The purpose of the horror genre is to elicit fear, panic, and alarm in viewers by putting them on the edge of their seats wondering what will happen next. Sound is particularly effective at creating a sense of fear through sharp, high-pitched noises. Horror films often center around some change in circumstances that sets the story in motion, such as a person moving to a new neighborhood. The Purge is used as an example of how one event, such as all laws being suspended for 12 hours, can lead to generic horror conventions like death and violence. Viewers enjoy horror films because they like seeing the protagonist succeed against tough odds while experiencing fear and panic along with the characters. Descent shows a group endangered by blind,

1. Assigment3

2. What is the purpose of the
Horror Genre
• The purpose of the horror genre is to put people that are viewing the film through fear, panic and
alarm and also the put them at the edge of their seat not wanting to watch what happens next. Sound
is a great way to create a sense of fear as sharp high pitched sounds normally put a sense of fear
running through our blood. Horror films normally centre around something changing whether this is a
new person moving to a new neighbourhood or in some circumstances events happening at a job.
• For example, the Purge encountered the story of an event such as all laws becoming legal for 12
hours over night and the event of the Dad being to controlling over his daughters relationship and
one of the children being nice. Trying to help another resulted in a bunch of people attacking the
house of a regular man. This example shows how one event can lead to generic conventions of the
horror genre like death and fighting.
• We watch horrors as we like to see the generic conventions like the Protagonist succeeding yet
having the odds stacked against them. An example of this is decent which shows a group of people
going on exhibitions in caves in the mountains and discovering blind evolutionary humans that live off
the human flesh. We get given a main character and she is the last one standing out of all her peers
and she is greatly outnumbered and the “Monsters” out strengthen her in all ways. When she is
fighting the “Monsters” we naturally want her to win and we feel scared when she is scared due to
Camera and sound techniques that are used in the film. We like this as when the main character
fights them and wins we get a personal buzz and a rush of inspiration.

3. Name 5-10 horror sub
genres, give examples
• Zombie horror,
• Supernatural horror, Oman Exorcist
• Slasher, Freddie Crouger nightmare on elm street
• Monster Horror- Descent
• Teen horror- Prom night, Piranha
• Comedy horror- Zombieland
• Crime and Giallo- Deep red, The girl who knew to much
• Backwoods and Redneck-Wrong turn,2,3
• Home invasion/survival- The Purge, inside
• Ghosts and Spirits- Exorcist

4. Sub-Genres
• Sub genres are used to gain characteristics
from two types of genres to make one unique.
Instead of being limited to one set of
conventions it can adapt to others, this also
creates a greater target audience which will
cause greater popularity of the movie.

5. Zombie horror
Dawn of the dead
Zombieland
Zombie Horror is
generically associated with
lots of blood and gore. We
generically think of Zombie
Apocalypse when we think
of Zombie films.

6. Supernatural horror
The
Exorcism of
Emily Rose
The OmenSuper natural
films we normally
think of characters
being possessed
and doing
extremely natural
things like for
example in the
Omen the little
boy purposely kills
his mother.

7. SlasherFreddie Krueger Friday the 13th
Slasher films are extremely
goring and we normally see
people being killed in a
disgusting way which is
normally associated with
torture.

8. Teen horrorProm night
Final Destination
Teen Horror we can
normally expect to see
lots of teens screaming
and panicking. In these
films everything is
emphasised and overly
dramatic

9. Comedy Horror
Shaun of the dead Tucker and Dale vs Evil
Comedy horror we can
expect to see a mixture
of gore portrayed in a
funny way. The
characters normally
laugh off the bad
situations they are in.

10. Crime and Giallo
The girl who knew to much Deep Red
This sub genre is
normally has the same
story line of criminals
killing the witnesses of
previous crime
scenes.These criminals
usually do crime for
money.

11. Backwoods and Rednecks
Wrong turn Hills have eyes
Monsters in the south
of USA that have
turned mutant due to
bad viruses now they
love to feed off human
flesh. We can expect
old wooden huts in
the woods.

12. Horror Sub-Genres

13. Name one effective horror film and
explain why it is effective to an audience
• The Purge is an affective horror film as they take an unrealistic law act that has a lot of sense behind it which is making all laws
legal for 12 hours over night.
• We become attached to the man and his family as he is the main character.
• As he is the main character we favour him in all circumstances.
• The props which the bad people use are extremely scary and ads affect as they are disguised and we do not know there identity.
This is shown in source1.
• When the house is getting attacked by the bad people we feel scared as we know that the Protagonists lives are in danger.
• During fight scenes in the movie there are high angle shots of the dad. The high angle shots show the dad being a t
disadvantage which is a generic convention of the horror genre as the protagonist is always the underdog and at a disadvantage.
• We feel sad when the main character who is the dad dies and makes his family a lot more vulnerable to the bad people.
• There is a greater upset when we see the neighbours helping the rest of the family against the bag guy by shooting him, and then
to reveal that they actually want to kill the family.
• We feel excited at the end when the black man who they originally help comes back to save the family from the neighbours.
• We get greater excitement when the annual purge finishes and it leaves us with the thought , what will happen in the next purge.
This narrative enigma makes us think there will be a sequel film.

14. Key term suggestion
• Conventions
• Technical terms and codes
• Anything to do with: camera short, angles,
movement, composition/framing
• Mise en scene editing and sound.

15. Source 1