2. Setting and Location
Locations in horror movies tend to be very remote and isolated
from neighbours or nearby people. Victims tend to have to travel
quite far to ever succeed in finding help.
The most stereotypical locations are:
Haunted houses
Schools
Streets and alleyways
Hospitals
Churches
3. Characters
Characters who are victims are always portrayed to be vulnerable
shown through high angle camera shots. This creates an effect of
‘looking down’ on the victim to show lack of power and
helplessness.
Children are a very common choice of character due to the
innocence and purity that can be taken advantage of by the villain.
Students are also used quite often as a result of their dramatic
nature and to challenge the ‘bad boy’ image that males tend to
adopt in college.
4. Villains
Villains in horror movies all seem to follow similar paradigms.
Typical structuralist horror villains :
Dress in black to camouflage with darkness and the shadows
Wear long cloaks to cover up as much as possible to prevent
their identity from being revealed
Be masked and voice-changed to add to the mystery and
suspense
Have a signature weapon or super power
5. Props
Props used in modern horror movies consist of knives and other
penetrating items as a way of representing sex without being
explicit about it. The revelation of film now allows sex scenes to be
shown yet the symbolism of intercourse through stabbing derives
from the older films when the law didn’t allow sexual references to
be aired.
Power tools are used as weapons in horror films due to inspiration
from movies such as ‘Saw’. This may boost sales and views due to
intriguing the audience with similar gruesome graphics.
A lot of fake limbs and blood are used to create effects and stunts.
6. Camera Work
Camera work in horror films add great atmosphere to shots and
allows us to empathise more with characters.
Establishing shots: To show the setting; sometimes to show
tranquil which usually symbolises a sinister foreshadow.
Point of View shots gives us more of an idea to the characters
insight on a situation and allows us to live the story and react at
the same time of the character.
Handheld Camera work is vital to add tension, the unstableness
shows the fear and panic throughout the scene.
7. Sound
Diagetic-
Screams
Door and floorboard creaking
Windows smashing
Wolves howling
Non-Diagetic-
Silence to fast paced, high pitched music creates tension and
suspense.
Very little dialogue other than cries for help.
