2. Idea of horror movies
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 centre on the arrival of an
evil force, person, or event.
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.
3. Iconic Horror Films/ Characters
Profile: Roger L. Jackson
Film: Scream
Signature: Buck Knife, Ghost
face mask
Profile : Jason Voorhees
Film : Friday the 13th
Signature : Hockey Goalie Mask
Profile : John Kramer
Film : Saw
Signature: he cuts a puzzle
shaped piece of flesh from
victims who didn't survive
(symbolizing their missing
survival instincts)
4. Iconography of horror
A family moves into the
haunted house
The disfigured face or
mask
The screaming victim ‘the final girl’ The phallic murder weapon:
knife, stake, chainsaw
Binary oppositions of good and
evil e.g Dracula/Van Helsing
Darkened places where the
‘monster’ lurks: woods, cellars
5. Sub-genres
Film genres often branch into sub-genre, as in the case of psychological horror
(demons and possession)
Slasher films typically
involve a psychological
killer, who stalks & kills a
sequence of victims in a
graphically violent
manner, often with a
phallic object such as
an knife
Splatter films or gore film is a
subgenre of horror film that
deliberately focuses on
graphic portrayals of gore
and graphic violence. These
films, through the use of
special effects, tend to
display an overt interest in
the vulnerability of the
human body and the
theatricality of its mutilation.
Monster is a
name commonly
given to horror
movies, which
centre on the
struggle
between human
beings and one
or more
monsters.
Zombie are creatures usually
portrayed as either a
reanimated corpse or mindless
human being
Zombies are portrayed as
representing a variety of
social, economical and
cultural issues, affecting our
world today (consumerism for
example)
6. Sub-genres
Thrillers heavily stimulate
the viewer's moods, giving
them a high level of
anticipation, expectation,
uncertainty, anxiety and
terror. Thrillers often add a
strong investigation angle
to the film, it becomes a
mystery than a slasher or
splatter
Japanese horror, also
known as j-horror is the
Japanese contribution to
horror fiction in popular
culture. A common
convention for j-horror is the
ideology of ‘yurel’ . A yurel
are female Japanese ghost
who wear white clothing
(funeral attire in japan) and
have long unkempt black
hair. Which comes from the
tradition of Japanese
women growing their hair
long & wearing it up. Only
letting it down in death
psychological horror
focus on mental
conflict such as
paranoia These
become important as
the characters face
perverse situations,
often involving the
supernatural,
immorality and
conspiracies.
psychological horror
tends to keep the
monsters hidden
vampire have always
intrigued and
frightened people
from cultures around
the world. Demonic
or supernatural
possession was often
juxtaposed with
blood-drinking, sex,
and corpses the
practice of
cannibalism. This
emerged the genre
of vampire movies
