Genre Research

Genre Research- Horror


Horror is depicted as a genre which represents the viewers emotions, fear of the unknown and their worst fears.

The genre of horror usually captures scenes which are intended to scare the viewer, sometimes through the use of a supernatural idea. This genre also overlaps with many other genres such as fantasy, thriller and science fiction. The most common storylines in a horror film include torture, gore, ghosts, supernatural organisms and serial killers.

The cinematography used within horror films tends to be high and low angles to connate the power of the antagonist and the vulnerability of the victim. The colours used in the films are often un-natural and dark with colours such as orange and red standing out to portray the idea of evil and danger. Frame working is also of importance as the use of empty space usually implies a sense of tense and makes the audience want to watch to see what is going to fill the space.

Target Audience

Horror films tend to appeal to a male audience as the film takes a violent and gory approach to portraying a particular storyline. The audience is most likely to be made up of young people aged between 15 and 25 as they are more likely to be entertained by the storyline. Young people are also most likely to find horror film appealing as they often have a young adult as a protagonist, which young people can relate to emotionally, giving them a stronger reaction to the film.

There are several sub-genres of horror including:

• Gothic
• Psychological
• Supernatural
• Suspense
• Thriller
• Teen terror

Psychological Horror

Psychological horror has become very popular in modern day cinema, attempting a certain level of ‘realism’ to inflict fear in its audience. Often based on the disturbed human psyche, they focus around possession and dark forces which can remain spiritual presences, or can take the guise of witches (Blair Witch), ghosts (The Haunting) or demons (Exorcist).

A psychological horror aims to create horrific and unsettling effects through in-depth use of psychology.

This may involve replacing physical threats with psychological ones (e.g. madness), thorough exploration of the mind of the involved protagonists  replacing overt displays of horror
by more subtle, creepy details.

Thriller

Thrillers are often regarded as being outside the horror genre, however, depending on the graphic content of the film, occasionally some films cross over. They do not including supernatural elements as much as psychological horror, but instead focus on a constant sense of threat coming from an outside menace.