This document discusses the horror genre in film. It defines horror films as those meant to frighten audiences through invoking fears in a terrifying climax. There are many subgenres of horror. The two most common are macabre films about death and supernatural films involving fantasy or sci-fi elements. Early horror films date back to 1895 but the term wasn't used until the 1930s. Common conventions in horror include isolated settings, camera techniques like POV that put the viewer in the killer's perspective, unsettling sounds and music, and editing that builds suspense. The document also lists some famous horror directors.

1. Horror Genre Research
By Henry Pike

2. The Definition of a Horror film
• Horror Films are unsettling films designed to frighten and panic,
cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in
a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at
the same time in a cathartic experience.
There are many different subgenres of horror such as:
-Supernatural
-Gothic
-Psychological
-Slasher
-Suspense
-Thriller
-Teen Terror
-Satanic
-Sci fi Horror
-Action Horror
-Comedy Horror
The two most common types of horror films are macabre and supernatural
films which sometimes overlap with fantasy , sci fi and thriller genres.
Macabre: disturbing because concerned with or causing a fear of death

3. The History Of Horror Films
-The term horror did not come into use for film until the 1930s,
early filmmakers and film goers certainly showed an interest in the
macabre as evident in the film “Spook Tale” from 1895 created by
the Lumiere brothers.
-The first horror movie, only about two minutes long, was made by
imaginative French filmmaker Georges Melies, titled Le Manoir Du
Diable and was made in 1896.

4. Horror Genre Conventions
Setting
• Small Communities or isolated places.
• Dark Streets
• Narrow Alleyways
• Run down ghost towns
• Haunted Houses
• Abandoned Houses, Hotels and insane
asylums
• Dark Woods
• Dungeons

5. Horror Genre Conventions
Camera Work
• POV shots are used so that the audience can
see the world from the monsters eye.
• High and Low angles can connote fear and
nightmares.
• Handheld shots promote the sense of realism
and make it difficult for the audience to make
out what is happening. This promotes the
feeling of terror and the unknown.
• Depth of field can be used to make the
monster harder to see.

6. Horror Genre
Conventions
Sound
• Disturbing sounds are very
important in a horror movie.
• Ambient diegetic sounds for
example footsteps
• Non Diegetic sounds for example a
heartbeat
• Music Can be used to create
tension and suspense.

7. Horror Genre Conventions
Editing
• Editing can create unsettling tension and suspense. If the editing
hasn’t been paced up in a while then you know that something very
bad is about to jump out and scare you.

8. Horror Box Office

9. Key Directors
• James Wan – Known for the saw series and the
conjuring
• Mike Flanagan – Produced the Ouija origin of evil
film and oculus
• Sean S. Cunningham – Friday the 13th Creator