a research on psychological horror

1. GENRE RESEARCH
PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR
Psychological is of the many sub –genres of horror. We chose to apt for this specific form
because most people find this scarier than other sub-genres, purely because it focuses on
everyday life, meaning that there are chance that those events can happen in reality, therefore
making the audience more cautions.
This would differentiate from other sub-genres such as supematural horror because those
events are less likely to happen. ‘Based on true events’ is often used with psychological horror
because it tends to be based on factual occurrences in real life. Film makers often use this as it
creates the illusion that there is possibility than the plot can happen to be audience, thus
making them want to watch it. They rely on the audience’s mind to create the horror effect.
PURPOSE
 The purpose of psychological horror movies is to quite simply bring fear into the
audience.
 This is done by making the plot possible and also by making it relate to the lives of the
audience.
 The villains in the films are usually made human because this also adds to the fear and
believable plot

2.  This purpose can also on some occasions be to disturb and revolt the audience through
the gruesome, but believable deaths.

3. PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR PLOTS
The plot usually focuses on everyday life, meaning the events can happen in
reality, making the audience more cautions.
The plot relies on the characters beliefs, fears and other hidden truths about the
character/ whatthey have done.
Italso exposes the evil that hides behind normality, but also contains the
elements of the genre, allowing the audience to not relate completely.

4. MIS-EN-SCENE
SETTINGS: The setting is very important element to a
psychological thriller. The two most common locations for
psychological thrillers to be set in; is the city and inside a building.
E.g: an house jail restaurant, the country side isn’t as commonly
used as it can get confused with a horror film.
COSTUMES: The antagonist (the villain) normally, typically wears smart
clothing, e.g : suit or shirtor jeans. The costumenormally matches the
location. For example if it was an urban built up area the character would
more than likely to be wearing a suit and a tie.
Also, the antagonistnormally wears dark clothing, as the color black
represents death, mystery and suspicion.
The protagonistis the oppositeto this; as they normally dress in brightly
colored clothing.

5. LIGHTING: Low level lighting is commonly used in psychologicalthriller as it
creates suspicion and tension. In somefilms it use to create shadows which
makes the audience feel fear and tension. Lighting is a very key attribute of
our chosen genre- trailers mostly consistof low key lighting with very dark
and ominous colors to correlate with the Preferred Reading of the tone
being sinister and chilling.

6. PROPS: Mirrors arecommonly used psychology thriller to portray the use
of reflections of a character inner self as well as representing the ‘dark side’
of the character. Props are normally the key aspects in psychologicalthriller
as they arenormally used to create clues that are related to the restof the
film. They do this to keep the audience engaged.

8. NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
 Psychologicalhorror films areusually done using a nonlinear
structure.
 They have a non- linear structurebecausethe film usually contain
flashbacks to events in the characters life, showing the audience
important pastevents that supportthe film plot.
The following films are great examples of psychological horror.
 THE INVITATION (2015)
 GOOD NIGHT MOMMY (2014)
 THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE ( 2015)

9.  GONEGIRL (2014)
 THE GIFT (2015)
 GERALD’S GAME (2017)
 1408 (2017)
 GLASS (2019)
 JOKER (2019)
 SPLIT