Target Audience Research

1. Target Audience
I believe horror films usually have the target audience of teenagers/young adults, ageing
between 15 and 25. This is because at this age individuals are open to taking risks and are often
thrill seeking. Horror films usually provide a sense of uncertainty about what will happen next
and also include many scenes which are designed to scare the audience. This creates
excitement and could cause the viewers to feel nervous, increasing their heart rate and
therefore giving them the thrill of watching the scary movie. Younger generations are also less
likely to be but off by the violence or gore included in horror films than an older audience who
may find these images unpleasant.
The genre of horrors is also predominately aimed at
males as stereotypically they enjoy watching lots of
violence, they also want to appear as an alpha male
character by proving they're not scared of the disturbing
images within a horror film. However, young male and
female couples are also a key audience of horror films as
females will often seek protection from the male if
they're scared of the violence and disturbing scenes, so
viewing horror films at the cinema is a common date for
couples. Females stereotypically enjoy films which fall
under the romance genre much more than horror,
therefore it is common for directors to have a sub-genre
of romance which includes a background story about a
couple/love story within the scary scenes. Therefore, the
target audience can be increased as it includes the
interests of both genders. Additionally groups of friends
usually watch horror films together as it is unusual to
watch horror films alone. This is because they can seek
protection and will have a shared consensus of fear for
the film. Because of this it is often common for horror
films to follow the story of a group of friends as it allows
the audience to relate to the storyline and characters
experiences, which could create higher sense of fear for
the film. Those who enjoy horror films often have shared
interests, such as a sense of mystery, the unknown and
supernatural behaviours, which are all demonstrated in
films of this genre.