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The HORROR Genre. A2 Media. What is Horror?. Horror films are unsettling movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear , disgust and horror from viewers. They usually feature frequent jump scenes.
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TheHORRORGenre A2 Media
What is Horror? • Horror films are unsettling movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, disgust and horror from viewers. They usually feature frequent jump scenes. • They frequently overlap with the fantasy, science fiction, and more commonly the thriller genre. • Horror films deal with the viewer's nightmares, hidden worst fears, and terror of the unknown. • Often, horror films contain a plot about morbid serial killers (especially Halloween-themed), a disease/virus, or some form of surrealism. Also, they often involve the intrusion of an evil force of supernatural origin, into the everyday world. • Some of the most common elements of horror films are ghosts, torture, gore, werewolves, ancient curses, demons, vicious animals, vampires, cannibals, haunted houses, zombies and masked serial killers. • The concept of horror changes through the years, with many films pushing the boundaries of what they can get away with in terms of shock value and socially acceptable fear.
Surviving A Horror Film: Conventions If it appears you have killed the monster, never check if it’s really dead. Never read a book of demon summoning aloud. Do not search the basement, especially if the power has gone out. If your children speak to you in Latin or any other language which they should not know, shoot them immediately. When you have the benefit of numbers, never pair off and go alone. As a general rule, don't solve puzzles that open portals to Hell. Never stand in, on, or above a grave, tomb, or crypt. If you're searching for something which caused a loud noise and find out that it's just the cat, get the hell out! If appliances start operating by themselves, don’t check circuits; just get out. Do not take anything from the dead. If you find your house is built on a cemetery, or that the previous inhabitants went mad, murdered someone, or committed suicide.. Move out!
Surviving A Horror Film: Conventions If you find a town which looks deserted, there's probably a good reason for it. If you're running from the monster, expect to trip or fall down at least twice, more if you are female. Also note that, despite you running and the monster walking, it's still moving fast enough to catch you. If your companions begin to exhibit uncharacteristic behavior such as hissing, bleeding, glowing eyes, increasing hairiness.. kill them! If your car runs out of gas at night on a lonely road, do not go to the nearby deserted house to phone for help.. shoot yourself instead. You are going to die anyway, and most likely be eaten. Beware of strangers bearing strange tools such as chainsaws, staple guns, hedge trimmers, or anything sharp. If you have just smoked dope, gotten drunk with friends or, especially, just had sex, you are as good as dead.
Slasher • Slasher films typically involve a psychopathic killer, who stalks and kills a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife, or scythe. Although the term “Slasher" may be used as a generic term for any graphic horror movie, the Slasher has its own set of characteristics which set it apart from related genres like the splatter film. • Characteristics of a Slasher: • The Killer: Generally male, Identity unknown (perhaps a history of child trauma revealed later on), either masked or concealed by creative lighting, often mute, withstands pain, with have a signature weapon. • The Victims: Young, attractive, high school, punished for indulging in vices such as pre-marital sex or drugs. • Final Girl: One survivor, female peer of victims, does not indulge in illicit activities like peers, left alone at the end to fight on her own. • The Violence: high level of graphic violence, de-emphasize plot and character development in favour of violence and terror.
Popular Slasher Films: Psycho (1960) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Halloween (1978) Friday 13th (1980) Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) Candyman (1992) Scream (1996) I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Splatter (Extreme) • Splatter horror is.. Extreme gore! It goes straight to the blood-and-guts and aims for the gross-out without hesitation. In guidelines you might find terms like "splat," "splatter," or "splatter punk" and "gore,” and "gross.” • A splatter film or gore film is a sub-genre of horror film that deliberately focuses on graphic portrayals of gore and graphic violence. These films, through the use of special effects and excessive blood and guts, tend to display an overt interest in the vulnerability of the human body and the theatricality of its mutilation. • The term "splatter cinema" was coined by George A. Romero to describe his film Dawn of the Dead, though Dawn of the Dead is generally considered by critics to have higher aspirations, such as social commentary, than to be simply exploitative for its own sake. • The combination of graphic violence and sexually suggestive imagery in some films has been labeled "torture porn" or "gorno”. In films such as Braindead, the gore is sometimes so excessive that it becomes a comedic device.
Popular Splatter Films: Evil Dead (1981) Braindead (1992) House of 1000 Corpses (2003) Saw (2004) Devils Rejects (2005) Wolf Creek (2005) Hostel (2005) Human Centipede (2010) Antichrist (2009)
Vampires • Vampire films have been a staple since the silent days, so much so that the depiction of vampires in popular culture is strongly based upon their depiction in movies throughout the years. • The most popular cinematic adaptation of vampire fiction has been from Bram Stoker's Dracula, with over 170 versions to date. By 2005, Dracula had been the subject of more films than any other fictional character. • From the original ‘Nosferatu’ in 1922, up until the present day Twilight trilogy, Vampires have been an ever present part of cinema history.
Popular Vampire Films: Nosferatu (1922) Dracula (1958) Salem’s Lot (1979) Lost Boys (1987) Near Dark (1987) Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) Bram Stokers Dracula (1992) Interview With A Vampire (1994) From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) Blade (1998) Van Helsing (2004) 30 Days of Night (2007) Let the Right One In (2008) Twilight (2008)
Werewolves • Werewolf fiction denotes the portrayal of werewolves and other shape shifting man-beasts, in the media of literature, drama, film, games, and music. • Werewolf literature includes folklore, legend, saga, fairy tales, Gothic and Horror fiction, fantasy fiction and poetry. Such stories may be supernatural, or symbolic. • A classic cinematic example of the theme is The Wolf Man (1941) in which Lon Chaney Jr. transforms into a werewolf at the full moon, and in later films joins with Frankenstein and Dracula, as one of the three famous horror icons of the modern day.
Popular Werewolf Films: The Wolf Man (1941) An American Werewolf In London (1981) Wolf (1994) An American Werewolf In Paris (1997) Ginger Snaps (2000) Dog Soldiers (2002)
Psychological/Supernatural • Based on the disturbed human psyche. Obviously psychos on rampages fall into this category, but it is just as often more subtle, and often focuses around being possessed by a demon. The devil is often referred to. • Since the reader's perception is sometimes altered by exposure to an insane viewpoint, psychological horror can also deal with ambiguous reality and seem supernatural.
Popular Psychological Films: Rosemary’s Baby (1968) Exorcist (1973) The Omen (1976) The Shining (1980) Poltergeist (1982) Hellraiser (1987) IT. (1990) Jacob’s Ladder (1990) Sixth Sense (1999) Blair Witch Project (1999) Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) Drag Me To Hell (2009) Paranormal Activity (2009)
Zombie • Zombies are creatures usually portrayed as either a reanimated corpse or a mindless human being. • While zombie films generally fall into the horror genre, some cross over into other genres, such as comedy, science fiction, thriller, or romance. • There have even been developments in zombie-specific sub-genres, such as "zombie comedy" or the "zombie apocalypse". This list does not include ghosts, mummies, or vampires. • George A’ Romero is known as the Godfather of Zombie films for his contribution to the Zombie genre.
Popular Zombie Films: Night of the Living Dead (1968) Dawn of the Dead (1978) Evil Dead (1981) Thriller (1983) Day of the Dead (1985) Re-Animator(1985) Braindead (1992) 28 Days Later (2002) Shaun of the Dead (2004) REC (2007) Zombieland (2009)
Monster Movie • Monster movie (also can be referred to as a creature feature or monster film) is a name commonly given to movies, which centre on the struggle between human beings and one or more monsters. • While there is no specific academic genre classification of that name, the term is usually applied to films sometimes labeled as horror, fantasy or science fiction genre that involve fictional creatures, in most cases it is applied to films that feature more oversized monsters. • In Japanese cinema, such monsters are referred to as Kaiju. Typically, movie monsters differ from more traditional antagonists in that many exist due to circumstances beyond their control; their actions not entirely based on choice, potentially making them objects of empathy to film viewers.
Popular Monster Films: Frankenstein (1931) King Kong (1938) Godzilla (1954) Jaws (1975) Alien (1979) The Thing (1982) The Fly (1986) Predator (1987) Tremors (1990) Anaconda (1997) The Faculty (1998) Lake Placid (1999) Jeepers Creepers (2001) Cloverfield (2008)
Comedy Horror Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, combining elements of comedy and horror fiction. The comedy horror genre almost always inevitably crosses over with the black comedy genre; and in some respects could be considered a subset of it. The short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving is cited as "the first great comedy-horror story". The story made readers "laugh one moment and scream the next", and its premise was based on mischief typically found during the holiday Halloween. While comedy horror films provide scares for audiences, they also provide something that dramatic horror films do not: "the permission to laugh at your fears, to whistle past the cinematic graveyard and feel secure in the knowledge that the monsters can't get you”.
Popular Comedy Horror Films: Young Frankenstein (1974) Piranha (1978) Evil Dead (1981) Gremlins (1984) Little Shop of Horrors (1986) Bad Taste (1987) Beetlejuice (1988) Braindead (1992) Scream (1996) Scary Movie (1996) Eight Legged Freaks (2002) Shaun of the Dead (2004) Zombieland (2009) Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009)
J-Horror • Japanese horror, sometimes referred to as J-horror, is Japanese contributions to horror fiction in popular culture, noted for their unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre in light of western treatments. • Japanese horror has been hugely influential over the years and many films have been re-made by western countries. • They tend to focus on psychological horror and tension building (anticipation), particularly involving ghosts, poltergeists, possession, and exorcism,
Popular Japanese Horror Films: The Ring (1998) Audition (1999) Battle Royale (2000) Ichi the Killer (2001) The Grudge (2002) Dark Water (2002)
Suspense/Thriller • No supernatural elements, but a constant sense of threat coming from an outside menace. • Add a strong investigative angle and it becomes mystery more than horror. Add action and adventure to suspense and you come up with "thriller” • What's considered to be a horror film has varied from decade to decade. Films that were once called horror, would now be categorised as thrillers (The Silence of the Lambs, Jaws, Psycho, Seven). These days, the term "horror" is applied to films which display more explicit gore, jump scenes/scares or supernatural content.
Popular Thriller Horror Films: Carrie (1976) The Shining (1980) Misery (1990) Silence of the Lambs (1991) Se7en (1995) Funny Games (1997) The Sixth Sense (1999) Cabin Fever (2002) The Village (2004) Mirrors (2008) The Strangers (2008)
