The document provides information on various techniques used in psychological horror films, including weapons, settings, color, lighting, costume, sound, and sight. Weapons in these films are often psychological rather than physical, using fear and tricks of the mind. Common settings include large houses, forests, schools, and hospitals to create realism. Dark colors like black and lighting that creates shadows are used to establish a frightening atmosphere. Flashbacks are sometimes incorporated to explain the killer's disturbed past.

2. Weapons:
When watching a psychological horror film, the weapons
you tend to see are not actual physical weapons, but are
more supernatural and psychological. For example, the
killer’s mind might act as a weapon of fear against the
victims. The weapons are not a physical element of hurt but
the mind sets tricks to make the audience see as if they are
getting hurt by something.
A range of weapons are used which depend on the
sub-genre of the film. Household items such as
kitchen utensils and garden equipment are mostly
present in supernatural and psychological as they
are normally based in homes so this sort of
weaponry is easy to get hold of. For example, the
film ‘Psycho’ is famous for the shower scene
where the female is attacked by a knife in the
shower. The killer would have easily got hold of
this weapon making the death easier. It is an
obvious phallic symbol as the killer is repeatedly
stabbing the woman which can metaphorically be
seen as rape.

3. Setting:
Some of the main settings you see when watching a Psychological
horror film are big houses, forest/ woodland areas, schools, and
hospitals. These types of settings create realism for the target
audience as they are able to relate to the film on some level, having
seen/ been or currently live in these settings. This increases the fear
for the audiences as they begin to picture themselves in these real
positions.
Common settings in Horror movies include uses of large,
vast, spacious environments; this gives characters more
area’s to explore in the ‘middle of nowhere’ and means
they have more spaces to hide. Horrors are often set in
suburban areas, for example, a common location is in a
characters home. Also, with more modern horrors, the
houses in which the film is set contain more cosy and
homily vibes but still maintain an eerie, austere presence.

4. Colour:
A lot of use of the colour black is used throughout the film to
symbolise death, loss of hope, fear and darkness. The contrast to
this would be the colour white which symbolises innocence and
purity however it can also show mystery, supernatural and the
unknown.

5. Lighting:
The lighting in these types of films are very low key and under lighting in
order to create shadows e.g. to make the house look dark and scary and
give off a frightening atmosphere. The under lighting also creates a
distorted effect on faces. Back lighting is also used, this type of lighting
creates a silhouette of a person/object by shinning the light from behind
making them appear dark. This makes them look evil and sinister as their
identity is hidden.
This is an example of
under lighting in the film
‘The Blair Witch Project’
This is an example of low
key lighting, it is also
known as Chiaroscuro.
This is an example
of back lighting

6. Dark hooded
costume
leaving the
audience
thinking who
may be
behind it.
Scary
Halloween
type
costumes.
Costume:
Dirty clothes
can be worn
to give an
impression of
struggle.
In horror films, film makers try to keep the clothes as minimalistic as possible so attention
doesn’t steer away from the narrative of the film. Colours are used to help the audience
to determine the type of character they are looking at, for example, if the colour black is
being worn, this could indicate the killer. Nevertheless, in some films, costume is a big
part of the film, for example, masks and Halloween costumes.

7. Sound
Common sounds/ music that we hear when watching a Psychological Horror film are;
Contrapuntal Sound- this is sound that doesn’t match the action that is on screen.

8. Sight
Quite often, when watching a psychological horror film, there are
flashbacks that take the audience back to see why the killer is
disturbed and to explain what happened to them in their lives that
has lead them to become mentally challenged.

10. SOUND
Loud and high pitched noises are used in the opening scene here to make
the viewer feel very uncomfortable and it also builds up tension for the title
to come up which would most probably make the audience jump.

11. WEAPONS
The weapon is this situation would be the old woman who’s lurking
around in the dark which can play tricks on the other characters
minds rather than an actual physical weapon being used

12. SETTINGS
A dark and gloomy setting in a child’s bedroom where only individual
objects can be made out. The start of the film shows this idea and
causes the audience to relate themselves to this realistic situation
making it more terrifying for them.

13. SIGHT
Shadows and silhouettes are often used in horror genre’s to unnerve and
terrify the audience. Only towards the end of the film do you tend to see
the full figure of the killer. For example in this opening seen you see a dark
figure of an older lady in the window and then the camera turns and she’s
standing there which might make the audience realise she might be the
main villain in the film.

14. Colour
The colours used throughout the film are mainly dark colours such
as black, grey and dark reds. All these colours symbolise different
things about the film (and in general horror films), for example the
colour black shows death and is normally shown when something
bad is about to happen when the villain or evil character is around.
While red is normally used on the character who is about to be in
danger or put themselves in danger and possibly die, it is used a
signifier to the audience so they are able to prepare themselves to
what is about to happen.

15. Lighting
There is an example of under lighting used when the
old woman is holding the candle below her face to
light her face up. This will make the audience feel
uneasy because their attention is being forced to
focus on what the old woman looks like, which is
rather disturbing.

17. SOUND
The sound used in the opening scene of Se7en really makes the audience feel uneasy
as there are very high pitched noises, the music also builds up pace and becomes
louder as the scene plays out.

18. Weapons
The villains psychotic and unhinged mind acts as a weapon against his victims. The
thought of the villain being intelligent and organized (The suspected villain is
organising his documents and photographs). This unsettles the audience as they
become aware that the villain could outsmart potential victims and even the
police/hero.

19. SETTING
The unknown setting evokes a mysterious element to the scene because it seems to
be in some sort of office type building and its dark, gloomy background creates a
sense of emphasis on the malevolent nature of the man.

20. Colour
The use of the colour red might be used to help bring out the pictures, but it
may also be used to represent blood which perhaps foreshadows the fate of
the people within the picture.

21. Sight
The man in the scene writes hand written notes rather than any kind of
modern technology. This suggests the man has an old fashioned mind set
which is proven if you watch the rest of the film.

22. Lighting
Throughout the entire scene, a lot of shadows are shown which may resemble
his character being spooky. Also flashes are used which may also show how the
character being shown in the flip is unpredictable as the flashes happen out of
nowhere and are unexpected.