2. • Horrors are made to create fear within the audience, to build up suspense and perhaps
even make people aware of frightening the real world is, for instance, The Strangers.
• This film states at the beginning that it is based on a true story and appears to be
fairly common in America; therefore, before the plot is revealed the audience is
alarmed which is scarier since it creates a sense of reality.
• A horror is an unsettling film which is designed to:
- Frighten and panic
- Cause dread and alarm
- Invoke our worst hidden fears
- Entertain us
• Horrors are made for various audiences, such as The Blair witch project is a 15
certificate, but is mainly aimed towards teenagers. The Exorcist however, is of an 18
certificate and is aimed towards more mature adults as it contains many disturbing
scenes
3. • There’s always a lead character, the protagonist, that survives the villain/
killer/ monster throughout the film
• The killer/ villain/ monster often has a trademark, for instance the way in
which they kill their victims, or the weapon they use to kill them
• There is usually a good versus bad binary opposition, where there are
conflicts between the two characters
• The plots are usually based on murders, strange visitors with masks and
dark secrets which tend to be revealed towards the end…
4. † The setting tends to be in dark, isolated and ordinary
places to create a realistic effect for the viewers, otherwise
it doesn’t appear to be that scary.
† For instance, The Strangers is set in an isolated cottage
near the woods this is fear-provoking since many unknown
things come out of the woods and not much is visible when
it’s dark making it easier to them to hide…
5. ¢ The characters in horror films are
not clear to identify with, since
some tend to be two-faced, so they
may appear to be kind and helpful,
but in fact they might possibly be
behind the mystery; this creates
twists in the plot as well as enigmas
as to who is actually behind it all…
6. ξ The props c ont ai ned i n
horrors t end t o be obj ec t s
t hat t he vi ew ers w oul d be
af rai d of , s uc h as kni ves ,
guns , c hai ns aw and m ks .
s as
ξ In Saw t here are m
, any props
s uc h as hand c uf f s and
c hai ns aws
7.
8. # In horror films the shots mainly
consist of long shots and over the
shoulder shots, this is because they
tend to have scary images in the
background, and since it is less visible
they easily scare the audience
# In The Strangers, there are various
long shots where the ‘Strangers’
appear from behind which causes the
viewers to jump
