The Horror Genre

1. The Horror Genre

2. Horror Genre Definition
Horror films are described as 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.
Horror films effectively centre on the dark side
of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming
events. They deal with our most primal nature
and its fears: our nightmares, our vulnerability,
our alienation, our revulsions, our terror of the
unknown, our fear of death and dismemberment,
loss of identity, of fear of sexuality.

3. History of the Horror Genre
Vampires began to emerge in popular fiction of the 18th and 19th
centuries, during which time Bram Stokers 1987 vampire novel Dracula
was written. It has become the most popular, influential and
preeminent source material for many vampire films.
The first horror movie, only about two minutes long, was made by
imaginative French filmmaker Georges Melies, titled Le Manoir Du
Diable (The Devil’s Castle/The Haunted Castle) in 1896. It contains
familiar elements of later horror and vampire films: a flying bat, a
medieval castle, a cauldron, a demon figure, skeletons, ghosts, and
witches – and a crucifix dispatch with evil.
More original/classic Horror films:
• Frankenstein 1910
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1911
• The Vampires 1915
• The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari 1919/1920

4. Conventions of the Horror Genre:
Setting
Setting
Spooky old mansions
Castles
Fog-shrouded settings
Dark and shadowy locations
Small communities/isolated places.
Dark streets/ narrow alleyways
Run down ghost towns
Places with ‘dark history’ e.g. abandoned houses
Lakes
Roads/Highways
Barns/Farms/Dark woods/Cabins
Basements/attics

5. Conventions of the Horror Genre:
Characters
Werewolves
Characters
Unknown humans
Supernatural/grotesque characters
Vampires
Demented madmen
Devils
Monsters
Mad scientists
Demons
Zombies
Evil spirits
Arch fiends
Unfriendly ghosts
Satanic villains

6. Main Film Companies

7. Robert Englund (Freddy vs. Jason)
Vincent Price (The Fall of the House of Usher)
Bill Moseley (The Devil’s Rejects)
Zelda Rubinstein (Poltergeist)
Bruce Campbell (Army of Darkness)
Best Horror-Film Actors

8. Horror Box Office
Top Grossing Movies 1995 - 2016
Rank Movie Total Gross
1 I am Legend $256,393,010
2 Hannibal $165,092,266
3 The Blair Witch
Project
$140,539,099
4 Scream $103,046,663
5 The Ring $129,094,024
6 Scream 2 $101,363,301
7 Sleepy Hollow $101,068,340

9. Target Audience
The usual age
group is 15 –
25.
Horror movies give a thrill
that can excite the young
audience easier than an
older one.
The young audiences are less susceptible to being put off the film
by violence or unnatural images which may make older audience feel negative
Towards the film.
Males are more likely to be a fan of h
movies than girls, this is due to the
stereotypical thrill seeker which is portray
With a boy and the thrill boys seek to
With there young adult hormones.
Violence is also a convention
of horror movies which is
often loved by males.
Overall horror films are aimed at
the working class.