Horror films typically feature stock characters like a helpless female victim or a creepy male killer hunting victims. Locations are usually dark, creepy settings like abandoned houses, woods, caves, or hospitals that can be made to seem terrifying through lighting, filters, and music. Effective horror films twist expectations by subverting stock characters, like the female protagonist in "Shrooms" who is revealed to be the killer, or by using an unexpected but unsettling location like a whole city.

1. Analyzing Genre

2. Horror
Stock character:
-They are usually a helpless women, as they are considered the weaker
gender, this to make for a more interesting plot, similar to the typical damsel
in distress. However in typical zombie movies it normally shows the struggle
of a man surviving. But also there cases where there is a strong female
protagonist actually knowing what they are doing instead of being the typical
defenceless victim.
-The other is the creepy killer(normally male) hunting down the soon to be
victim. But sometimes it can be a monster or some over kind of ghoulish
creature. There have also been very interesting horror films where the female
is the killer.
In the horror film “Shrooms” the
girl starts out as the protagonist
helping everyone escape the
killer when it turns out to have
been her all along, she having
also been the antagonist.
Creating a psychological effect
on the mind.

3. The Location:
The location of these horrors movies can change from something like an
abandoned old haunted house, to the woods, a cave, a hospital even to
a whole city. It all depends on how you set it and the atmosphere you
create with it.
The typical scene is always somewhere dark and creepy, even the most
innocent looking set can be made to seem horrified with the correct
lighting, filter and music.
The Descent World War Z
The Grudge Evil Dead