GENRE: HORROR

Dark and eerie setting with a build up of tension and slow creepy music, a loud noise is usually used to break the tension and scare the audience e.g. a loud bang or something breaking.

There is usually a plot twist in horror movies creating a shock factor for the audience, with fast pacing music that builds up coming to silence, giving them something they wouldn’t expect.

Scenes with violence include: gory images, blood and carnage with humans and/or a supernatural being. The development of computers help horror movies so that they are able to create more believable and realistic features.

Horror fi lms usually include an antagonist which is generally a monster, or demon which portrays evil. The protagonist is always the hero saving a damsel in distress and is usually human but can vary depending on the movie theme.

GENERIC CONVENTIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS

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SawSaw was a very successful horror movie as it was a completely new idea instead of the same generic theme. It succeeded in making a total of 7 fi lms. IMDb rated the Saw franchise as 7.7/10.Saw creates complications and distractions to the audience giving the movie a massive shock factor as in the end you never expect what is to come, including a lot of graphic, gruesome scenes as well as blood, terror and dark settings.

5 HORROR MOVIE EXAMPLES: SAW

Scream wasn’t as successful as Saw as it wasn’t as scary and watching it as an older viewer compared to watching it when you’re younger, you realise that most scenes are quite funny and immature, making it a particularly bad horror movie as it doesn’t fulfi l expectations. However it still made 4 movies and a rating of 7.2 from IMDb.

SCREAM

Insidious has been a very successful horror fi lm with a sequel and a new trilogy which came out this year. This movie contains child possessing's and hauntings, fulfi lling the generic expectations of a horror fi lm. This fi lm was rated at 6.8 from IMDb, due to the fact that it has a universal theme that most horror fi lms have, whereas Saw and Scream had new ideas.

INSIDIOUS

Paranormal activity consists of 5 fi lms and a 6 th one coming out this year. It has the typical generic characteristics such as possessed characters and creepy settings/scenes. However it wasn't as successful as the Saw and Scream franchise as each fi lm got a lower rating than the last, this could be due to the fact that it isn’t a very original idea as anyone could have thought of it and each fi lm is very similar making the fi lm drag.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY

The Exorcist is a highly viewed horror fi lm with a rating of 8/10 from IMDb. It is one of the most profi table horror movies ever made which demonic possession and exciting, yet disturbing scenes. With supernatural eff ects, and a dark eerie atmosphere, it is known as one of the greatest and scariest fi lms of all time, fulfi lling the audiences expectations with a shock factor, dark scenes, and a lot of tension creating a mysterious atmosphere

THE EXORCIST

Horror movies have developed their special eff ects and characters through time, if you look at the special eff ects in the movie ‘Maximum’ Overdrive from 1986 compared to ‘The conjuring’ from 2013, they have been improved to look much more realistic and believable, this helps achieve the scare factor of horror fi lms, engaging the audience and helping the movie become more successful. Horrors have been forced to adapt to the audiences needs as they need to be more unique and not predictable. This includes my shocks, complex plots and psychological twists.

HOW HAVE HORROR MOVIES DEVELOPED THROUGH TIME?

Actors/Actresses: Ted Levine Gary Oldman Christopher Lee Dennis Christopher Tiff any Shepis Heather Langenkamp

PRODUCTION COMPANIES/ACTORS/ DIRECTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE

HORROR GENRE

Director: Neil Marshall Clive Barker Tobe Hooper Sam Raimi John Carpenter Wes Craven

Production companies: Benderspink Blumhouse productions Ghost house pictures Platinum Dunes Twisted pictures