1. Genre Analysis
and a History of Horror

2. So What Is Horror?
Horror films are films set to scare, and terrify the audience,
giving them the essence of dread, and fear, using people’s fear
to invoke a response. The typical horror film has usually a
shocking end, something to keep the audience captivated in
the cathartic experience. Horrors use our primal side, and our
fears such human vulnerability, human alienation, our fear of
the unknown, fear of sexuality or dismemberment. These are
used to attract an audience member, while at the same time
repulsing them. Horror films use usually either a supernatural
story, or semi-science fiction, with the creatures, or antagonists,
coming from the other side, or from the corruption, or even from
otherworldly entities.
Horrors also share some traits with Thrillers with revolting acts
throughout, although Horror differs, using more the macabre to
make the film more chilling, thus the genre’s nickname Chillers.

3. History Part 1
Horror films go back to almost the beginning of on-set filming, spanning
back over 100 years, using vivid imagination to see ghosts on screen, and
using the stories of Gothic Writers and gothic style imagery to scare and
entice an audience member, using the popular stories of Vampires and
Monsters at early turn of the 20th century.
The first ever horror film was approx. 2 minutes long by Georges Melies,
an imaginative French director, and this was released in 1896 (one year
before Dracula, the novel, was released) and was called Le Manoir du
Diable (AKA The Devil’s Mansion) and this set the scene for the horror
films to follow, using the setting of a castle, having flying bats, cauldrons,
demonic figures (Mephistopheles), witches and monsters, as well as the
traditional crucifix to rid the world of these enemies.
Between 1900 and 1920, popular horror films revolved around the horror
figure of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, having 2 films released in this
time period, one being a 10 minute thriller, the second being a feature
length film, this also shows that Horror films started off as shorts, and
eventually evolved into longer films, able to fit more plot, and more horror
into the films.

4. History Part 2
Horror Films took on the roles of “Monster Horrors” for a long time, using the gothic characters
repeatedly, over and over again, having several remakes of popular characters, such as Dracula
and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and these were predominantly the convention of horror, until
the 1970’s/1980’s in which the dawn of a new breed of Horrors, looking at mass murderers and
children.
The first slasher that set the mold for the others was Halloween, this slasher used a low budget of
$300,000 and was very cheaply made, this being an interest to producers, as well as the profit
gained, into the millions, over tripling the profits, and this gave it popularity, as people had a new
type of horror to enjoy, something that was different, and this same became the norm as of the
profit, and price that went into them. From this, cult slasher’s were born, memorable films, that
shocked the audience with high gore and high violence, and because of this people saw them
again and again. Such Films are Halloween, Friday 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Texas
Chainsaw Massacre and My Bloody Valentine.
At the time in the 70’s/80’s young people had a new developed sense of freedom, something
never seen before, and this freedom lead to a newly developed idea for horror, using children as
an antagonist, something vicious and cruel, working on the ideas of adults thinking the new
sense of freedom would lead to problems, and one film worked on these fears, The Omen. The
Omen was one for the founders as using children as monsters, and horrors, killing people and
being possessed by demons. This idea of using children as monsters stuck with viewers, and
became typical within the horror genre, with its elements still being seen in modern horror movies
today.

5. History Part 3
The 80’s and 90’s brought about another 2 new type of
horror, one piggybacking off the popularity of Sci-fi in the
70’s/80’s, and the other being again, very cheaply made,
but very well done, becoming a cult following to these
type of films.
In 1979, Alien came out, which spawned several sequels,
as well as, creating a waned output for Sci-Fi horrors,
showing how aliens can be scary, as well as drawing on
fears of isolation and of people being alone, which is a
primal fear, and putting it into a new setting of space,
which was popular at the time. Although Alien was
successful, in years to come, Sci-Fi horrors weren’t the
most popular, with only things the likes of Alien or
Predator being successful.

6. History Part 4
The second type of horror that came about in the 80s/90s, was the home
footage horror movie, in which the films were cheaply made using a cheap
handheld camcorder, rater than a large budget professional camera. The
casts of these films were usually small, and became scary, not through
visual effects, or seeing monsters/creatures, but through the idea that
something could be out there, and how people react when things seem to
happen around them. One of the most famous pioneers of this style was
“The Blair Witch Project”, in which it followed 3 young people following the
story of a local legend etc. it was considered one of the scariest films of
the decade, because it seemed so real. This sort of film is still apparent
today, in the popularity of films such as “Paranormal Activity” or “Grave
Encounters”.
In the last decade, horror movies haven’t really had any revolutionary new
sub-genre’s, but rater re-use of the old ones, having themes of possession
by ghosts and monsters, like the classic horror movies, as well as the first
person camcorder footage, as mentioned, with the likes of paranormal
activity. Also, reboots of classic slashers have been popular, with new
versions of Texas Chainsaw, Nightmare of Elm Street, Halloween and
Friday 13th that have been released.

7. Analysis and Conventions

8. Iconography
Within horror films, Masks are an icon throughout, being a
cover up for the antagonistic force, keeping the characters
anonymity, examples are seen a lot in slashers, such as Friday
13th’s Jason Voorhes, Scream’s Ghost Face, Texas Chainsaw’s
Leatherface, and The Orphanage’s Tomas.
A brutal and absurd weapon of some sort is also an icon,
looking very threatening, and scary, as of the fear of death
within the a person, and a fear of pain, from an unusual
weapon. Examples are Jason’s Large Machete in Friday 13th,
Freddy Kruger’s Clawed Glove in Nightmare on Elm Street,
and the large bladed hammer, on the masked guy in Resident
Evil Afterlife.

9. More Iconography
Blood is iconic within horror films, as it invokes
disgust on the consumer of the films with splashes
of blood, as well as again hitting fear of death and
disease within real life. For example, the various
traps in the Saw series, which make people bleed
out and rip open characters innards.
Gothic Items, such as crosses and alters and
spikes/stakes, this is to show how in monster
horrors, the creatures are somewhat eternal, and
live for a very long time, showing their
indestructability. For example, the alters in the
various Dracula films.

10. Setting
Settings of Horror Films, are usually secluded
places, away from society and alienated, usually
because in places as such anything can happen
without interference from outsiders at these
points. Also the sense of isolation increases fear,
as separation from society is a primal fear of
people. Inside horror films, there are sometimes
long corridors, and woods, in which the
antagonist would wonder through, with an ever
coming presence, sometimes freezing characters
in fear etc. For Example, Eel Marsh House within
Woman in Black in the middle of a marsh, with
long corridors that the woman slowly moves
down.

11. More setting
Other settings include (in old monster horrors)
old castles, that have sharp and pointed gothic
architecture, this makes the setting seem eerie
and graveyards surrounding these castles,
encapsulating the ideas of death and seclusion,
as seen in 1930’s Dracula, his home being a
large gothic castle, with graveyards etc.

12. Characters
Main Protagonist is usually both Hero and Victim, someone traumatised by the
events, but still manages to prevail, and prime example would be Cindy from
Scream, who is horrified, and tortured by the killings of her friends, but manages to
prevail.
Main Antagonist is usually some sort of freak, monster, serial killer or alien, such as
Freddy Kruger, who is a burnt freak, who visits people in dreams to kill
The immoral/ and stupid people who die within the film, people who have lived
distasteful lives and die, such as most of the victims in the Saw series, who have
been selected for atrocities they have committed.
Often there are some sort of dead child, or creepy child, to invoke horror, from
seeing innocence perverted in a monstrous way, Like the scene in Woman in Black,
where the house is surrounded by the ghosts of dead children.
Police Officers are often involved in modern horrors, either good or bad characters,
one side protecting people, and another not believing the person at all. Suh as the
police officers in scream, aiming to help Cindy and protect her from Ghost face as
an example of good cops, or bad cops, like the ones shown in Sinister, who try and
threaten the main character away from his new house.

13. Themes
Good vs Evil, such as the story in Dracula.
Revenge, like Nightmare on Elm Street, and Freddy Kruger.
Supernatural, in horror films like Sinister, aving the ghost posses the house, as well
as the video tapes.
Science gone bad, such as Frankenstein’s Monster, or the synthetic people turning
evil in the Alien Franchise.
Madness and Insanity, such as the guy who becomes insane after spending a year
inside the possessed ghost asylum from Grave Encounters 2.
Zombie Apocolypse, the theme for a lot of films, eg. 28 days later, Dawn of the Dead
and World War Z
Suicide, which could lead to someone coming back from the dead, such as The
Woman, in The Woman in Black.

14. Narrative
Narrative of horrors is usually a firs hand perspective
of the main character, this is so we relate to the
character more, and we go through the shocks and
jumps along with them, as well as uncover what is
happening in the story, and going through the same
emotional trauma, as they are being haunted,
hunted or taken by some sort of killer/ supernatural
force. A good example of this, would be Alien, in
which the character follows Ripley, and her
experience in being hunted on a dead spaceship by
an alien.

15. Style
The style of horrors focus around clever lighting, and use
of shadows around shots, using a lot of shadows to make
things seem eerie, as well as to hide the antagonist of the
piece. Actual light in horrors are dim, and occasionally
orange or deep yellow in horrors, to show murkiness, and
sickness within the film.
Shots mostly used in horrors are those of close ups and
medium shots, as these shots show character body and
facial expressions most, so it shows the intensity of
character fear throughout the piece.