This document defines and discusses the horror genre of film. It notes that horror films aim to create fear and dread in the audience through portrayals of their worst fears and nightmares, often involving mythical creatures or violence. The document outlines several subgenres of horror, including slasher, supernatural, zombie, comedy-horror, teen horror and monster films. It provides examples for each subgenre and discusses some of the common themes and characteristics of horror films.

2. WHAT IS GENRE?
• A genre is a specific type of music, film, or writing.
Your favorite literary genre might be science fiction,
and your favorite film genre might be horror flicks
about cheerleaders. Go figure. In music, genre
refers to musical style such as jazz, salsa or rock.

3. FILM GENRE
• In film theory, genre refers to the method based on
similarities in the narrative elements from which films
are constructed. Most theories of film genre are
borrowed from literary genre criticism.
• Besides the basic distinction in genre between
fiction and documentary (from which hybrid forms
emerged founding new genres, docufiction and
docudrama), film genres can be categorized in
several ways.

4. DEFINITION
• Staiger classifies Andrew Tutor's ideas that the genre
of film can be defined in four ways. The "idealist
method" judges films by predetermined standards.
The "empirical method" identifies the genre of a film
by comparing it to a list of films already deemed to
fall within a certain genre.
• The apriori method uses common generic elements
which are identified in advance. The "social
conventions" method of identifying the genre of a
film is based on the accepted cultural consensus
within society.

5. HOLLYWOOD GENRE VS. PURE GENRE
• Martin Loop contends that Hollywood films are not
pure genres, because most Hollywood movies
blend the love-oriented plot of the romance genre
with other genres. Jim Colins claims that since the
1980s, Hollywood films have been influenced by the
trend towards "ironic hybridization", in which
directors combine elements from different genres,
as with the Western/Science fiction mix in Back to
the Future Part III.

6. CATEGORIZATION
• It is hard to draw up a classification of genres. This is
because a genre is easier to recognize than to
define and therefore most academics today agree
that any genre cannot be identified in a rigid way.
• Furthermore, different countries and cultures define
genres in different way.

7. EXAMPLE
• A typical example are war movies.
• In USA they are mostly related to World Wars,
whereas in other countries also movies related to
wars in other historical periods are considered War
Movies.
• For example, while both The Battle of Midway and
All Quiet on the Western Front are set in a wartime
context and might be classified as belonging to the
war film genre, the first examines the themes of
honor, sacrifice, and valour, and the second is an
anti-war film which emphasizes the pain and horror
of war

8. GENRES AND SUBGENRES
ACTION
• Disaster film
• Martial arts film
• Spy film
• Action thriller
• Superhero film

9. COMEDY
• Comedy film
• Comedy of manners
• Slapstick
• Parody film
• Black comedy
• Romantic comedy film

10. DRAMA
• Drama film
• Crime drama
• Historical drama
• Docudrama
• Legal drama
• Psychodrama
• Comedy-drama
• Melodrama
• Tragedy

11. HORROR
MY CHOSEN GENRE
• Horror film is a genre that aims to create a
sense of fear, panic, alarm, and dread for
the audience. These films are often
unsettling and rely on scaring the audience
through a portrayal of their worst fears and
nightmares.
• Horror films usually center on the arrival of
an evil force, person, or event.

12. ABOUT HORROR GENRE
• Many Horror films include mythical creatures such
as ghosts, vampires, and zombies. Traditionally,
Horror films incorporate a large amount of violence
and gore into the plot. Though it has its own style,
Horror film often overlaps into Fantasy, Thriller, and
Science-Fiction genres.

13. HISTORY
• By the end of the silent era, many of the main
genres were established: the melodrama, the
western, the horror film, comedies, and action-
adventure films (from swashbucklers to war movies).
Musicals were inaugurated with the era of the
Talkies, and the genre of science-fiction films wasn't
generally popularized until the 1950s. One problem
with genre films is that they can become stale,
cliche-ridden, and over-imitated. A traditional
genre that has been reinterpreted, challenged, or
subjected to scrutiny may be termed revisionist.

14. EXAMPLES OF HORROR FILM
• Saw - Two men are held hostage by a psychopath,
who is set on teaching his victims the value of life by
putting them into demented life or death games.
• A Nightmare on Elm Street - Freddy Krueger, an evil
being from another world, stalks a group of
teenagers and kills them through their dreams.
• Friday the 13th - While trying to re-open a summer
camp, a group of camp counselors are mysteriously
murdered by a machete swinging slasher.

15. SUB GENRES OF HORROR

16. COMEDY-HORROR
• Comedy-Horror combines comedy with traditional
horror movie themes and characters. Because of
the subject matter, Comedy-Horror films can cross
over into the Black Comedy sub-genre. Comedy-
Horror films aim to scare the audience, but also
provide comical outlets that let the audience laugh
at their fear.
• Examples: Beetlejuice, Zombieland, Shaun of the
Dead.

17. TEEN-HORROR
• Teen-Horror is a sub-genre that revolves completely
around a teenager or a group of teenagers.
Typically, these movies have a large cast and a
clear hero or heroine. Teen-Horror films often play
upon traditional teenage issues, such as dating and
prom, and turn them into suspenseful and thrilling
situations.
• Examples: I Know What You Did Last Summer,
Scream, Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

18. MONSTER-HORROR
• A Monster film is sub-genre of Horror that centers on
a struggle between human beings and a
monster(s). Often, the monster in the film has been
created in an “experiment gone wrong.” The
monster usually serves as a villain, and the film
portrays a hero or heroine that ultimately saves the
world from the monster. Although these movies
commonly fall into the Horror genre, Monster films
have a long tradition within Science-Fiction and
Fantasy film as well.
• Examples: Aliens, Godzilla, Creature from the Black
Lagoon.

19. SLASHER
• Slasher film is a sub-genre of Horror film that revolves
around a psychopathic killer. This killer stalks and
murders his victims in extremely violent and
memorable ways. Though it centers on a specific
killer, the violence is what sets Slasher films apart
from other horror films. A Slasher film will devote
more screen time to portray murder and mayhem
than a traditional Horror film.
• Examples: Halloween, My Bloody Valentine, Black
Christmas.

20. SUPERNATURAL-HORROR
• Supernatural-Horror film is a sub-genre that includes
ghosts, demons, or other depictions of supernatural
occurrences. Often, Supernatural-Horror films
combine elements of religion into the plot.
Common themes in Supernatural-Horror films
include the afterlife, the devil, and demonic
possession. Unlike Religious Thrillers, Supernatural-
Horror films are not limited to specific religious
elements and can contain more vivid and
gruesome violence.
• Examples: The Exorcist, The Ring, The Omen.

21. ZOMBIE-HORROR
• Zombie film is a sub-genre of Horror film that
portrays mindless human beings who are raised
from the dead. These films often include a Zombie
invasion, and center around Zombies feasting on
human flesh. The plot of a Zombie film then revolves
around the struggle between the living, and the
living-dead. Zombie film not only falls into the Horror
genre, but Sci-Fi, Thriller, and Comedy as well.
• Examples: Night of the Living Dead, Shaun of the
Dead, 28 Days Later.