2. Horror Movies Target Audience
There is a huge stereotype when it comes to do with anything horror
movie. It is not too different when it comes to their target audiences
either. The target audiences are really, usually dependent on the type of
characters in the film. The audience either identify with the audience
because they are similar in some way or agree with what they say/do.
Or, the audience watch the film because they connect with characters
by opposing whatever they do. For example; a lot of characters in
horror movies are American Teenagers going camping with friends to
the creepiest houses and cabins imaginable. The target audience for
this would be teenagers. This is because most horror films involve
unknowing, naive teenagers as the main protagonists, which are
normally the target of serial killers or psychopaths.
When it comes to choosing a target audience for film there are many
things taken into consideration. This is because it is hard to make a
successful film appeal to a wide audience when everyone is so
different. Regardless of how much effort you put into making a film ‘for
everyone’, it will still not make it appeal to everyone, it’s impossible.
Two of the most important factors to take into account when discussing
target audience is that of the age and the gender of the target
3. Age & Target Audience
Age is rather dependent on the film, there are certain rules by law that decide which
the minimum age viewers can be to watch horror films because of the amount of
violence and gore which is fair enough.
Still, the film needs to have an age in mind when the film is in production in order to
creatively appeal to the audience it wants. When researching the age of the average
horror movie I found these results. The graph to the left shows
how the horror movie
audience profile is based
heavily on teenagers and
that they are the people we
should be focusing on
because that is where the
market is.
Considering that most
horror films are a 15, and
the biggest horror movie
bracket is the 18-24 age
range. A perfect
combination would be to
base our sequence on a
15-25 age range which
covers teenagers, and
4. Gender & Target Audience
Gender in target audience can be a little hit and miss. Whenever people come
together to watch films, it is usually a mix of male and females in a group, or
the well known ‘movie date’ which still mostly consists of a male and a female.
However, according to some research, females are the gender that watch the
most horror films. This could be because of ‘girls movie nights’ or the fact that
the most common main character in horror movies are women.
It is stereotypical to use women in a
horror movie. In more so to use two
blonde females walking home through
the woods late at night. We plan to use
female actresses in our opening
sequence, not just for the victims but
also as the mental institution escapee.
This means that the graph to the left
showing women to be the gender most
likely to watch horror films is good for
our sequence as the females will
identify with each other. Males only
just took the second spot and this is
still good for us because they will want
to watch blonde, attractive females in a
5. Our Target Audience
From all that we have found out about target
audiences suited for horror films, we have
decided that our perfect audiences members
that we are trying to attract to watch our film
and would generally be interested in watching it
in cinemas are:
• 15-25 year old males and females!
