2. Semantics of Horror Genre
Typical semantics of horror films include:
Characters:
The Whore
The Athlete
The Scholar
The Fool
The Virgin
Props:
Knives
Guns
Fake Blood
Masks
Weapons of some form
Locations:
People’s houses
Abandoned shacks/forests
Music is often dischordant, very dark, and dynamic shifts
are sudden and unexpected, to coincide with what is going
on in the narrative.
Shooting style often involves large numbers of close ups,
and very stereotypical shots whereby the antagonist
appears without the protagonist, or the audience knowing.
3. Syntactic
• Typically within the horror
genre, there are usually a group
of friends, or people otherwise
related, who get detached from
society – either by choice or by
intervention from the
antagonist.
• This is then punctuated by the
introduction of the antagonist,
and the basic outline of the
narrative.
• Within the trailer for a horror,
you usually expect several
minor scares and possibly one
major one at the end
• Often the pace is dictated and
utilised to make the audience
feel uneasy. The pace is often
brought up then back down
before being brought back up
after the final scare.
