Horror - genre conventions

Horror – genre conventions

Settings:

Desolate, isolated places more suburban and rural based than the city, this gives more chances and opportunities for victims to be alone and possibly get murdered and the possibility of a whole community harbouring a terrible secret.

Often places with a past story of horror, presenting the possibility of a return of some kind of horror.

Homes, usually with creepy basements and lofts.

Night time, usually places of innocence and fun in the day time which become very sinister at night.

Religious/medical institutions

Dreams and the unconscious mind.

The East such as Asia with strange seeming cultures and traditions.

Technical code:

Expressive rather than naturalistic camerawork as some of the horror scenes, monsters, ghosts etc. As majority of the subjects of these films don’t exist.

ECU’s of victims to identify the feelings of terror and emotion with the audience.

POV shooting is important, whether its handheld or steadicam, often places audience in the monsters eyes and it usually switches to the protagonist/final girl/victim as the film progresses.

Camerawork often makes use of depth frame usually to have the monster/killer in the back of the frame looming over.

Editing creates unsettling or ‘jumpy’ shot changes to create tension and excitement with a simple change of pace.

Iconography:

Visual effects are apparent. Black and red (connoting blood and darkness etc.) are used frequently.

Lighting is expressive and non-naturalistic, often motivated and low key, chiaroscuro to emphasise shadows.

Common icons are things such as masks, bladed weapons, dolls, clowns, children’s songs etc.

Narrative structure.

Linear classic Hollywood narrative structure. Path to resolution with the standard characters of hero, killer/protagonist, victims etc.

In horrors, the hero is not always the typical strong handsome man, and sometimes in horrors it follows the convention of a final girl rather than a simple hero which provides a point of masochistic identification for the spectator.

Structures of sub-genres such as slashers are very formulaic and therefore very predictable, a childhood psychotic event creates a killer who will return to a past anniversary to kill a bunch of stupid or ‘immoral’ teens.

Barthes and Levi Strauss’ structuralist narrative analysis – not so concerned with linear development but more with underlying mythic structures. Works particularly well with horror.

Character Types

Main protagonist often victim/hero – see points on narrative structure. The final girl, androgynous, virginal...

Monsters with a hidden secret or made psychotic by an earlier event.

‘stupid’ ‘immoral’ teens.

Children.

Ineffectual law enforcers

The ‘have a go’ hero, who will get killed.

Scientists who stupid things to reach their powers

People who refuse to believe.

Themes

Binary oppositions.

Return of the repressed – Freudian theory.

The hidden evil inside.

Science out of control

What lies on the other side of death?