Rezma Jusna

Horror Generic Conventions

After analysing horror movies it is clear to see that there are set horror conventions. For example in the opening scenes, the key plot of the whole movie is hinted at the begging of the movie. This is done to show the audience that this little hint will have relevance later on. For instance, in ‘The Ring’ the credits have some static animations that you would normally see on a broken television. As the plot is about a girl who comes out of televisions, the credits help emphasise this by adding in the static effect. The credits already show that every bit of the movie – even the credits – all add onto the plot.

Another generic convention is some sort of sound that is used to show that the atmosphere is not a normal happy one. For example in ‘Sinister’ a slow organ is played which gives the impression that something unholy is just about to happen. ‘The Devil Inside’ also has an unnatural chime noise at the beginning. These sounds are made to sound unnatural so that it ties in with the generic convention of horror.

Finally there is always one damsel in distress in the beginning of these horror movies. According to horror conventions, this damsel in distress is always the target of some kind of supernatural being or psycho. This damsel in distress in traditionally played by a female and is portrayed to be very wary of her surroundings and very fragile indeed.

So to conclude the generic conventions of horror are spread out across many categories such as music and characters. There are certain ways of portraying each category in order for that particular film to fall into the horror territory.

So in this opening credit, there is a church in the background and the title of the film has come up as ‘The House Of The Devil’. This contrasts with the church which is supposedly holy. This shows that there will supposedly be a connection with the church and spiritual creatures in this movie.

The tubular bells composition is well known for being the theme of exorcist. This is because of the unnatural sound of the bells create an eerie atmosphere that has been associated with this movie.

This is a traditional female character that is constantly paranoid that something is going to happen. It would seem that this type of character is expectant of her fate.