Horror Films

Horror movies can often be assessed as a movie which elicits fear

within it’s audience for entertainment purposes all while aiming to
evoke nightmares revolutions and terror of the unknown or the
macabre. Horror can be interpreted in many different ways, but
there is often a central villain, monster, or threat that is often a
reflection of the fears being experienced by society at the time.

Genre:
For the purpose of this report, I will be focusing on horror within
movies, yet it still exists in many mediums whether it’s a novel, TV
show or most popular video games. Even with the rising nature of
horror games I would still argue horror movies would still be the
more important medium with many horror movies going on to be
known as classics such as Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shinning’.

Much like many films, horror films where mainly distributed in box
office through cinemas worldwide but recently with the entire world
being affected by a pandemic, the use of online streaming services
such as Netflix, Hulu and amazon prime has grown exponentially
with amazon prime picking up and additional 50 million
subscriptions during the pandemic. This isn’t a surprise with these
services now being available on nearly every device with an internet
connection.
Horror tends to follow two general codes and conventions with them
being either a visual horror or more psychological horror experience
creating a strong mental reaction between the viewer and the
movie. There is a strong middle ground in which both types of horror
movies will follow using the likes of:

- Jump scares
- Low key lighting
- Flashbacks
- Quick, flashing shots
- Large, family houses
- Dark colour palettes
- Pathetic fallacy
- Young children

The change with the audience of horror over the last couple of years
has been drastic with it increase over the years. There seems to be
an interesting increase among female viewers with the general
statistics being 49% female versus 47% for the average movie. Over
the last couple of years horror movies have become a more popular
choice with the younger generation being more adrenaline filled and
actively aiming to watch a movie to ‘make them feel more alive’.

Audiences choose Horror stories to experience the thrill of courage

against terror in a life and death situation, without the actual real-
life danger. Horror stories ask which will win in the end: hope or
hell? Horror stories serve as a metaphor for the underlying brutality
of our lives, allowing us to feel like we are fighting back.

Narrative Structures:
Narrative structure is about story and plot: the content of a story
and the form used to tell the story. Story refers to the dramatic
action as it might be described in chronological order. Plot refers to
how the story is told. Story is about trying to determine the key
conflicts, main characters, setting and events. Plot is about how,
and at what stages, the key conflicts are set up and resolved.
The Horror story is an arch-plot (single protagonist) or mini-plot
(multiple characters) external genre. It puts a single victim (even if
there are multiple characters) against impossible odds and a
monster (antagonist) possessed by evil and intent on annihilation.

Horror movies much like any

other movie will spend the first
10-15 minutes of the movie
setting up the story, e.g. group
of teens going to a cabin in the
woods. Once key elements
have been introduced it is
important that the narrative
moves quickly to keep the
audiences interest in the story
and the characters. Turning
points are used to do this as
they create a sense of anxiety, disbelief or shock helping draw in
the audiences investment further. These change the direction of the
story and raise the stakes. The moment the audience most want to
see is the climax. This is the big finish of the film where the ‘good
and bad guy meet’. The resolution is the final part of the film where
all loose ends are tied up.

Representation:
Representation is how media texts deal with and present gender,
age, ethnicity, national and regional identity, social issues and
events to an audience. Media texts have the power to shape an
audience’s knowledge and understanding about these important
topics.

Modern horror movies strive to stay away of the stereotype of a

strong white male being the hero of the story and often using female
leads such as the popular Netflix film ‘Hush’ by Mike Flanagan. On
top of this they make the lead role deaf and mute creating a more
diverse character allowing a hole new demographic to identify with
the character on screen.
Bibliography:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film

https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/15/22385370/amazon-prime-
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https://prezi.com/si3xf20tftnt/10-typical-codes-and-conventions-of-
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https://variety.com/2016/film/news/horror-movies-1201900551/

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