2. Supernatural
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Supernatural movies are ones which tend to feature a type of ghost/spirit which antagonises
and haunts its victims throughout the film. They depict events beyond normal perceptions
(such as paranormal activity).
Conventions include:
The horror film‟s stock location to be the protagonist‟s house/set at a place which is close to
the main character. Other conventional locations which feature in a supernatural can be
woodland/forest areas (The surroundings of the house in The Amityville Horror is full of trees
and appears to be isolated), which is likely to scare the audience more as nobody can hear
their cries for help
Female main character who is „normal‟ – this scares the audience much more effectively as
they will either be a „normal‟ female or will know a normal female and be able to relate to
her...it will feel as if it could actually happen in real life!
Creaking of doors, gusts of wind, unexplained shadows, unknown noises (in The Amityville
Horror, we see shadows when nobody is there during the scene when the family view the
house)
The use of orchestral music in the soundtrack
Jumpy moments
Interaction with the spirit/world of the ghost (i.e. A ouiji board/seance, psychic/medium) (in
Paranormal Activity, a ouiji board is carried out). These things usually feature whn we see the
characters reacting to the situation and trying to rid their lives of the paranormal force.
Curses can also sit at the centre of the narrative. In Drag Me To Hell, Christine is cursed by an
elderly, Eastern European gypsy as an act of revenge. The curse leads to three days of
suffering and terror for Christine, before she‟s dragged into the depths of hell.
3.
4. Slasher
Slasher movies are movies which feature a psychopathic killer, who kills a series of victims in a graphic manner,
involving lots of blood and gore being shown.
Conventions include:
- An unknown masked male killer with a signature weapon (i.e. Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th always has a
machete in hand, Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has a chainsaw as his weapon, Freddy
Kruger from A Nightmare on Elm Street uses his bladed hands). Weapons like this are used in order to create
more guts and gore (it will make for a more gruesome killing) as well as making sure that the victim suffers a
painful killing
- The victims/characters are predominantly teenagers, who enjoy drinking and partying, aren‟t interested in
study, are sexually active and quite attractive (Lynda from Halloween who is killed straight after she finishes
sleeping with her boyfriend Bob, as she waits for Bob to bring her a post-coital bottle of beer). This links to
Slasher tradition and the idea that the victims are being puniched for their various „crimes‟
A final girl being left at the end; she is usually a virgin who is less feminine in her appearance than the killer‟s
victims (Laurie Strode in Halloween, Sidney Prescott in Scream, Sally Hardesty in The Texas Chainsaw
Massacre). She will be brave, resourceful and intelligent and will come face to face with the killer at the end.
A chase scene between the killer and the final girl towards the end of the movie
- The stock location of the film will usually be a suburb/small town. Schools (Scream), Colleges (Sorority Row) and
Forests (Friday the Thirteenth) will also feature.
- The use of a „sacrificial lamb‟ who is usually a blonde, sexually attractive girl (Casey Becker in Scream). She will
be killed at the beginning of the film gruesomely and will make the audience aware of what the killer is
capable of.
Slasher movies first appeared in the 1970s and were also extremely popular in the 80’s and 90’s. Many classic
slasher horror films, such as Halloween and Friday the Thirteenth have been remade in the noughties, triggering
something of a revival in that decade.
5.
6. Possession
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A sub-category of the supernatural sub-genre, possession horror movies are horror movies
which feature a female (and occasionally a male) who is possessed by a spirit or demon.
They usually feature exorcism scenes, and have some sort of religious aspect to the
narrative.
Conventions include:
The female who is possessed being a child/young girl. This makes sense, as such characters
are likely to be more naïve and vulnerable. In The Last Exorcism, the character of Nell is in
her teens and has grown up in a very religious family and been somewhat sheltered form the
outside world. She is not very worldly wise.
Religion playing a big role within the whole film (In The Rite, we see a priest training to be an
exorcist), while religious emblems and iconography, such as crucifixes, bibles and rosary
beads also feature. Much like in supernatural films, these objects appear as the characters
attempt to deal with the problem. In The Possession, Em‟s father reads extracts from the
bible, as he tries, unsuccessfully, to rid her of the demon within her. It makes sense for
religion to feature, as it is a direct binary opposite to evil/satanism.
The possessed character levitating, vomiting, swearing, speaking in a strange tongue,
performing bodily contortions. This happens to demonstrate the control the spirit is having
over its „host‟ (as seen in The Possession)
The narrative is often based on a „true story/inspired by true events‟ (this is because
exorcisms occur in real life; The Exorcism of Emily Rose is based on the exorcism of
Anneliese Michel) making it much more scary as it actually happened in real life – the
audience can‟t reassure themselves it is “just a film”
The possessed child or young female‟s costume to be an old-looking, once white, now
dirtied dress (a symbol that their once pure soul has been tarnished), with a visual indication
that they are possessed; usually plain white eyes or cuts on their face and body (In The
Exorcist, we see the possessed girl covered in cuts on her face in order to create a more
gruesome and scary effect)
7.
8. Psychological
A psychological horror movie is a horror movie which uses the character’s fears and
their emotional insecurity and mental instability, in order to build tension for the
audience. Psychological horrors tend to focus more on what is going on in the main
character’s mind to scare the audience rather than showing gore or a ghostly
presence. In films within the psychological sub-genre, the ‘monster’ looks normal. It is
their mind that is twisted and terrifying.
Conventions include:
Weapons being more subtle (i.e. The killer‟s mind is the weapon, the thing that causes
torment and a scare. – this is demonstrated perfectly in The Silence of The Lambs with
Hannibal Lecter, who is so psychologically disturbed that it is terrifying. In The
Uninvited, it is Anna‟s twisted mind that leads her to do such terrible things)
Less gore and less frequent kills than in a slasher. There are only two killings in Psycho
and, though chilling, the kills are subtle and not gruesome.
Indoor, realistic settings such as an isolated house or hotel room (Both 1408 and The
Shining are set in a hotel)
Flashbacks and nightmares (In The Uninvited we see Anna have frequent nightmares
about the night her mother died in a fire)
Making normal everyday props scary and sinister (Danny‟s tricycle in The Shining
becomes something of a symbol of scariness within the film as whenever we see him
ride it around the corridors of the hotel we usually come across something scary.
Therefore whenever we see him on the tricycle we have a feeling something scary will
happen.)
9.
10. Gothic
Gothic horror movies are movies which tend to feature monsters and
mythical creatures such as vampires, as well as a mythical, mystical
setting (i.e. a castle in a far away land). They were extremely popular in
the early 20’s and 30’s, when horrors were inspired by nineteenth
century literary horrors, like Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Conventions include:
An atmosphere of doom and gloom. A layer of mist or fog seems to
permeate the environment in which the film is set. Mist is a permanent
feature within the mise-en-scene in both Sleepy Hollow and The Woman
in Black. This creates more fear for the audience
Medieval castles with rooms such as dungeons and torture chambers
(Dracula is based in Transylvania and, largely, the action takes place in
a castle, with various bedrooms where vulnerable females will fall victim
to Dracula himself)
Low key lighting (The Woman In Black uses low key lighting throughout
the film; it is extremely dark)
Untamed landscapes which are empty and desolate
Old architecture
The heroine/hero being in danger
Graveyards/holy relics
Beast transformations/creations (In Frankenstein we see Frankenstein
being created by the professor)
Other characters include headless horseman, as seen in Sleepy Hollow,
phantoms and ghouls
Usually set in a mystical place in the past, seemingly in another world.
The Woman in Black is set in Edwardian times, as reflected by the miseen-scene elements, such as costume, props and setting
11.
12. Our sub-genre...
For our promotional package, we have chosen psychological horror as the sub-genre we
will work within. There are many reasons as to why we collectively decided to focus on
this sub-genre. Generally speaking, we feel it has less restrictions and therefore our work is
likely to look much more professional. For example, with sub-genres like slasher and gothic
horror, there are many strict conventions to follow in order for the movie to be of that subgenre, however, when it comes to psychological horrors, movies such as The Uninvited
and Gothika both are set in extremely different places with extremely different storylines
and protagonists. In contrast, slasher movies for example, tend to have similar narratives
for every film (teenagers are chased by a masked killer and are killed in a graphic
manner). For example, Halloween and Scream are both slasher and feature similar
narratives (Michael Myers relentlessly pursues Laurie Strode in Halloween, whilst Ghostface
relentlessly pursues Sidney Prescott throughout Scream. There is, in both cases, a link
between the killer and the one he pursues). Therefore my group and I felt if we chose
psychological to be our sub-genre, we would be able to be more creative and original
when it came to our narrative. We also chose psychological as there are not many
psychological horrors being made and distributed today– Possession and Supernatural
movies tend to be more common, therefore we wanted to create a promotional
package for a film idea that is refreshing and different. As shown by The Silence of the
Lambs and American Psycho, when a psychological horror is executed properly, it
becomes a cinematic classic. We wanted ours to do so too, and believe we will be able
to create a fresh, original and intellectual idea for a horror movie which, in time, would
become a cinematic classic as well.
