The document discusses conventions of the horror genre. It notes that genre is important for audiences and institutions as it provides familiarity and aids marketing. A conventional horror narrative involves a group of people, often teenagers or a family, being pursued by an antagonist. Common icons include dark lighting, red color palettes, masked figures, isolated or everyday locations, and weapons. Over time, subgenres like slasher, psychological, paranormal and found footage films emerged to keep audiences interested. While some argue slashers are misogynistic, others believe the "final girl" is a heroic character. Audiences enjoy horror films for their ability to break social norms and provide emotional and intellectual experiences.

1. C O N V E N T I O N S O F
H O R R O R

2. Genre is a term which is used to categorise films which use a certain formula which
consists of the same narrative, set/location and characters.

3. G E N R E I S I M P O R T A N T F O R B O T H A U D I E N C E S
A N D I N S T I T U T I O N S .
• Audiences: want to be able to know if they will like the film, as they are paying to
see it. They also like the familiar, the ritual and having a broad idea of what might
happen.
• Institutions: it is easier for them to create the marketing materials, as they know
what sort of thing to include. Horror has specific iconography, settings, music,
colour palettes.

4. A conventional horror narrative is… when an individual or group of people are being
pursued or persecuted by an antagonist.
This group of people are either, conventionally, teenagers or a family (a mother,
father, son and daughter).
The film typically ends with the rest of the group being killed or tortured, leaving more
often than not the ‘final girl’. This theory will be explained more later in the
presentation.

5. N A R R A T I V E S W I T H A G R O U P O F P E O P L E A S T H E
P R O T A G O N I S T S , C A N B E S E E N I N :
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Teenagers
- The Conjuring (2013) Family
- The Others (2001) Family
- Scream (1996) Teenagers

6. I C O N O G R A P H Y F O R T H E H O R R O R G E N R E I S
V E R Y D I S T I N C T I V E .

7. • Dark (low key lighting and setting) seen often in horror films conventionally
• Red (fire or blood) colour pallets for horror
• A figure (face masked or hidden)
L O C A T I O N S :
• Isolated (houses, town…)
• Every day settings (towns, cities, work places)
P R O P S :
• Weapons (knives, axes, chainsaws, guns…)

8. S O T H E C O N V E N T I O N A L H O R R O R G E N R E
C O N S I S T S O F :
1. A group of people being pursued or persecuted by an antagonist
2. Murderers and violence
3. A family or group of teenagers as the protagonist and stock
characters
4. An isolated or every day location
5. Weapons in some form as props
6. Low key lighting

9. So… over time genres change. This is because of the fact that viewers
got bored of watching the same thing over and over again.
So films changed and developed to keep the interest of consumers.
“ D I F F E R E N C E I S A B S O L U T E L Y
E S S E N T I A L T O T H E E C O N O M Y O F
G E N R E ” S T E V E N E A L E

10. T H E R E I S N O L O N G E R F I X E D E L E M E N T S F O R T H E
H O R R O R G E N R E , W H I C H F I T A L L F I L M S . S U B G E N R E S
A R E T H E R E S U L T O F T H I S .
T H E Y W O R K W I T H R E P E R T O I R E S O F E L E M E N T S
I N S T E A D

11. H O R R O R S U B - G E N R E S C A N B E A N Y T H I N G
F R O M :
• G O T H I C
• S L A S H E R
• P S Y C H O L O G I C A L
• P A R A N O R M A L
• G O R E
• F O U N D F O O T A G E

12. G O T H I C
In Gothic horror, there is usually a supernatural being or animal which comes to life and preys on an innocent
person or group of people. Usually set in a castle or another isolated area and unexplainable events occur This
is different to the generic horror film genre because these films focus on supernatural and unrealistic events
and beings.
E X A M P L E S : T H E C U R S E O F F R A N K E N S T E I N ( 1 9 5 7 ) A N D
D R A C U L A ( 1 9 5 8 ) .

13. S L A S H E R
A Slasher follows the narrative of a group of people being pursued, tortured or killed
with props such as knives,axes, chainsaws, nails…Slashers can usually be
distinguished as it shows the killing and more importantly blood! Usually the ‘final girl’
is left at the end.
E X A M P L E S : S C R E A M ( 1 9 9 6 ) T E X A S C H A I N S A W M A S S A C R E
( 1 9 7 4 ) P S Y C H O ( 1 9 6 0 ) H A L L O W E E N ( 1 9 7 8 )

14. I T H A S B E E N A R G U E D T H A T S L A S H E R S A R E
M I S O G Y N I S T I C …
Women were often the victims of violent acts in films during the 1980s. This became
more intense when the Yorkshire Ripper (a serial killer who preyed upon mostly
prostitutes) was not caught. Public concern was mirrored in the films around this time.
Three main theories have been talked about to do with women and Misogyny:
• Molitor and Sapolsky (1993)
• Carol J Clover (1992)
• Linz, Donnerstein and Adams (1989)

15. M O L I T O R A N D S A P O L S K Y ( 1 9 9 3 )
In this theory, Molitor and Sapolsky recorded the number of second male and female
victims in slasher films who were victimised. Females were found to be shown in fear
or terror significantly longer than the male co-stars. A difference of 2 minutes for men
per film, compared to 9 minutes for women. This shows that women were being
preyed on a lot more than men. Perhaps because of the fact that the majority of
slasher audiences are male, and there is further audience pleasure for men in
watching women suffering.
This can be seen clearly in Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), where the final girl
endures terror for around 30 minutes of the 1 hour 30 minute film.

16. C A R O L J C L O V E R ( 1 9 9 2 )
Oppositely to the ‘Final girl’ idea, Carol Clover proposes that the girl who is conventionally
the last living victim in Slasher horror films, she argues that these characters are actually
the ‘resourceful heroes’. Alike in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the final girl Sally eventually,
after her 30 minute terror, escapes leather face and is driven away from the antagonist.
This argues against the view that horror films in general are misogynistic, as the only
character who escapes from the hands of leather face is intact a woman. The male
characters are actually two of the first characters to be killed, so Texas Chainsaw massacre
completely disagrees with the misogyny theory.

17. L I N Z , D O N N E R S T E I N A N D A D A M S ( 1 9 8 9 )
As a result of slasher films, social scientists have argued that audiences, which is
predominately of the male genre, are being effected in negative ways.
The ‘hypodermic syringe’ goes into effect. This is when male audiences have
watched violence and sex put together in scenes, and now believe that this is normal
and acceptable behaviour. Audiences are bombarded with violence and sex against
women over and over again. Linz, Donnerstein and Adams looked into this however,
not many people agree with it, as it is seen as unrealistic to agree with the fact that
men would be influenced by such disgusting and unrealistic events against women.

18. P S Y C H O L O G I C A L A N D P A R A N O R M A L :
Psychological horrors work on audience’s every day terrors, by interpreting some sort of haunting or
possession of a person into every day lives of normal people. In the form of ghosts, spirits or the
undead. Paranormal focuses on ghosts and hauntings.
E X A M P L E S : T H E S I X T H S E N S E ( 1 9 9 9 ) T H E S H I N I N G
( 1 9 8 0 ) T H E E V I L D E A D ( 1 9 8 1 ) T H E P O L T E R G E I S T
( 1 9 8 2 ) P A R A N O R M A L A C T I V I T Y ( 2 0 0 7 )

19. G O R E :
Gore is very much like the generic horror film however, the actual torture and murders are
shown, VERY graphically. Blood is the motive to go and watch this sub-genre of film.
Audiences want to see the characters killed in the most brutal and inhumane way possible.
E X A M P L E S : T H E H U M A N C E N T I P E D E ( 2 0 0 9 ) H O S T E L
( 2 0 0 5 ) T H E S A W F R A N C H I S E ( 2 0 0 4 ) D A W N O F T H E
D E A D ( 1 9 7 8 )

20. F O U N D F O O T A G E
This is less a sub-genre but more a camera style of filming. This style brought the fear into the
hearts of audiences, as this made them believe, even more, that what was happening is true
and could actually happen to you.
E X A M P L E S : T H E B L A I R W I T C H P R O J E C T
( 1 9 9 9 ) P A R A N O R M A L A C T I V I T Y ( 2 0 0 7 )

21. S O W H Y D O A U D I E N C E S L I K E H O R R O R F I L M S ?
According to Rick Altman (1999) audiences’ primary pleasures come from cultural
rules and regulations. Viewers are able to distance themselves from normal life and
enjoy watching scenes and films which break morals and legal boundaries. Otherwise
known as counter-culture attraction.
Other audience pleasures include:
• Visceral pleasures: the jump/shock scares, the build up and tension and the
screams.
• Intellectual puzzles: when the audience tries to guess who will die/survive/who the
murderer is/how they die/ what the motive is.
• Emotional: films designed to make an audience feel emotions (happy, frightened,
sad…

22. R I C H A R D D Y E R :
This theory suggests that specific genres offer escapism, which is encodes in texts
and opposes social tension. Basically horror goes against any social morals which
are in day to day normal life. This escapism is given to all audiences of any sub
genre, because it is so far away from the ‘norms’ of reality.
J A C K I E S T A C E Y
On the other hand, it is argued that categories for Horror need to be more specific. As
we have identified, genres change over time according to social and historical
changes. As a result, film genre must be studied with the contexts of the time in which
the film was made. It must be more finely tuned to the specific time it was made in
addition to what the narrative, location and settings and iconography.