Unleashing Creativity: My high school experience: Horror Research

Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Horror Research

What is horror as a genre?

Horror as a genre is something that is meant to scare, startle, shock, and even repulse audiences. Now even though this may not sound in any way appealing to the audience hearing these words more than 75 million tickets were sold to horror movies just in 2023 alone making more than $798 million. Now if you still aren't convinced I would also like to point out that many movies that are considered to be in the horror genre aren't exactly hide under the covers scary. Some examples of not-so-scary horror movies include Gremlins directed by Joe Dante, Beetlejuice by Tim Burton, and many more movies. Horror movies contain a low budget to create as well which is why production companies like Blum House can be so successful as they create multiple movies for the same cost as a movie from another genre.

The age and gender of viewers tend to impact the success of a movie. Surveys taken in numerous cases have proven that younger individuals tend to like horror movies more than older individuals. This is due to the fact that younger individuals firstly pay less attention to details in horror movies which might have a smaller budget. It was also shown in this study that men tend to like horror movies that are loaded with intensely terrifying acts whereas women may like horror movies that end in a happy way.

Content

The main content of horror movies can include things such as physical violence, psychological terror, foreshadowing, or mystery thrillers that use the atmosphere to build suspense.

Physical Violence - Physical violence in horror films can typically be found in movies that are at times referred to as "slashers". These indicators of violence can be used for the more sensitive audiences who may get scared by things such as blood or vomiting. This is normally used at the climax of the films

Ex. The film Texas Chainsaw Massacre utilizes physical violence
throughout the entire film as a "slasher"

Psychological terror - Psychological terror in horror films is used to insight fear in the not knowing. This was typically seen in movies containing possession or a character slowly growing more and more insane. It normally indicates mental, psychological, and emotional states that the characters go through, using them as a way to relate to and scare the audience simultaneously. Some people are more likely to be scared by psychological terror as it is the commonality of things like this happening in real life that truly makes it so thrilling to watch. These films also typically have a more slow pace as they are working with the tone and persona of the character.

Ex. In the movie Ma the audience is able to
slowly watch "Ma" go crazy

Foreshadowing - Foreshadowing is used in horror films to insight a sense of narrative suspense or tension which is integral to a good horror movie. This can be as simplistic as someone hitting a dear on the road or a fire burning in the middle of a forest indicative of something else burning down later in the film. No matter how foreshadowing is used, it is a common part of horror movie content and can make or break a film.

In the movie Get Out of the deer Chris and Rose hit the
beginning foreshadows the movie's hit-and-run motif and
also foreshadows the weird deer-skeleton monster that attacks
Chris in the trailer

Production techniques

Lighting - Through a film's lighting the production can become more cinematic as well as create a scarier atmosphere. By utilizing harsh lighting, dark shadowing, and shadows the scene is able to convey all sorts of different meanings. All of these techniques come together to create a more eerie tone as the audience may not be able to see all things shown on the screen to tie into the not knowing of psychological terror.

Color - Next through a film's utilization of color they can foreshadow things that may come later in the film. For example, in The Shining they use the color red to foreshadow the death and danger of the hotel.

Sound - Lastly, sound can also help to make someone feel unsteady. By utilizing sounds such as creaky floorboards, music, screams, etc. we as an audience can feel the film is more realistic making it more scary to watch.

For example Jurassic Park with music as well
as the sound of the dinosaur feet

Marketing

As talked about before, the target audience is typically younger people who appreciate horror films without recognizing the low-budget, low-risk film aspect of it. Horror films are typically stereotypical however in the marketing of the film they harp on the more stylistic and unique choices they made to make it seem different from the rest. Horror movies are marketed as everything their target audience could want meaning gore, terror, and at times sexual encounters that could interest young men.

Also, many horror movies when promoting their movies will make the cover a tight shot of something that might be thought of as scary.

For example the Five Nights of Freddy poster

Oftentimes, directors will try and make a very general poster to interest the audience without giving too much away about the movie.

Film samples

THE SHINING

The Shining is a psychological thriller written by directed by Stanely Kubrick. This movie is based on the main protagonist Jack and how his writing a book goes nowhere. Meanwhile, his son Danny, is having disturbing visions about the hotel they are watching over the winter break. Jack discovers the hotel's true atmosphere and begins to unravel into a maniac slowly becoming aggressive towards his wife and son staying with them at the inn. The paranoia and psychotic nature of Jack are shown through a technical shot entitled the Kurbik stare which was created to ensight fear and anxiety. The most iconic scene includes the shot shown in the picture to the left accompanied by the line "Here's Jhonny" This was the climax of the story along with the foreshadowing of the elevator pouring blood out of it bringing the color red in to indicate the danger that this hotel brought to them.

HALLOWEEN

The film Halloween directed by John Carpenter is based off of a cold Halloween night in 1963, where a six-year-old Michael Myers brutally murdered his 17-year-old sister, Judith. He was sentenced and locked away for 15 years. But on October 30, 1978, while being transferred for a court date, a 21-year-old Michael Myers steals a car and escapes Smith's Grove. He returns to his quiet hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, where he looks for his next victims. The Exterior Lighting used in the film creates a sense of fear insighted in the viewers as they are not able to constatnly see what is happening.