THE SUB-GENRES OF HORROR

COMEDY-HORROR

Comedy horrors differ from what you would expect from a typical horror movie. It combines classic horror with comedy. These films don't aim to elicit the negative reactions and emotions from the viewer. Instead they create a comedy experience with a storyline that is based on the elements used in typical horror films. For example, monsters, serial killers, ghosts, frightening locations and many more. They can also be based around a film that has been previously released and follow the characters and themes of those films. Examples of these movies include the Scary Movie series, Beetlejuice and Shaun of the Dead.

SLASHER-HORROR

A slasher-horror is horror sub-genre that contains a lot of violence. A lot of screen time is devoted in these movies to the violence that is usually inflicted by a psychopathic serial killer. This killer would have him/herself kill their victims in extremely memorable violent ways. With a story such as this, it would contain a lot of mystery as to who the killer would be or who would be the next victim, which means that this genre is a mix of Horror and Crime Drama. The violence is another factor that sets it apart from the other Horror sub-genres. These films will also include special and practical effects to make the violence look more realistic. Examples of films in this genre would be Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho, Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th.

SUPERNATURAL-HORROR

Supernatural-Horror, also known as Paranormal-Horror, is a particular sub-genre of horror that is one of the most popular of them all. The reason being that there are a lot of possibilities in terms of a unique story. The typical story of a supernatural-horror movie would normally contain many different supernatural themes and occurrences such as vampires, demons, zombies, werewolves, ghosts, religious themes and many more. The story would either be based around the discovery or killing of these monsters/entities or from their point-of-view. These supernatural themes would include special or practical effects to bring to life in these movies. Popular choices of this sub-genre are The Exorcist, Paranormal Activity, Insidious and The Grudge.

PSYCHOLOGICAL-HORROR

This horror sub-genre is mix of Psychological-Thriller and Horror. They are very similar to the Thriller genre but with more purpose to bring negative emotion out of the audience that films of the Horror genre aim to do. They differ from traditional horror films as the fears that the viewers see are that of the main character’s. Psychological horrors are driven to bring out the main character’s fears, emotions and beliefs, playing on his/her mind, having internal battles with their subconscious. As a result, their mind has become unstable and become something different entirely from the person they were to advance the storyline. Examples of films from this sub-genre are The Secret Window, The Ring and The Shining. The Secret Window isn’t a horror film but it is very similar to this sub-genre.

SCIENCE FICTION-HORROR

This horror sub-genre is a mix of the Science Fiction genre and Horror. It tends to bring out the typical themes of Sci-Fi films, such as aliens, mad scientists, technology and science experiments gone wrong. But they also bring these themes together with traditional horror storytelling. This horror sub-genre isn’t a very popular genre, which explains why there aren’t very many. One of the most popular recent ones, Apollo 18, has taken a new lead to a sci-fi horror film. It takes the filmmaking technique from popular film series, Paranormal Activity, know as ‘found footage’ and combines it with a sci-fi horror story. This is something that hasn’t happened often in the past, but now the ‘found footage’ filmmaking technique is spreading to different film genres. Examples of sci-fi horror genre are the Alien series, The Thing, Splice and Pandorum.