The

HORROR

Genre

A2 Media

• Horror films are unsettling movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, disgust and horror from its viewers. They deal with the viewer's nightmares, hidden worst fears, and fear of the unknown.

• Many sub-genres of horror have been established over the years, with many overlapping the fantasy, science fiction & thriller genres.

• The basis of many horror films are the intrusion of an evil force of supernatural origin, into the everyday world.

• The most common elements of horror films are ghosts, torture, gore, ancient curses, diseases/viruses, demons, vicious animals, vampires, cannibals, haunted houses, zombies & masked morbid serial killers.

• Horror films focus on pushing the boundaries of what is exceptable in terms of shock value & socially acceptable fear.

1. If it appears you have killed the monster, never check if it’s

really dead.

2. Never read a book of demon summoning aloud.

3. Do not search the basement, especially if the power has gone

out.

4. If your children speak to you in Latin or any other language

which they should not know, shoot them immediately.

5. When you have the benefit of numbers, never pair off and go

alone.

6. As a general rule, don't solve puzzles that open portals to Hell.

7. Never stand in, on, or above a grave, tomb, or crypt.

8. If you hear a loud noise, and find out that it's just the cat, get

the hell out!

9. If appliances start operating by themselves, don’t check

circuits; just run!

10. Do not take anything from the dead.

11. If you find a town which looks deserted, there's probably a good

reason for it.

12. If you're running from the monster, expect to trip or fall down at

least twice, more if you are female.

13. If you find your house is built on a cemetery, or that the

previous inhabitants went mad, murdered someone, or

committed suicide.. Move out!

14. If you are running and the monster is walking, it will still catch

you!

15. If your companions begin to exhibit uncharacteristic behavior

such as hissing, bleeding, glowing eyes, increasing hairiness..

kill them!

16. If your car runs out of gas at night on a lonely road, don’t go to

a deserted house to phone for help, shoot yourself instead. .

you’re going to die anyway!

17. If you have just smoked dope, gotten drunk with friends or,

especially, just had sex, you are as good as dead.

Slasher films typically involve a psychopathic killer, who stalks & kills a sequence of

victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a tool such as a knife. Although“Slasher" may be used as a generic term for any graphic horror, it actually has its

ownset of characteristics which sets it apart from related genres.

Characteristics of a Slasher:

1. The Killer: Generally male, Identity unknown (perhaps history of child trauma), masked or concealed by lighting, often mute, withstands pain, signature weapon.

2. The Victims: Young, attractive, high school, punished for indulging in vices such as pre-marital sex or drugs.

3. Final Girl: One survivor, female peer of victims, does not indulge in illicit activities (sex, drugs etc) like their peers, left alone at the end to fight on her own.

4. The Violence: high level of graphic violence, de-emphasize plot and character development in favour of violence and terror.

Popular Slasher Films:Psycho (1960)

Black Christmas (1974)Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Halloween (1978)I Spit on Your Grave (1978)

Friday 13th (1980)Prom Night (1980)

Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)Scream (1996)

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

My Bloody Valentine (2009)

• Splatter horror is.. Extreme gore! It goes straight to the blood-and-guts and aims for the gross-out without hesitation.

• A splatter /gore film is a sub-genre 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 ‘Dead’ film franchise featuring Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, & Night of the Living Dead. It has since been taken to a new level with the SAW franchise.

• 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.

The Hills Have Eyes (1977)Evil Dead (1981)Braindead (1992)

House of 1000 Corpses (2003)Saw (2004)

Devils Rejects (2005)Wolf Creek (2005)

Hostel (2005)Martyrs (2008)

Antichrist (2009)Human Centipede (2010)

• 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 is Bram Stoker's Dracula, with over 170 versions to date & by 2005, Dracula had been the film subject in features, more times 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.

• 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 fiction.

• A classic cinematic example is The Wolf Man (1941) in which a man transforms into a werewolf at full moon, and in later films joins with Frankenstein and Dracula, as one of the three famous horror icons of the modern day.

Nosferatu (1922)Dracula (1958) (1992)

Salem’s Lot (1979)An American Werewolf In London (1981)

Lost Boys/Near Dark (1987)Interview With A Vampire/Wolf (1994)

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)Blade (1998)

Dog Soldiers (2002)Let the Right One In (2008)

Daybreakers (2009) Red Riding Hood (2011)

• Psychological horror has become very popular in modern day cinema, attempting a certain level of ‘Realism’ to inflict fear in its audience.

• Often based on the disturbed human psyche, they focus around possession and dark forces which can remain spiritual presences, or can take the guise of witches (Blair Witch), ghosts (The Haunting) or demons (Exorcist).

• 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’.

• Demonic possession in films such as the Exorcist & Paranormal Activity, play on fear of the unknown, superstition & the idea that evil forces exist in the world.

• Characters fall prey to an evil force that is trying to victimize them somehow. The evil entity is perhaps gaining vengeance for something that happened in the past.

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)Exorcist (1973)

The Omen (1976)The Shining (1980)Poltergeist (1982)Hellraiser (1987)

Blair Witch Project (1999)Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)

Drag Me To Hell (2009)Paranormal Activity (2009)

Insidious (2011)The Devil Inside (2012)

• 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". Working Titles 2004 release Shaun of the Dead has been responsible for a rise in amateur zombie flicks.

• George A’ Romero is known as the Godfather of Zombie films for his contribution to the Zombie genre with his ‘Dead’ series featuring Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, & Night of the Living Dead.

• Zombies are portrayed as representing a variety of social, economical and cultural issues , affecting our world today (consumerism for example).

Night of the Living Dead (1968)Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Evil Dead (1981)Thriller (1983)

Day of the Dead (1985)Braindead (1992)

28 Days Later (2002) 28 Weeks Later (2007)

Shaun of the Dead (2004)REC (2007)

Zombieland (2009)The Crazies (2010)

The Walking Dead (2011) TV Series

• Monster movie (also can be referred to as a creature feature or monster film) is a name commonly given to horror movies, which centre on the struggle between human beings and one or more monsters.

• Originating from Japan, this sub genre is most famous for introducing Godzilla, and King Kong.

• 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 in most cases involve 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.

Frankenstein (1931)King Kong (1938)Godzilla (1954)

Jaws (1975)Alien (1979)

The Thing (1982)The Fly (1986)Tremors (1990)

The Faculty (1998)Jeepers Creepers (2001)

Cloverfield (2008)Piranha (2010)

• Japanese horror, sometimes referred to as J-horror, is the Japanese contribution to horror fiction in popular culture. They are most well noted for their unique thematic & conventional treatment of horror, in light of western treatments.

• Japanese horror has been hugely influential over the years and many films have been re-made by the western market (Ring, Grudge, Eye etc).

• They tend to focus on psychological horror and tension building (anticipation), particularly involving ghosts, poltergeists, possession, and exorcism.

• A common convention of J-Horror films is the Yūrei. Yurei are Japanese ghosts bound to the physical world through emotions which do not allow them to pass on. Depending on the emotion, they manifest as a particular type of ghost.

• Yurei are female, who wear white clothing (funeral attire in Japan). They have long, unkempt black hair, which comes from the tradition of Japanese women growing their hair long & wearing it pinned up, only letting it down in death.

Ringu (1998)Audition (1999)

Battle Royale (2000)Ichi the Killer (2001)

The Eye (2002)Ju-on (The Grudge) (2002)

Dark Water (2002)One Missed Call (2003)

• Thrillers are often regarded as being outside the horror genre, however, depending on the graphic content of the film, occasionally some films cross over.

• They do not including supernatural elements as much as Psychological horror, but instead focus on a constant sense of threat coming from an outside menace.

• By adding a strong investigative angle to the film, it becomes a mystery more than a slasher/splatter gore, jump fest! Add some action and adventure to this suspense, and you come up with a "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 in cinema, the boundaries of horror film making are constantly being pushed by film makers, with the horror genre becoming more and more extreme each year.

Carrie (1976)The Shining (1980)

Misery (1990)Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Se7en (1995)Funny Games (1997)

The Sixth Sense (1999)The Village (2004)

Mirrors (2008)The Strangers (2008)

Buried (2010)