conventions of a psychological horror

1. CONVENTIONS OF A
PSYCHOLOGICAL
HORROR
By Louise Pitt

2. ■ Psychological films aim to use the viewer's emotions to make the story much more scary
and therefore a better viewing.This involves using situations which could happen in real
life, this is often much more scary than a supernatural horror because the viewer can relate
to the story much more and sympathise with the characters.
■
Psychological horrors tend not to be as gory as other horror sub-genres, like a slasher for
example. Instead, they use editing and non-diegetic sound to build up suspense.There is
often lots of mystery in psychological horror films.The unknown becomes a feature which
can be used to scare both characters and the viewer.
■ Location is a major factor in psychological horrors. Often, psychological horrors are scary
because they are realistic, the scenarios presented in the film could happen in real life.This
is why the location is so important, by using places such as school, isolated areas, houses
and hospitals it makes the story more believable.These increase the viewer's fear because
hospitals for example, can be linked to death or pain, so the viewer is immediately set up
for something to happen involving those things. Also, when the locations are combined
with other factors, such as scenes being set a night, it creates another element of fear for
the viewer because there are areas they cannot see, and do not know what might be
waiting for the character in the unknown.