The Psychological Horror Genre

Content- Horror films, historically, are distinguished by their use of iconographic

monsters (like vampires, werewolves, zombies, etc.) and dark colours to engage the audience

- In more modern horror productions, horror films conventionally use excessive amounts of blood and gore, implementing a tense soundtrack to create their desired atmosphere

- Psychological horrors however, defy these conventions, and can quite easily give the guise of a drama, crime or thriller

- Psychological horrors have the capability of possessing no gore or “monsters” of any kind, and instead can focus on the darkness within the human condition, using atmospheric soundtracks, lighting and characterisation to distinguish the product as a horror, but having a complicated enough storyline, with a large amount of enigma codes to classify the genre as psychological horror

- Psychological horrors have a very wide spectrum of content to work with, and can contain all the conventions of a typical horror buy with a more complex plot

Examples

• Silent Hill• The Shining• A Field in England• Cube• Insidious• Black Swan• Autumn• Enter the Dangerous Mind• Psycho• The Ring• I Can See You• Open Water

AudiencesIt is stereotypically accepted that the female gender dislikes the sight or experience of violence, blood or danger, while men are expected to be unmoved and, in some cases, entertained, by it.It is because of these stereotypes that the horror genre has historically seemed exclusively aimed toward men; with production companies and distributors designing their horror based media to appeal to the male gender (implementing Laura Mulvey’s “Male Gaze” theory).However, audience of psychological horror has recently been expanded to include women. This is because of the capability of the genre to pass as other types that do appeal to women (such as crime and drama), and to completely exclude gore and “monsters” and implement a more complex storyline that appeals to the “fragile” female condition.Due to the sometimes confusing and faced paced storylines of psychological horrors, the typical target age of the audience is usually somewhere between 16 and 50, so that the audience can successfully follow the storyline and stay engaged.

Conventions of Psychological Horror/Horror

- A complex storyline (sometimes syhuzet)- Can have monsters of human ‘villain’ as antagonist- Camerawork intended to confuse/distort- Usually one main character (possibly one or two companions)- The problem in the film is not always solved by the end- Fast paced- Should present many different enigma codes- Can have gore (not compulsory)- Not usually a ‘romantic’ affiliation among characters- Male or female protagonist- Lots of action- Usually deaths or disappearances