I feel that the genre theory for horror is relevant as using scary music helps to scare the audience, and that things like monsters hiding in the shadows can also scare the audience, however I don't feel like all the elements of genre theory for horror are required in all horror movies, for example some movies would be scarier if they didn't include music because the music would break the immersion and therefore the tension would be lost and the movie would no longer be as scary, also some movies might try to be more realistic and so they wouldn't want to include monsters, as it would make no sense for the theme of the movie