Research of Horror and Sub Horror Genres
Horror is a genre of movies and television that is aimed to frighten or disturb the audience watching. Horror aims to evoke intense fear to audiences by exploring forbidden topics such as murder and uncanny forms of death. The genre is also used to highlight societal fears and comments on social issues in the world. Horror films often educate audiences about injustices we see every day including racism, sexism, and homophobia. Thus, making horror an important part of our media intake, and causing the genre to become overall popular among avid movie watchers. Every time something becomes popular there will always be sub genres branching from the main category. We see this in many things other than just movie and tv show genre for example sub genres are in art, music, and fashion, and many more. Horror has around 20 different sub genres and more to come in later years. In this blog post I will be focusing on the 4 main sub-genres of horror in 2 parts; I will discuss their overall impacts.
Slasher
Definition: A horror movie where a killer or a group of killers, stalk, and murder people, usually with sharp or bladed weapons. Slasher films are known for their high body counts, suspenseful setting, and iconic killers.
History Be Hide the Genre
The sub-genre was created in the 1960s with the first movie in this sub-genre being the iconic film, Psycho (1960). The sub-genre was most popular between the decades of 1960s and 1990s, due to the loosening of censorship regulations in the 60s allowing more graphic violence, and in later years in the 90s a trend of self-aware, meta-commentary slasher films that played with basic horror tropes and appealed to a new generation of audience.
Cultural and Social Impacts
Slasher films have had significant cultural and social impacts, often reflecting societal anxieties by portraying themes of teenage rebellion, vilification, and fear of violence, especially towards women. However, criticism include the reinforcement of negative stereotypes and the problematic portrayal of females in some to most slasher films.
Characteristics
Killer:
Antagonists typically are masked or mysterious figures with a specific motive, often rooted in past trauma or revenge.
(example of slasher movie killers wearing their masks to hide their identity while also still being known for who they are)
An example of a slasher killer’s motive to hunt and kill victims is Jason from Friday the 13th. His motive is to seek revenge for his mother’s death and will kill anyone who enters Camp Cystal Lake.
The Finale Girl
A recurring trope within the slasher movies where one female character survives the killer’s rampage to confront them in the finale climax for the film.
Example
Sidney Prescott (Scream): Sidney models the resourceful, brave, and intelligent Finale Girl, facing down multiple Ghostface killers and using her wit and knowledge of the slasher tropes to outsmart Ghostface
Weapons
Killers often use hand-held weapons, creating a sense of intimacy and brutality to the killing making twice as frightening to the audience
Victims
The victims tend to be teenagers or young adults, and characters may be punished for immoral behavior
- Setting
Settings range but tend to be camps, small towns, or suburban neighborhoods
Themes
Survival: The struggle to survive against a relentless and what feels like an unstopped killer
Moral Judgement: Characters are often punished for breaking societal norms
Monster
A film that features a monster or creature that threatens humans. Monster movies are often categorized under horror, fantasy, or science fiction.
History Be Hide the Genre
Monster movies have always been a highlight in the media creating new things to worry about that are in the dark. The roots of monster movies began in the silent film era between the 1910s-1920s. One of the earliest examples is the film, “The Golem” (1915) from Germany, which tells the story of a clay creature brought to life.
Example:
Nosferatu (1922): The movie was directed by F.W. Murnau, this was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s” Dracula” is one of the earliest and most influential horror films, featuring the vampire Count Orlok.
Concept and Plot
Setting: A creepy isolated location, often an abandoned town, house, or building. A dark forest is also incorporated sometimes into an old mansion.
Monster: Depends on the plot and concept. The monster can range from a vampire all the way from a man fly, the creativeness about monster horror is the writers make a monster and create its own origin or back story .
Slasher Elements: It incorporates a mysterious killer(s) who hunt and pick off murder victims one by one like a slasher movie.
Cultural and Societal Impacts
Monster movies have had a significant cultural and social impact by acting as a mirror to reflect society’s deepest fears, anxieties, and social issues of people through their monstrous characters and narratives. The movies often serve to explore the idea of real-world concerns in a fictional but realistic setting, allowing audience to confront their fears of the unknown, making them question the reality we all live and serve in.
Sound Design
Sound design in monster movies tend to mix high pitched eerie music often mixed with women scream pitched high with the sounds of the monster to give the audience a spin chilling effect. They often use foley, dissonance, infrasound music to also increase the level of discomfort to make the audience foreshadow what is to come also still get that jump scare.
Sound Techniques: Heavy breathing
Screaming
Sounds of weapons
Ghost/Howel sounds
Pure silence
Sound of the monster
Costume & Makeup Design
Costume and makeup design in movies, especially in monster movies, are important because they help distinguish the protagonists from the antagonists and create a sense of fear and distribution in the audience. The design of the monster is crucial to make it stand out in the movie and make it remember-able movies characters like: Slender Man, The Babadook, It, and Pinhead are all iconic and distinguishable from other monsters as they have unique and personal style. Thus, making the movies they come from more remember-able to the audience.
Then there's movies where the characters are just the same and is repeated and overused for example, The Walking Dead and Zombie Land, Nosferatu and Dragula, and The Howling and The Wolf Man. Many people often forget about these movies as they do not stand out to viewers and just appear as the same to the rest.
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