The Horror Genre

The Horror Genre

• The themes of horror films vary, but they all attempt to tap into our deepest fears and anxieties, raise questions regarding our mortality and what lies beyond, and depict the darker aspects of human nature.
• They can explore the pschological impact of trauma and mental illness.
• They could center around a vengeful protaganist seeking revenge for perceived wrongs, creating a sense of moral ambiguity and justice.
• Horror narratives are often centered around violence and death.
• The narratives rely on action codes – the protagonist closes the bathroom cabinet to reveal the stalker is standing behind them or the vicious dogs chase our heroes through the foggy cemetery.
• Enigma codes are the “revelation of truth”. The filmmaker(s) will deliberately create a plot point that raises questions and teases the audience so we keep watching to resolve the mystery.
• The central conflicts are externalized, translated into violence, and usually resolved through the elimination of some threat to the social order.
• Horror films tend to have ambiguous conclusions to leave it up to the viewer as to what happens next, or sometimes to hint at a sequel.
• Endings might even have a twist: the antagonist comes back or the protaganist dies.
• Religion is often explored in horror.
• The supernatural is a very common theme: ghosts, the undead, demons, dark magic.

Narrative

• Disturbing imagery such as gore, inhuman creatures, or uncanny looking characters, mise-en-scéne settings.​
• Horror can be set in a range of different settings: seemingly friendly and familiar areas make it feel like nowhere is safe, old or abandoned buildings create uneasiness, isolated locations create a sense of hopelessness, and strange new worlds play on the fear of the unknown.​
• Dark colour palettes to make the film gloomy and unhappy.​
• Dark and dimly lit scenes to create a sense of uncertainty and danger.​
• Dramatic chiaroscuro lighting hides or emphasises features or objects. This makes the audience anxious about what might be hidden in the dark or it can reveal shocking things moving into the harsh light. It also makes characters seem more menacing.​
• Wide shots are used to encode a sense of isolation and vulnerability by showing the characters in large, empty spaces. Close-ups allow us to connect with a character’s fear, or they can be used to highlight details of a monster’s face or body to make it more terrifying.

Visuals

• Horror films usually have orchestral scores with big crescendos and eerie repeated chords or motifs to compliment the action on screen.​
• Dissonant chords and demonic whispers help create the unsettling atmospheres and deepen our understanding of the characters.
• Jump scares are punctuated by sudden and jarring sounds
• Deep bass sounds and screeching violins.
• Synthesisers became popular in horror films produced in the 1980s because they were more cost-effective.
• Diegetic sounds such as footsteps, creaks, bangs, crashes, ticking, slicing, screams etc.
• Sound effects and music can gradually increase in tempo to create rising tension and suspense.

Sound

• Psychological: These horror films explore fear on a neurological level like phobias or mental illness.
• Arthouse: These are often also psychological horror films as they focus on psychological themes and atmosphere. Often, arthouse horror films have a distinct cinematic style that may delve into philosophical ideas that challenge the viewers' beliefs.
• Slasher: Typically, these films feature a humanoid killer that hunts down a group of people, usually teenagers. The killer might just be a regular person or they could have inhuman/supernatural abilities. This genre is responsible for the final girl trope.
• Monster: These are horror films where the antagonist(s) is an inhuman creature some examples are zombies, vampires, werewolves, classical or mythological creatures, animals, giant creatures, small creatures, sci-fi and aliens, or neo-monsters.
• Paranormal: These are films that use the supernatural to create horror like ghosts and spirits, possession, devils, demons, hell, witches, the occult, supernatural power.
• Torture and body horror: These are films that depict bouts of extreme violence and explicit scenes of torture and mutilation, or show grotesque or disturbing violations of the human body.
• Cosmic/Lovecraftian: These are films that play on the fear of the unknown or entities beyond human comprehension. It is difficult to effectively put stories such as these to film as the horror is supposed to be indescribable, but when they are done right they can be very interesting.

Horror Subgenres

My Favourite Horror Films

The sound effects and score in this scene from Alien (1979) expertly create a sense of rising danger and hoplessness. The constant radar beeps eventually getting faster and faster, paired with the swelling orchestral score, constantly reminds us that the alien is approaching and danger is ever present.