2. Definition
A horror film is one that aims to create a sense
of tension, fear, panic or alarm. These films
often attempt to scare the audience by using
their darkest fears and nightmares in an
unsettling way. Traditionally horror films consist
of a lot of gore or violence. Horror films
genuinely consist of a supernatural evil rather
than a ‘human evil’.
3. Horror Movie Example
Nightmare on Elm Street- is one of the most well
known and critically acclaimed horror films of all time.
It scares the viewer because most horror films tend to
have a live murderer chasing certain characters
around. Whereas in the Nightmare on Elm Street the
murders occur within the victims dreams and not in
real life. This makes the movie truly terrifying as there
is no escape from sleep.
4. Visual Effects
Horror films traditionally would use
a lot of blood and gore effects in
order to make it unsettling for the
audience, this works well because
we associate blood or gore with
pain and thus we know the
characters are most likely in pain.
They also commonly use dark
settings because a lot of people
consider the dark to be dangerous.
5. Horror Movie Stereotypes
The “Bad boy” is normally an over confident character who
believes he would be able to take out the monster/killer
within the movie. He is normally killed because he goes
after the killer or while he is ‘releasing bodily fluids’. Next up
we have the “blonde”, usually a character who isn’t the
brightest spark in the box and typically dies wandering off or
investigating alone. Finally we have the “good girl” who
tends to be against things such as alcohol and sex. The
“good girl” is typically the one to survive.
6. Relevance of ‘Do you like
scThae phorne cyall=t hef phionlem call is ussed in’ m any horror films and is incorporated and expanded onto other movies, Such as
the ring. Where when you get the phone call you have 7 days before you are killed. In scream this challenges the
stereotype by breaking the third wall. “do you like scary movies” shows that in this movie they know of stereotypes and are
giving away that someone is going to be killed.
In the phone call, the caller mentions his favourite movies with casey, which gives a sense of realism to the reality in which
the movie is set, This helps the viewer connect with the film since they live in the world where this realism has been taken
from.
They use this since horror was going through a financial rough patch in 1993, so the directors idea was not to make a
horror movie to blow the viewers mind but instead to be slightly cynical towards the entire genre within the film thus
making the film self aware.
This scene has been so well known within the horror genre that is has been taken even into the sub genre of horror spoof
in “Scary movie” in which they take the satirical scene and change it into a completely blown out of proportion scene to
include the killer falling over and failing at killing the victim before they challenge the “Chasing scene” you would be able to
find in any horror film.
7. Worst Horror Movie
C1.Sclreiacmingh andé Rusnning - If someone or something was chasing me through a dark mysterious place
the last thing I’d do would be to make so much noise that they can simply follow the sound towards you.
Plus, ever tried running and screaming? Not enough oxygen to go around.
2. People who trip over nothing and for some reason can’t get back up. When running away from the
‘bad guy’ in a horror film people always seem to trip over nothing, which is fair enough we’ve all
done it. BUT they always seem to injure themselves somehow in the process.
3.Yelling out “Is anyone there?!” in an empty room after just escaping an axe wielding maniac. Pretty
self explanatory, you escape a murderer to the safety of a hiding space then BAM you decide to yell as
loudly as possible and alert him back to your position.
4. Guns never need reloading. Suddenly reloading becomes non existent and people can shoot
around 50 bullets out of a mag with a capacity of 30. Despite hideous situations guns STILL need
to be reloaded. The mags don’t suddenly became massive.
