The Horror Genre

 

The horror genre is one the longest serving genres in film and every year, a couple of new Hollywood horror films come out. This is because horror films are very easy and cheap to make. Horrors are designed to make the audience feel scared, creped out and thrilled. They deliver thrills and scares which are designed to bring fear into the audience and to release a rush of adrenalin. Horror films also tell disturbing stories about villains who are different, horrific, terrifying and enjoy killing innocent people. Horrors are made to have the audience on the edge of their seat, and make them jump and be freaked out. Different films also make audiences scared for different reasons. Film’s like the Shining and Silence of the Lambs are scary because of their direction, performances, music and cinematography. They don’t have a scary monster in them, but instead have a human. This makes it scary because it seems more realistic and it could actually happen to us, whereas a monster is not going to happen. These people probably exist and are among us, which is a scary thought. The actors play the killers so well, that we believe they are actually killers and become horrified by them. They don’t have jump scares, but in fact let the actors performance and music scare you more. In fact, it is scarier than a monster jumping out, because it creates tension and suspense, and you don’t know what the killer is going to do next. However, horror films like the Saw franchise and The Hostel franchise use torture to humans as their horror. Both of them come up with lots of different ways of killing innocent people who have been captured. In these films, they want to make the audience scared but also grossed out by the torture given to the people. In many ways, they actually want the audience look way because they are so grossed out by it. These films use diegetic sounds to make you feel like you are actually there watching them torture the people. They also use low key lighting to indicate danger and death. They often use close up of the victims and zoom to show their discomfort and how much it is hurting them. These particular franchises don’t use much special effect, they make the traps and body parts themselves using the art department. This is because they want it to look more realistic and that they are actually torturing the victims. Finally, films like Scream and Cabin In The Woods are actually horror comedies. They make jokes about the horror clichés like ‘don’t say you're coming back’, ‘you need to kill the killer twice’, jump stares, young adults being the stars of the movie and so on. These movies are good because instead of using them clichés, they don’t and actually joke about them. But as well as being funny, they are both horrors as well, providing scary moments in the film.  

My favourite horror film that I have seen is Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. This movie really terrified me without using the typical horror movie clichés such as jump scares. This particular film builds suspense and creates a really scary, uneasy tension, using non-diegetic sounds and brilliant direction and cinematography. It is also a brilliant story, showing how an good father can turn insane being alone for a long time. The movie is also very unpredictable which gives you the impression that anything could happen at any time, which is scary in itself. There are many key moments in this film- the famous axe/ here’s johnny scene and the 2 young girls scene and the maze scene and so on. The axe scene is filmed very well. The non-diegetic music leading up to the axe scene is terrifying and loud and the fact it is non-diegetic means it is making it scarier for us to watch it. The director uses medium-long shots to reveal all of his body and to show the axe and his limp whilst walking. Jack Nicholson’s performance is also scary, walking with a limp and he has a big smile on his face, despite what he is going to do is horrible, he is enjoying it. The close up shot is at a eye-level angle, making him dominant and more powerful than her and shows us how insane he looks. It also reveals how scary and insane he looks. When he knocks on the door it makes us scared at what he is going to do next. When he starts saying the little pigs story, we are shocked because it’s not we expect him to say and shows he is still human and he is clearly enjoying what he is doing. He is also trying to make his wife even more scared by saying the story, telling her that he will get in just the got in the pigs house. When he starts axing the door down, the camera moves with the axe, back and forth, giving us a sense that we too are knocking the door down with him. We also become more scared for the women when it keeps cutting to her because she is crying and knows she is going to die because she can’t get out of the window. It’s also more scary that we see her when the axe is going into the door, because it shows he is getting closer to her and there's nothing she can do. The distance between them both is getting shorter and shorter. The close up when he reaches the door saying ‘here’s johnny’ is brilliant because it shows how terrifying he is and that he is going to get her now after breaking the door down. You are also shocked that he says johnny, simply because he’s name is actually Jack. However, it is a pop culture reference from that time. But, it also shows how insane he is and that he isn’t stable and has gone mad, because he doesn’t even know his own name.  It makes us more scared for her and want her go quickly and escape from him. When she stabs him and eventually escapes, we are happy and relieved for her because he was just about to kill her. Throughout the scene, the lighting is neutral, making it seem normal and realistic, meaning this could happen to anyone. They also use non-diegetic sounds to make it scarier for us the audience watching it.