TARGET AUDIENCE

Horror audience Horror films tend to follow the age ranges of 15 to 18 year olds. This

is due to the contents that are present within the film such as gore, blood and graphic scenes.

As horror films are designed to express the emotion of fear and suspense for the audience, horror films need to have the element of a threat that potentially could cause harm or death. The feature of a threat that is usually one that causes harm will straight away give the film an age certificate of 15. If the threat causes explicit violence then the age rating can be raised to 18.

The higher the age for a horror film the more popular and better for sale. Horror films need to portray a threat, sometimes gore and violence. Horror films attract people who like the suspense element caused by violence and a threat. Therefore the more intense the threat is and the conscience, the bigger the suspense as the danger is more present to the characters in the film. Which results in a higher age certificate.

The horror target audience Horror films are usually targeted at young adults and adults.

This is mostly down to the content that is to inappropriate for a child audience.

The teenage audience of 15 to 18 is popular as the age certificates for horror films vary from these two age groups. However it is mostly young adults from 18 to early 20’s that watch horror films.

Horror films target the young audience, just above the child audience, however the audience cuts of past mid 30’s. This is down to young people being to old to watch films targeted at young children and horror films creating a sense of suspense and not having much of a in-depth plot that make horror films easy viewing

Age certificates

Films that have a certificate of 15 can contain drug taking, frequent use of strong language, dangerous behavior (stunts, suicide), nudity, sexual activity (not in strong detail), contain violence and strong threat or menace

Films that have a certificate of 18 can contain any of the features that make a film have a 15 age rating but also can contain a detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use, which may cause harm to public health or morals. This may include portrayals of sexual or sexualized violence