Audience Research on Horror Films

1. Jasmine Ewens

2. Qualitative Research (Female)
Watches horror Always / Quite Often Popular Genres for Females
Reasons why Females watch Horror Age of Females who watch Horror

3. Qualitative Research (Male)
Watches horror Always / Quite Often Popular Genres for Males
Reasons why Males watch Horror Age of Males who watch Horror

4. It is clear from my research (a survey given to a sample group of 10 people)
that the main target audience for horror films is females aged 16-18. The
most popular sub-genres within this group are psychological and supernatural
horrors. The attraction of these films is predominately that they evoke
curiousity in the viewer.
On the other hand, the sub-genre that the main male audience favoured was
zombie themed horror. The largest male audience was aged 16-18, and they
liked horror as it is relevant to modern day worries- which is compliant with
Tudor’s theory of audience pleasures within horror, which suggests that
pleasure is active, and audiences ‘recognise in texts features of the everyday
world of social experience’.
Other popular reasons for watching horror included the fact that they can
help people to express repressed feelings, which complies with
psychoanalytical theories of horror and audience pleasures, which state that
horror appeals to ‘the beast within’ each of us.
Evaluation