By Mason Ismail

THE HORROR GENRE

IN THE BEGINNING…

• Horror is the genre that tries to unsettle you, and to give you feelings of revulsion and also the genre that I have chosen to evaluate and cover for this assignment.

• Most early horror films are based on books of the same name, examples include “Frankenstein” “Dracula” “The phantom of the Opera”.

• The way these films used to scare us was to have creaky doors or staircases , long dark sequences of silence or tension building music, and then scarily dressed up people appearing or showing themselves. Earlier audiences really did need a lot less than to scare them than the modern day audience.

• The sort of themes used in the original horror films included mythical creatures such as werewolves, monsters, ghosts, demons, curses and the un-dead (zombies) .

THE EARLIEST EXAMPLES

• Nosferatu directed by F. W Murnau, is one of the earliest examples of a horror film, being released in March 1922. It is an adaptation of the Bram Stoker novel “Dracula”. The film uses themes of vampires and werewolves and has very iconic scenes that have been widely viewed and remembered as being highly respectable and influential to others.

• The film that is often known as being the very 1st horror film being released in December 1896 is only 3 minutes long and made by Georges Méliès, who is one of the 1st ever filmmakers. The film is called Le Manoir du diable, and is about the devil. The film uses stop trick, to dazzle the audience, however although the features the occult it is regarded as being more of a humorous pantomime than a true horror.

LATEST AND GREATEST

• The horror genre now is flooded with new themes, techniques and styles to appeal to everyone preferences. The industry is thriving with a plethora of new and exciting films being made including “Paranormal Activity”, “Saw” and “Drag Me To Hell”, just to name a few.

• The horror genre now has so much more special effects than there was in the time of Méliès, which has lead to a new breed of horror films that now dwell on showing you the creatures in all there glory as well as scary you a lot more than ever before.

• The new techniques used in horror films include using more gore (Halloween), using loud noises (paranormal activity) and making you jump (drag me to hell).

SUBGENRES

• The increased demand for bigger and better horror films has lead to more and more types or ‘subgenres’ of the main horror genre.

• These can include “Slasher”, Psychological, Supernatural, Noir etc of which have been created to fill the gaps and cater for the want for new and different types of horror films.

• Slasher films such as Rob Zombies remake of “Halloween” are aimed at men that enjoy, gritty and gory films often with female characters in helpless situation, which has also lead to the “final girl” trope which is used in “Alien” where Ripley is the last survivor and must fight off the alien all by herself.

CODES AND CONVENTIONS

• The codes and conventions of the horror genre are what directors and filmmakers have been following for years to make films that are widely accepted and enjoyed.

• Codes and conventions are what make the film the genre it is, if it has some of the codes and conventions then it can be classified in that genre or be a hybrid with it.

• There are many codes and conventions of the horror genre some include Good vs Evil with good having to prevail (Aliens), creaking doors/staircases (Paranormal Activity), creatures jumping out from places (Dawn of the Dead), people acting as God must face defeat (I Am Legend, Omega Man), tension building music (Drag Me To Hell), death is inevitable (Final Destination) etc.