CODES AND CONVENTIONSof SUPERNATURAL HORROR FILMS

SETTING

• Normally set in a suburban or isolated location such as a large residential building, or a dark space such as a forest for example. More specifically, it’s the protagonist's house that they have recently moved into. This will promotes fear of the unknown and unwanted and intruding of personal space. There is also little or no escape from these settings for the characters when the situation starts and begins to escalate.

The setting for Dario Argento’s

Suspiria takes places within a

mysterious dance academy

run by witches, hidden away

in the confines of the Black

Forest in Germany.

NARRATIVES

• The narrative will normally centre around the protagonist trying to work out why the previous owners had died. Characters who move into a new environment full of hope are there only to find that it is bewitched by some sort of supernatural entity, or the narrative will focus upon characters going into a haunted place to investigate. This may also involve a trigger that causes a spirit to continuously haunt someone (e.g. a curse). The audience may also be believe led to believe in a trustworthy character although it turns out that they are the cause of the haunting.

The 1981 film, Evil Dead, focuses upon

five students who go camping in the

woods for vacation, accidentally

unleashing a legion of deadly spirits.

MAIN PROTAGONIST

• The protagonist appear to be normal and will most likely be a female, possibly troubled by something from their past which leads other characters to not take their supernatural experiences seriously until the last minute. If female, they are considered to be the “final girl”, one that will survive to the end of the film. It is necessary for the protagonist to be female, because she must experience a lot of terror, and many viewers would dislike a film that showed utter terror on the part of a male.

Scarlett Marlowe is the main

protagonist for As Above So Below,

and survives all the way through the

film.

CHARACTERS

• Other characters will normally form part of the main protagonist’s alliance in the film, unless a plot twist occurs and it’s revealed that one is the cause of the misery occurring. One by one, eventually they die from the hands of the situation unfolding. Female characters will normally get more gruesome and dramatic death scenes as males find pleasure in seeing them helpless and in pain.

One of the characters other than the

protagonist in Inferno (1980) is his

sister. She ends up being guillotined

by an unseen creature.

COSTUME

• The main character is likely to wear casual costuming in order to give a strong sense of normality. As the horror progresses, we see the character looking erratic and untidy. Their hair may be a mess, and also covered in blood, signifying that they have been through or currently going through a very traumatic situation.

Here we see a character from The

Descent covered and also

submerged in blood. Her hair is also a

mess.

LIGHTING & SOUND

• Profile lighting is used to create a sinister look on a character, along with back lighting to display shadows and events in silhouette form. Under lighting is also used for scenes of desperation.

• Orchestral music is implemented to fit the scene narrative, with empathetic sound to suit the mood of characters in fear. Contrapuntal sound is also common, along with the use of amplified diegetic sounds such as screams for an effect and reaction from the audience.