The Horror Genre

Genre

What is genre?

A genre is essentially the type of film. The various aspects of a film decide which genre the film is. Some films can fall into more than one category (e.g. Romanic comedy is both romance and comedy) these are called hybrid genres.

Genre

Example of horror hybrids are:

Shaun of the dead: The Cottage Army of darkness

These are all both horrors and comedies, so they are horror comedy hybrids

D.I.S.T.I.N.C.T

• Don’t• Ignore• Setting• Technical code• Iconography• Narrative• Characterisation• Themes

Setting

The setting is where the film is set, for a horror film are usually isolated, abandoned or locations with a hidden past, this can create a sense of tension and how they are alone, these are usually set at night time. However the setting for a horror genre is varied and can be set in almost any location at any time of day.

Setting

Cliché examples of films with these settings would be:

Secret window:Set in an isolated area

Silent hill:Set in a village that Has a hidden

past

Friday the 13th:Set in an abandoned location

Setting

Films with more original setting locations would include:

Ghost ship:Set aboard a ship

The Thing:Set in Antarctica

28 days later:Set in broad daylight London

Technical code

Camera work is expressive rather than naturalistic. Using weird angles and canted cameras are common in horror movies. As well as this horror films often use extreme close ups and Point of view shots in order to express fear or to make the audience feel more involved or to add tension.

Technical code

Examples of this camera work would include:

The silence of the lambs:Uses point of view shots to add

tension

The Blair witch project:Constant use of close and extreme

close ups to display fear

Clover field:Uses point of view and canted

angles to make the audience feel more involved

Iconography

Visual things that signify the genre, colours like black and red often do this on movie posters and use blue filters are used in the film in order to show that this is a horror film. The mise-en-scene of any horror film also help show that the film is a horror film by using such props as Knives, axes, guns and of course blood.

Iconography

The ring

Saw

Night mare on elm street

Notice how all three of these horror films have a blue filter? It's called digital colour correction. Back in the day, if you wanted your movie to have an artistic, stylish colour palette, you had to go through the process of using filters on your lights and camera, or get the footage exposed just the right way. It was expensive, it was difficult and it was limited to people who really knew what they were doing. Now days due to advances in computer technology all horror films can have this eerie blue effect with some simple computer editing.

Iconography

The same applies to other genres and settingsFilms set in the desert are yellow

Smokin' Aces

The hills have eyes

Films where the reality is off-kilter are green

Fight club

The Matrix

Iconography

Friday the 13th

The Shinning

Notice how often axes are used as weapons in horror films? They are a iconic prop in horror films and a Cliché example of horror mise-en-scene, other examples would include almost any bladed weapons but also certain creatures, costumes and even certain actors.

Narrative Structure

The narrative structure is basically how the story is told and in horror films they usually have a cliff hanger at the end of the movie and a kind of never ending plot.

Narrative Structure

Saw:Plot always cliff hangs

Nightmare on Elm street:Has been remade and squealed

countless times

Friday the 13th:The antagonist always survives at

the end

Examples of this kind of narrative structure would include:

Character Types

These are the different types of characters which make up a film and how the audience identifies them.

Character Types

Such characters include:• The Protagonist: This is often a female role, they are usually the most morally standing and smartest of the group,

they almost always survive in order to pave way for a sequel

• The Sex appeal: This role is often filled by a promiscuous blonde women, they are often the first to be killed and are the first to exposes their body

• The Irritating guy: This role is often partnered with the “sex appeal” they to are often the first to go and due to their behaviour the audience is usually happy when they are killed off.

• The Token Black guy: Almost every horror film now days has at least one black guy, they are often the one to sacrifice them selves to save others or to act as the muscle of the group but can sometimes also take the role of “The Irritating guy”

• The one who gets his comeuppance: This role is sometimes a side kick of the “antagonist” they are only interested in their own well being but they are always killed off before the end.

• The unlikely hero: This character is usually the one the audience suspects to be the antagonist due to their behaviour and/or appearance but they are often the one to save the day

• The antagonist: The “Bad Guy” of the film, it’s not always clear why there are doing what they are doing but they are rarely killed off all together at the end, they are often just wounded to allow “the protagonist” to escape but still leave room for a sequel

Themes

The theme is not easy to describe, basically the theme is like the recurring element within a film’s plot.

Theme

Examples of themes would be:

Secret window:schizophrenia

Fatal attraction:Revenge

The Mist:Religious belief

Let’s recap

• Don’t• Ignore• Setting• Technical code• Iconography• Narrative• Characterisation• Themes