This document outlines several common sub-genres of horror films. These include body horror, which focuses on graphic destruction or mutation of the human body; gothic horror, which blends horror and romance themes for a darkly mysterious tone; demonic horror, depicting the conflict between good and evil through demonic forces; and Japanese horror, emphasizing psychological tension and suspense through the use of ghosts. Other sub-genres discussed are Lovecraftian, monster, slasher, psychological, space goth, and supernatural horror. Each has distinguishing themes and conventions related to the type of fear or horror they aim to elicit from viewers.
2. Horror Genre:
Horror is a genre that is in place to
effectively elicit a negative emotional
response from viewers, and it intends to
play on typical fears of people. They are
made to attempt to startle the
viewer, make them jump and this is why
the horror genre includes lots of blood
conventionally, and supernatural elements
occurring. They will also overlap into over
genres for effect, with fantasy and thriller
genres being predominant sub-genres
inside horror.
3. Body Horror:
This is a type of horror that occurs around the
theme of graphic destruction or degeneration of
the body. This basically means that during the
film, characters can potentially disintegrate and
decay because of possible diseases, mutation
can occur and unnatural things can happen
subsequently. Scientifically incorrect things can
occur in body horror, as the primary effect is to
graphically show disturbance in order to disturb
and essentially ‘freak’ the viewer out.
4. Gothic Horror:
This will blend the ideological themes
of horror, with the themes of
romance in order to connote a dark,
mysterious theme. It basically conveys
a pleasing taste of horror, and it is
extreme themes of romanticism that
also include strong aspects of horror,
although in a less bloody but more
cultural way.
5. Demonic Horror:
This sub-genre is intended to convey
disequilibrium, and the ideology of good versus
evil because of the unnatural forces in the
world. This suggests that the world is uneven
and horrible, because there are evil forces that
undermine humanity, and the forces can remain
as spiritual or they can generally take the form
of demons and devils, with dark strong forces
represented as binary opposites of what is
associated with being normal and pure.
6. Japanese Horror:
This horror sub-genre focuses on uniqueness
and innovative storylines. It tends to usually
convey psychological aspects of horror, with
tension building rapidly and suspense
gradually building through the film. Ghosts
and poltergeists feature frequently during
this sub-genre of horror, in an attempt to
creep viewers, and they come from old folktale stories that are modernised.
7. Lovecraftian Horror:
This horror emphasises the idea of unknown
horror, and plays on this in order to connote
mystery to the audience, and it mainly plays
on the idea of the unknown instead of
representing gore and shock. The ideas of
helplessness and hopelessness are shown
regularly through this sub-genre, detachment
from what is normal, and isolation is depicted
regularly.
8. Monster Horror:
This is usually adapted from horror literature,
with the combination of binary opposites
coming together in order to evoke a
sensation of both horror and terror from the
audience. It will represent evil as a monster
always, and this is the intention of using an
unusual representation of what is impure, in
order to primarily scare the viewers. Isolation
is shown in the monstrous characters, but the
idea of duality and darkness can be shown,
ultimately resulting in monsters being
created and adapted.
9. Psychological Horror:
This is a sub-genre that deliberately relies on
the flaws in characters and manipulating their
fears and instability in order to build tension.
It will play upon shade characteristics that
characters will face, and this sub-genre will
focus on the psychological aspects of inside
the characters. Emotional feelings and
personality types, and it will show the
features of inhumane acts.
10. Slasher Horror:
This is a sub-genre of horror films that can
relate to thriller horror, and it always involves
a mysterious person being a psychopathic
killer, killing people in a strong, graphical
manner with symbolic ideologies in the style
of a knife and axe etc. It involves many strong
acts of murder, the character will have their
own personality that isn’t generally
understood due to the way that they are
twisted, and blood is an integral factor.
11. Space Goth Horror:
This is a sub-genre that blends forms in order
to relate to gothic horror and science fiction.
It will capture the dark atmosphere, creating
a dark supernatural element. It incorporates
the elements of science fiction meaning that
boundaries cannot be breached, and includes
gothic horror for a dramatic sense of mystery.
12. Supernatural Horror:
This is a fantasy combines elements from
supernatural fiction and drama, and it will
usually incorporate ghosts and paranormal
topics. It isn’t strongly a part of the horror
genre, but can include many of the
conventions related. There are always
unexplained aspects that make the film
unbalanced, and it centres on things that
cannot be explained in a simplistic way.
