Sub-genres of a horror film

1. Sub-genres of a horror film
By Kiran Patel

2. Sub-genre
• A sub-genre is a more detailed version of the
genre since it splits up the genre groups into
smaller groups
• A list of sub-genres found in horror films are:
• Psychological
• Slasher
• Gothic
• Paranormal/Supernatural/Mystery
• Sci-Fi
• Body horror (take overs/invasion)
• Action
• Comedy

3. Sub-genre: Slasher
• Probably the largest sub-genre in the horror
genre
• A slasher movie usually involves a string of
murders committed by a psychopath whom
kills their victim in a graphic manner with a
sharp object as their weapon of choice
• Some slasher movies include: Scream,
Halloween, Friday the 13th, etc.

4. Posters of a slasher genre
• Main image is surrounded
in darkness
• The murderer is holding
the weapon
• The cover line on the
poster is a pun of sorts or
can be seen as a brief of
the movie
• ‘Halloween’ has a very bold
font compared to
‘American Psycho’ since AP
is trying to make the font
match the character (A slick
business man)

5. Subgenre: Sci-Fi
• The smallest sub-genre of a horror film
• A sci-fi/horror movie usually have aspects of a
virus/machine/alien destroying earth or
murdering humans but in a brutal, violent and
gory way to create fear in the audience
• Some examples of Sci-Fi Horror include: Alien,
Frankenstein, War of The Worlds, Dark Skies, etc.
• A body horror movie (usually includes zombies or
parasites of a sort) are classified as sci-fi

6. Sci-Fi/Horror posters
• Destruction in the
background of the
image
• Murky colours
• No sign of what the
villain is
• A lone figure in the
foreground
• Both are full pictures
with nothing faded and
shows a cloudy sky
• ‘Cloverfield’ has a font
which matches the Sci-
Fi genre unlike ‘The
Mist’ which kept the
horror theme

7. Sub-Genre: Paranormal/Supernatural
• A paranormal/supernatural film is a film which
defines everyday life e.g. ghosts, hauntings or
possessions
• Examples of supernatural horror include:
Final Destination, The Amityville Horror,
Child’s Play etc.

8. Posters of a supernatural/paranormal
sub-genre
• The obvious convention
between the two is the red
text for the titles
• Another convention is the
black background for both
posters
• They also both have cover-lines
which makes the
audience excited
• Both font styles for the
movies match the theme of
the movie; since
‘Paranormal Activity’ is
home-filmed the ‘glitchy’
text tells the audience to
expect the film to be home
filmed