This document outlines several common horror subgenres and their conventions: Supernatural horror involves ghosts, monsters, and other supernatural elements. Dark fantasy combines fantasy with horror elements. Sci-fi horror mixes science fiction aspects like aliens to create horror. Psychological horror focuses on psychological dread over graphic violence. Gothic horror involves psychological terror in historic settings like castles. Slasher movies feature a killer stalking and murdering victims with weapons like knives. The document provides examples and asks students to identify conventions of different subgenres.

1. HORROR GENRE CODES &
CONVENTIONS

2. CAN YOU IDENTIFY HORROR SUB GENRES?
• Identify at least two horror sub genres and provide
movie examples.
• What relevant horror conventions do they have?

3. SUPERNATURAL
HORROR
• Can include ghosts,
monsters, dark forces,
zombies, creepy things that
can’t be found in the real
world.

4. DARK FANTASY
• contains fantasy elements
with a horror twist, or
horror with a distinctly
fantastical setting.

5. SCI-FI HORROR
• mash up of science fiction
and horror, usually where
the sci-fi aspects (aliens,
space travel, robots) are
used to precipitate the
overriding horror.

6. PSYCHOLOGICAL
HORROR
• driven by characters fears
and focused more on
psychological dread than
on murder, mutilation, and
gore. Could be
supernatural, but is more
often associated with those
twists where the
protagonist turns out to be
insane.

7. GOTHIC
• involves psychological
terror in historically
romantic settings, usually
includes mysteries, ghosts,
castles, decay, madness,
hereditary curses and
death.

8. SUSPENSE/
THRILLER
• does not involve any
supernatural or
otherworldly aspects,
instead relying on real-life
situations to generate
horror through serial killers,
deadly situations, natural
disasters and psychopaths.

9. SLASHER MOVIES
• typically involving a
mysterious, generally
psychopathic killer stalking
and killing a sequence of
victims usually in a
graphically violent manner,
often with a cutting tool
such as a knife, an axe, or a
chainsaw.

10. TASK: IN PAIRS USE THE WORKSHEET TO PRODUCE A PRESENTATION ON THE
CODES AND CONVENTIONS THINKING OF AS MANY HORROR FILMS WITHIN THE
SUB-GENRE
TYPICALS
SETTINGS
PROPS
COSTUME
NONVERBAL
COMMUN
ICATION
CINEMAT
EXAMPLES
FILMS