Research into the horror genre

The Exorcist (1973) William Friedkin
The exorcist was based on a historical case which makes the film more thrilling and the film itself received a mixed reception from those who concerned themselves with public morals.

 

The Shining (1980) Stanley Kubrick
The shining is a unique horror film in which is physiologically thrilling. This film does not rely on any props or scares, it is the apprehension and the tension in which keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. Due to this, every physiological horror film that has followed the shining as borrowed at least something from the film.

 

The Evil Dead (1981) Sam Raimi

The evil dead is incredibly important to the independent low budget horror movies category and has become one of the most revered horror films ever made. Evil Dead has inspired countless horror films over the years with the most recent being ‘Cabin in The Woods’

 

Nightmare on Elm Street (1985) Wes Craven
Once Elm Street hit many films tried to copy most of them unsuccessfully. Freddy made the silent killer in a mask something that defined the genre. Killers could have a personality, and horror films were never the same again.


Saw (2003) - James Wan
One of the most influential horror movies of the last fifteen years, “Saw” created its own sub genre of uber-violent horror films.

 

Phsyco (1980) – Alfred Hitchcock
This was our first foray into the actual psychosis of a serial killer. Before Norman Bates there was no such thing as a famous movie killer.

 

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Eduardo Sanchez
It became one of the most profitable films in cinema until Paranormal Activity came along. Blair Witch also made popular the found footage craze. Lastly this was the first film to use the internet and word of mouth with amazing success.

 

I can conclude from these findings that all of the most important horror films are retro and within the 1970’s and 1980’s.

 

How has the horror genre changed over the years?

 The horror genre began in the 1930s when the American movie studio universal pictures began a successful gothic horror series. However, since then the genre has changed immensely. A lot of this change, is down to the advanced technology in which is used nowadays to enhance the film. As years progress, so does the technology, therefore the characters get scarier and the sets and special effects get better in order to produce the film to a better standard. These changes include the plots becoming more complex and psychologically baffling, a change in the way films are shot and arranged and the blood and gore has increased to shock the viewers.

 

 Key conventions of this genre –

• Mise en scene (generic locations e.g. Forest, derelict house, isolated areas) 
• Lighting (e.g. shadowing, flickering lights, dark lighting) 
• Sound (fast paced, eerie sometimes classical, non-diegetic sound, exaggerated diegetic sound)
• Iconography (ghostly symbols, dark places, unusual things happening i.e. doors slamming)
• Themes (religious beliefs, exorcism, haunting, gore, serial killers etc)

Target audience – 15 – 40 males and females as horror films generally are rated age 15+ in the cinemas.