The subgenres of horrors

1. Subgenres of Horror

2. Slasher

3. Background information
● Slasher films are a subgenre of horror films, typically involving a violent
psychopath stalking and murdering several people, usually with bladed tools.
● Slasher films are also built up on a lot of mystery and suspense due to no
knowledge of who the killer is.
● Resolves around a psychopathic killer

4. Scream
● Inspired by the real-life case of the Gainesville Ripper
● The sleepy little town of Woodsboro just woke up
screaming.
● There's a killer in their midst who's seen a few too many scary movies.
● Suddenly nobody is safe, as the psychopath stalks victims, taunts them with
trivia questions, then rips them to bloody shreds and the killer could be anybody

5. Narrative Conventions
The narrative of a slasher follows…
● Equilibrium is set where usually a group of teenagers are seen having the time
of their lives
● A disruption occurs when they start to be hunted down by a mass murderer
● Recognition of that this needs to be resolved and sees the survivors attempt to
seek out who the killer is
● The majority of slashers sees the villain die at the end of the film leaving the
final girl to set a new equilibrium
● Sometimes the villain may disappear in order to create a sequel or franchise of
the film

6. Supernatural Horrors

7. Background Information
● Supernatural horrors begun in the 19th century and were mainly focused on a
gothic theme such as vampires.
● Supernatural horrors became popular in the 1960s, one of the first supernatural
horrors included the film ‘13 ghosts’, it involved a young girl which is still a
common convention of most supernatural horror films.

8. The Conjuring
● Each conjuring film is based on real events.
● The first film is based on the true story about the Perron family who moved into
Rhode Island farmhouse in 1970, they had five daughters and remained living
in that house for 10 years.
● The films were created based on the case studies from Ed and Lorraine Warren,
paranormal investigators. They have been involved in other famous cases such
as The Enfield Haunting.

9. Conventions throughout supernatural horrors
● It begins with a happy family moving into their new house
● There is usually a backing track of contrapuntal sound repeatedly played
throughout the film as a warning of the demon or paranormal presence.
● The youngest child is targeted
● There is an object which acts as a link to the demon or spirit.
● At the end the possession has either been exorcismed or has found another
unknown victim

10. Psychological Horrors

11. Background information
● Psychological horror relies on mental, emotional and psychological states to frighten, disturb, or
unsettle viewers.
● Often uses mystery elements and characters with unstable, unreliable, or disturbed psychological
states to enhance the suspense, drama, action and horror of the setting and plot and to provide an
overall unpleasant, unsettling, or distressing atmosphere.

12. The Strangers
● A couple staying in an isolated vacation house receive a knock on the door in
the mid-hours of the night.
● a violent invasion by three strangers, their faces hidden behind masks.
● The couple find themselves in a violent struggle, in which they go beyond what
either of them thought capable in order to survive.

13. Narrative Conventions
● Psychological horror films generally differ from the traditional horror film,
where the source of the fear is typically something mental
● Tension in psychological horror films is more frequently built through
atmosphere, eerie sounds and exploitation of the viewer's and the character's
psychological fears
● Psychological horror films sometimes frighten or unsettle by relying on the
viewer's or character's own imagination or the anticipation of a threat rather
than an actual threat of a fear portrayed onscreen

14. Gothic

15. Background information
● These were eerie, dark and featured scenes of mutilation.
● They reflected the fact that audiences were terrified by mystical monsters that
are found in literature.
● All of these films are dark, shadowy, gothic and vampiric pieces.
● They are set in far off lands.

16. Frankenstein
● Henry Frankenstein is a brilliant scientist who has been conducting
experiments on the re-animation of lifeless bodies.
● He has conducted experiments on small animals and is now ready to create life
in a man he has assembled from body parts he has been collecting from various
sites such as graveyards or the gallows.
● He's successful and the creature he's made come to life is gentle but clearly
afraid of fire.
● Henry's father, Baron Frankenstein, brings his son to his senses, and Henry
agrees that the monster should be humanely destroyed.
● Before they can do so, however, the monster escapes, and in its innocence, it
kills a little girl. The villagers rise up intent on destroying the murderous
creature.

17. Narrative Conventions
● At the start of the film you see a equilibrium of a far away town
● Then the discovery of a monster is made and the monster goes on a killing
rampage
● People of the town have to find away to get rid of the monster
● Generally the monster is killed leaving the surviving people to live the rest of
their lives

18. Survival Horrors

19. Background information
● A tight isolated community
● Apocalyptic world (deserted, trashed etc)
● Abandoned locations
● Urban locations (but deserted)
● Want to survive
● Zombies
● Weapons- shotguns
● Viruses

20. 28 Weeks Later
● ‘28 Weeks Later’ is a sequel to ‘28 days later’ and is about surviving a virus which turns the infected
population into Zombies.
● Six months after the original epidemic, the rage virus has all but annihilated the population of the
British Isles. Nevertheless the U.S. Army declares the danger past, and American soldiers arrive to
restore order and begin reconstruction. Refugees return to British soil, but one of them carries a
deadly secret: The virus is not gone and is even more dangerous than before.
● The plot depicts the efforts of NATO military forces to salvage a safe zone in London following the
events in 28 Days Later, the consequence of two young siblings breaking protocol to find their infected
mother, and the resulting reintroduction of the highly contagious virus to the safe zone.

21. Narrative Conventions
● Show previous world
● Find out about what has happened to the area previously
● Introduce main characters of whar are the survivors
● Cliff-hangers
● Everyone dies
● Zombies are killed/cures

22. Sci-fi Horrors

23. Background information
Films within the sci-fi subgenre of horror characteristically employ the use of
futuristic settings and scientific advances as sources of fear for the characters and
thus the audience. A notable sci-fi horror movie is ‘Alien’, which created a surge in
the popularity of the sci-fi horror genre, and thus sparked a franchise that would
span nearly 40 years.

24. Alien
● In deep space, the crew of the commercial starship Nostromo is awakened from their cryo-sleep
capsules halfway through their journey home to investigate a distress call from an alien vessel.
● The terror begins when the crew encounters a nest of eggs inside the alien ship.
● An organism from inside an egg leaps out and attaches itself to one of the crew, causing him to fall into
a coma.
● The crew have to overcome this threat in order for them to survive.

25. Narrative Conventions
Due to experimenting or testing, a
disease may be created or robots
decide to revolt. In some cases
scientists accidentally create
something evil. Alternatively,
something in outer space may be
discovered e.g. aliens
There is often a sense of
anxiety about an
experiment or creation
There is an equilibrium.
Everything is peaceful and
normal
A new or the same
equilibrium is restored
The crew or scientists have
to find a way to resolve the
problem and get rid of the
aliens