Media studies: Horror Lekan Akanni
Horror films are unsettling movies with many different sub-genres to it; they go all-out to bring out the emotions of fear, disgust and horror from its viewers and its target audience. They deal with the viewer’s nightmares, hidden worst fears, and fear of the unknown. The most common elements of horror films are ghosts, torture, gore, ancient curses and diseases/viruses, demons.
There are many conventions of a horror film these are some:
- There is usually a death in the first five minutes of the film.
- Horror films should be scary; otherwise the audience would feel let down and cheated because the main job of a horror film is to scare you.
- Horror films always have stock characters that are minor characters.
- Protagonists characters are always present in horror films these are the main characters such as Sidney in scream and Antagonist who are the killers.
- Horror films always follow the theme of love, revenge, betrayal, survival, family and honour.
- Also horror films meant to play on common fears within people
- ‘Slasher’ films typically involve a psychopathic killer, who kills a sequence of victim in a graphically violent manner often with a weapon such as a knife, for example the film Texas chainsaw massacre.
- ‘Splatter’ films are extreme gore (blood and guts) and aims for the gross out without hesitation splatter focuses on graphic of gore and graphic violence, for example the film Braindead.
- ‘J-Horror’ also known as Japanese horror they tend to focus on psychological horror and tension building practically involving ghosts etc the main convention of J-Horror films is the Yurei who are Japanese ghosts for example the film the grudge.
- ‘Thriller’ do not include supernatural elements as much as psychological horror, but instead focus on a constant sense of threat coming from an outside menace also by adding a strong investigative angle to the film it becomes a mystery more than a slasher/splatter gore for example the film mirrors.
Wes Craven born on August 2nd 1939 in USA directed the film scream which involves a killer known as "ghost face" begins killing off teenagers, and as he keeps killing them off one by one, one girl and her friends find themselves questioning the "Rules" of horror films as they find themselves living in a real-life one.
There are many ways for characters in horror films to dodge a horror incident waiting to happen and many things that do happen in horror films that characters if avoided will survive such as:
- Do not search the basement, especially if the power has gone out
- Never stand in, on, or above a grave, tomb, or crypt
- Do not take anything from the dead
- If you’re running from a monster or a psycho killer etc expect a trip or fall down at
- least twice more if you are female
- If you have just smoked dope, gotten drunk with friends or especially jus had sex you are as good as dead.
- As a general rule, don’t solve puzzles that open portals to hell
Conventions of a horror film teaser trailer:
- Teaser trailers last roughly from 30 seconds to a minute.
- Horror trailers usually create suspense within the audience for example “who is the killer” and “what happens next”.
- Lots of different camera shots such as close ups and high angel shots.
- A narrator is always present talking in the trailer to give a rough idea of what is going to happen in the film.
- Horror film trailers always show the quick intense and suspense part of the film in trailers to catch the audience’s attention.
- At the end of the trailer it always says the release date of the film or “coming soon”
- Spooky intense music is always played in horror film trailers; the music always coincides with the theme of the film.
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