Horror is a major film genre that seeks to elicit negative emotions from audiences by playing on primal fears. It is inspired by 18th century Gothic literature and often features scenes that startle viewers. There are many sub-genres within horror, including slasher films, supernatural horror, psychological horror and more. Horror narratives typically involve the intrusion of an evil force into the everyday world and include threats like ghosts, monsters, demons and serial killers. Common character types in horror include the female victim, the non-believing character, the hero and the evil antagonist. Horror films also rely on certain iconography like haunted houses, symbols of death, and the binary of good versus evil.

1. Genre Research:
The popularity of the Horrorgenre with audience:
Horror is a mainfilmgenre,withmanysub-genre/hybridswithinit.Usuallyinthe HorrorGenre they
try to seekoutnegative emotional reactionfromthe viewer/audiencebyplayingonthe audience’s
primal fears.Inspiredbyliterature fromauthorslike EdgarAllanPoe,BramStokerandMary Shelley,
howeverthe rootsof filmedhorrorwere anextensionof agenre of literature thatgotthe Horror
filmgenre startedinthe late 1700’s: Gothic Horror. The Gothicpart of the name refersto pseudo
medieval buildingsthatthese storiestookplace (of anoldcastle ona darkand stormynight –
gloomyforests,dungeonsandsecretpassage ways) generallythatwaswhatit was about.Horror
filmshave formore thana centuryfeaturedscenesthatstartle the viewer.The macabre andthe
supernatural are frequentthemes.Thustheymayoverlapwiththe fantasy,supernatural,andthriller
genres.
Sub-Genres/Hybrids:
 ActionHorror (Sub-Genre)
 B-Movie Horror
 BodyHorror (Sub-Genre)
 CannibalismorCannibal Films
 ClassicHorror
 Costume Horror
 Creature Features
 DemonicPossession
 Dracula
 Erotic
 Frankenstein,otherMadScientists
 Ghosts
 Giallo(European,Italianspecifically)
 Gore
 Gothic (Sub-Genre)
 HauntedHouse, otherHauntings
 Halloween
 Horror Comedy (Sub-Genre)
 Macabre
 Monsters
 Natural Horror (Sub-Genre)
 Older-Woman-In-PerilFilms(“Psycho-Biddy”aka“Hag Horror” or “Hagsploitation”)
 PsychicPowers
 Psychological Horror
 Reincarnation
 SadisticHorror
 SatanicStories
 Sci-Fi Horror (Sub-Genre)

2.  Serial Killers
 Sex Horror
 Slashersor“Splatter”Films(Sub-Genre)
 Supernatural Horror
 TeenTerror (“TeenScreams”)
 Terror
 Vampires
 Witchcraft
 Wolves,Werewolves
 Zombies (Sub-Genre)
Narratives that link to the Horror genre:
Horror filmsusuallydeal withthe viewer’snightmares,hiddenfears,revulsionsandterrorof the
unknown.General plotswithinthe horrorgenre ofteninvolve intrusionof anevil force (E.g.
Insidious),event,orpersonage,commonlyof supernatural origin,intothe everydayworld.Prevalent
elementsincludesghosts,aliens,vampires,werewolves,demons,gores,torture,viciousanimals,evil
witches,monsters,zombies,cannibalsandserial killers,mainlythese don’texistfromreal life unlike
serial killersetc.Conversely,moviesaboutthe supernatural are notnecessarilyalwayshorrific.
Character types links to the Horror genre:
Majorityof the horror genre,we alwayssee ahorror filmwithoutthe stereotypical female victim,
because theyare consideredtobe the weak/vulnerableone andneed protecting,therefore whichis
a narrative expectation forthe femalevictimtoeitherdie firstora bitlateron, youwill definitely
knowthat she will die.Whenthisrepresentationwascreateditwasina sexistera,whichreinforced
the genderto alwaysbe a female victim, andusuallyportrayedthe female tobe young,blondeand
attractive,toappease the male audience aswell astoback up herpersonality,whichisvery
stereotypical tobe stupidandaudience andone wouldassume she woulddie firstbutnotusually
but herdeathwouldbe verygraphic/gruesome.
Anotherstereotypical characterinthe horrorgenre whichisthe non-believer.The non-believercan
be of bothsex but preferablyamale character.The non-believerpersonalityiseitherverycockyand
a knowit all,thischaracter triestoconvince the othercharacter that what'sgoingaroundthemis
fake (nothingatall) or tellsthe othersthattheyare overreactingabout the scenario.Because the
non-believerisself-assured abouteverything,he/she willusuallydie firstabitlike the femalevictim
character, thenthe occurrence of his/hersdeathleadstothe chainof the othercharactersdyingas
well.
There isthe herocharacter whoisalwaysa playedbya male character withthe characteristicsof
beingstrong,verymasculine built.The heroasinthe name itself triestobe the brave character out
of all the othercharacters andfindout/runs afterthe evil murderer/antagonist,oftentobe shown
that he neverreallyreturnsback.Generallynow majorityof horrorfilms,have the heroplayedbya
female ,itchangesthe traditionof oldhorror filmswhichcanbe unexpectedanddifferentforthe
audience.

3. Furthermore there isthe hysterical character,whoisusuallyplayedbyafemale.Hercharacteris
baseduponwitnessingeitherthe othercharacters/friendsgettingkilled/murdered.She oftenhasa
mental breakdownandrefusestocarry on afterwhat has happenedtragicallytoherfriends.
Because thischaracter isnot lenientintomovingandgettingoutof the situation,she isnormallyleft
behindandiskilled.
In additiontothisthere isthe evil character/antagonistwhocanbe eithertake the formof a serial
killer,ghost,monsteretcdependingonthe sub-genre/hybridof the horrorgenre.If the evil
character isa human,he/she willtrytodisguise themself (E.g.masks)inorderforthe other
characters notto findout his/hersidentitywhichcanbe revealedlateroninthe film.Whenthe evil
character iswoundedinsucha state like stabbedforexample,he/shewouldactina veryabnormal
wayas if the injuriesdidn'taffecttheminanyway,therefore givesthe ideatothe audience asif their
inhuman.Anytype of evil characterthatis nothuman tendstoplaythe othercharactersprimal fears
as suggestedwhichisatypical horror genre narrative.
Lastlythere isthe lovedupcouple,whoare playedbymale andfemale character,theyare usuallyall
overeach otherand are killedtogether. Theyare normallykilledtogetherwhile the restof the group
are awayfrom them.Theyare so overeach otherthat theydon'trealise the killerisabouttokill
themwhichannoysthe audience of theirstupidityandfrustratesthemto.They're goingtobe killed
whentheya justaboutto have sex.
The iconography of the Horror genre:
There are alwaystypical patterns(iconography) showninthe horrorgenre.The usuallypatternof
the horror genre linksinwiththe binaryoppositionof goodvsevil,the horrorgenre tellsthe
audience/viewerwhoorwhatis goodand bad,horror genresusuallyendupof the
discovery/conflictof whythisisall ishappening(inthe situation).Thisisall partof the horror genre.
Certainiconographycouldbe objectssuch asthe verystereotypical hauntedhousewhichreinforces
the horror genre again,the same symbol of deathvariedindifferenthorrorfilms,orthe disfigured
face/masklike slenderman.Type of actionsand wordslike screamingof the victimsorfromthe lead
character. Verystereotypical murderweaponse.g.knife,chainsaw.The binaryoppositionswouldbe
goodvs evil etc.The bloodessence acrossthe bodypartsof the victimsusuallyinbodyhorror(sub-
genre).