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1. Why horror is the best film genre
Active spectatorship
Active spectatorship as the name implies referrers to
how active and involved an audience is with a film.
This means a that the view takes a more individual
meaning from the film drawing their own meanings,
reacting differently based upon their past
experiences, analyzing the film and its meaning.
Active spectatorship has the ability to turn views of
films into a fan of not just the film but also the genre
itself which is the reason why horror has such as
devoted fan base (look at image which shows fan
theories for blair witch project up to the year 2017)
this is only further increased when fan theories
emerge which can help a film to stick in your head for
years after its release with one example of this being
how the monster is still alive at the end in the thing.
The reason that horror films have active spectatorship is that they tap into the views emotional
and psychological parts of the brain which means it will affect views in different ways depending
on their personal past experiences. One example of this would be that someone with
arachnophobia would be more scared by a scene which features spiders than someone who
does not suffer from this phobia. Their are other ways in which the audience more active during
horror films such as people chatting with one another after a scary part of the movie, their heart
rates will increase e.c.t.
Because of the level of interactivity that horror films provide a
large number of fans of horror live action role play(larping),
acting out their favorite scenes from films ensuring they stay
with people for much longer than genres which do not feature
this such as comedy. The level of larping with in the horror
community is so great that at most major film events such as
comicon horror villain costumes such as Jason and freddy are
some of the most prevalent costumes that can be found
Horror films fill out most parts of Blumler and Katz’s Uses and gratification theory in ways that
no other genre can, the reason for this is that humanities fear response is much larger than any
other due to it having been needed for survival. This means that because horror films induce
fear they are able to distract people from the stress and worry of daily life better than any other
genre of film. Additional due to you and the protagonists sharing fear of what is happening you

2. will put yourself into their position and identifying with them without meaning to, due to this you
can see that horror is great for fulfilling human needs in ways that no other genre can.
Audience reception
Quinces general have a good reception for horror films because
as long as they achieve their primary goal of scaring the audience
they have given the audience what they have payed for, due to
this horror films are for the most part well reviewed and are
considered a safe bet to watch. And while it is possible for horror
films to just do this they can also surpass this base goal by
making commentaries on modern day society such as the 2017
film get out which comments on how racism is still prevalent and
is something which needs to be stopped. Given that horror films are great at affecting the
emotional state of the audience and they physiological state messages which are conveyed by
the film will stick much better than in other genres without this trait, audience are also more
susceptible to messages given by horror due to most of them falling under similar age brackets
meaning that viewers will be for groups that are more likely to read any message the same as it
was intended.
B movies are a vital aspect of the horror genre, and film as
a who given that horror b movies is the most likely place for
new directors to try and make their break throw due to the
fact they are less expensive that higher budget films
meaning that directors can try to hone their craft and are
made much more often. Examples of directors who have
emerged throw this type of film include Steven Spielberg,
Stanley Kubrick and John Krasinski. Due to them being less
expensive and less of a risk they are able to be made to the director's vision without as much
interference creating a much more pure feeling end product which large amounts of the
audience appeariate.
Readings
The viewers will take their own meanings from horror films and will decode messages which the
director will leave in the film and come up with their own conclusions regarding these messages
as stated by hals theory of decoding and encoding. The messages given can vary in terms of
how they are given such as throw colors,setting, e.c.t. Horror films are especially great at giving
hidden meanings to the audience due to their mysterious nature, to give an example of this the
saw series gives the message that people should be made to be punished for crimes that they
commit being hidden amongst all of the killing that takes place which can help to hide these
messages ensuring they are not to in your face.

3. Intertextuality
Intertextuality has been vital for the growth of horror. When you look at
the early examples of horror films you can see that they were based off
of famous horror books, with some examples of this being frankenstein
and dracula, these two examples were both created by the company
universal and went on to entertain the world changing the face of horror,
because of the success of these two adaption many other famous horror
got film adaptations. Horror stayed like this for a long while before
original horror films started getting created. One of the early original
horror films was the unknown (1927), horror is instrumental in pushing
what is accepted by the public from film with it being the first genre to
show gore on screen and has continued to follow with controversial films
even now with a more modern example of this being the film franchise
saw which pushed public sensibilities.
While horror can be credited to the start of horror as a genre it is still
used now with the horror genre being famous for referencing
it’s most iconic moments insuring that people will never
forget them, these references can range from small things
such as looking at a character throw a shower curtain which
references back to psycho to flat out naming other horror
films to help make the film seem more realistic as it features
things which we ourselves know to exist. Finally horror is a
genre which can support a large number of spoof films
which fondly mock the conventions of horror which is
effective due to horrors conventions being easy to understand, the most famous example of a
horror spoof would be the scary movie franchise which was more successful than many true
horror films.
Role of social media
One reason why social media is so great is that their
supernatural and mysterious nature leave a lot of
questions unanswered at the end of the film which
results in fans of the film to look online for like minded
people who they can discuss these details with which
helps bring fans together to then share other horror
films which they enjoy, this is especially true of smaller
films where people would be less likely to know

4. someone who has seen the film in real life driving them to the
internet. This relyance on social media carries throw to
advertising and teasers which will be put up on the films social
media page. The teaser/ trailer will then be shared by people
who like the look of the film exposing more people to it. Horror
teasers are particularly well suited to social media, as these
services are supposed to be quick, meaning they are suited to
short clips like teasers. So give how people will be pulled into a
horror film quickly though the show of its basic premise and a
hint of mystery meanings they are better suited than other
genres which require longer amounts of time to gain audience
interest.
Pre and post viewing experiences
The pre and post viewing is very important in the horror
genre. The pre viewing experience is designed to help
build up hype and raise expectations of the film in
question, this is done in though the use of trailers which
will tease what the protagonist will be up against in order
to tempt people to watch the film when it is released,
their are also interviews with the actors in the film who
will say about how the film is great further conveying the
positives of the films. Another aspect of the previewing
experience is that.
Other pre viewing experiences can be form films of the same
franchise, an example of this is how people have expectations of
what they expect from a saw film before you go to watch it,
horror films as a whole are affected by this as people expect
similar things from horror films in the same subgenre, this is
amplified by how horror tropes are easier to understand than
those or other genres in many ways with most horror films being
bet in an isolated location, while it is dark and with cold colours.
The post viewing experience is how someone is affected after a film, this is where horror really
excels over other genres of film. The reason for this is that they do not just affect the audience
emotionally but also psychologically, though this they can affect people for life with some
people gaining fears which they did not possess before watching meaning the film will stick with
them forever, one example of this is how the percentage of the population who believe in ghosts
increased after the release the exorcist.