Horror genre

PurposeThe purpose of a horror is to incite fear into the audience using a multitude of

techniques and generic conventions, e.g jump-scares and tension building. A horror genre film aims to create a sense of fear and panic. They unsettle the audience by

using their worst fears. The audience enjoys being scared because it thrills

them. It creates a surreal environment in which the audience is immersed and

teaches them how they would react in life threating situations. Horrors are designed

to frighten and entertain.

Sub-genres

• A sub genre is a subdivision of a film genre with its own distinctive subject e.g Rom-com is a combination of romance and comedy, Slapstick comedy and slasher horror are other examples of sub genres

Comedy horror The characters behaviour and attitudestrongly supports the comedy of the film forexample the characters may say an unexpected line for the situation that they are in. It also is about how they react to this situations either in a common way that most people would react or a strange and unnatural way. A common theme of in a

comedy horror film is that the protagonist is usually in a group of friends and they try to fight back against a fictional monster. In comedy genres the main characters are usually unexperienced with horror and events that happen in the films.

Gothic Horror

The setting of Gothic horrors are taken from the medieval time period so contain castles and churches with the setting often being foggy and or stormy streets. the hero is usually ‘marked’ for destiny or fate to restore himself or a prophecy. Gothic horror often curses and evil including devilish and supernatural beings or power and vampires

Action horror An action horror has a main hero

who is usually in more combat and violence than gore. The overall

purpose is still to scare the audience but also to add a more entertaining

aspect to the film and have someone to look to and ‘cheer’ to

fight the antagonist.

Slasher horror A common convention is a masked psychopaths who brutally murders several victims unprovoked. The victims are usually portrayed as photogenic and people

Zombie horror

One ineffective horror

• A notorious ineffective horror is Frankenstein’s army. This is due to it being too surreal and not utilising the key techniques.

Name one effective horror

• In contrast with Frankenstein’s army the conjuring is an award winning horror with a huge fan base. This is due to its engaging story and techniques.