1. Investigating the key elements of
a Horror film synopsis:
Settings
Icons
Protagonists
Stock characters/ stereotypes
Stock situations/ plots

2. Often the main characters in a horror film have had a
Orphan: negative experience in their past which is holding them
back, for Kate it is the loss of her still born baby.
Kate and John Coleman are rebuilding their troubled marriage after
suffering the loss of a still born baby. Kate had a drinking
problem, but is in therapy and doing well being sober for one year.
The couple decide to adopt a child & when they meet the nine-year-
old Russian girl, Esther, at the St. Marina Orphanage, they
immediately fall in love with the young orphan. Their young
son, Daniel, is hostile towards his new sister; but their deaf-mute
daughter, little Max, is enchanted with her - at first. Eventually, Kate
begins to feel that Esther is manipulative and possibly even
psychologically disturbed. John refuses to listen to his wife's
misgivings, and the wounds in their marriage reopen. Kate calls
Sister Abigail at the orphanage, and the nun informs her that Esther
has a troubled and mysterious history. Kate delves further into
Esther's past and discovers she is not at all who she pretends to be.
Its very common for the protagonist
Young orphans/children feature in many horror
to figure out the truth, but then be
films as a negative connotation. They have
foolishly ignored by the other
become an icon, & the thought of an evil child is
characters.
chilling and sick.

3. Death or the grim reaper is one of
Final destination 5 the biggest icons within the horror
genre. It comes in many forms and is
very effective as it relates to the fear
In this fifth instalment, Death is just as many people have of dying
omnipresent as ever, and is unleashed after one
man’s premonition saves a group of co-workers In horror films
from a terrifying suspension bridge collapse. But phycic
premonitions are
this group of unsuspecting souls was never common, they
supposed to survive, and, in a terrifying race mostly belong to
against time, the ill-fated group frantically tries the protagonist
and often come
to discover a way to escape Death’s sinister true.
agenda.
Death has all the power, the characters have no
Escaping death is almost always
control over the situation. This is a common
the main aim for the characters
factor in horror films, the main characters always
in a horror film.
have no control over what is happening, this is
what makes them vulnerable.

4. Scream 4
Sidney Prescott returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her
book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey and Gale, who
are now married, as well as her cousin Jill and her Aunt Kate.
Unfortunately, Sidney's appearance also brings about the return of
Ghost face, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, her
friends, and the whole town of Woodsboro in danger. When Sidney's
cousin Jill's life is threatened, and her friends are being picked off
one by one, Sidney, Gale and Dewey need to figure out who's
reinventing the deadly game before it becomes too late.
The different stereotypes of the
Ghost face is one of the biggest
stock character are very
icons in the horror genre and
common within slasher horror
has a negative connotation:
movies, e.g, the jock, the
popular girl,
Most horror films are set in small towns such as
Woodsboro. This emphasis the fact that the
characters are trapped, and suggests that they
are being killed by someone they know.