Horror

Horror: an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust. The genre label horror is a loose generalisation which is designed to characterise visual or thematic elements that represent a product in the mind of the consumer known as conventions. These include the structure, the monster, the thrill and the relationship of the film to the viewer.

Horror films have a structure. The basic structure is Order-------Chaos-------Reconstruction. The purpose usually is to show a society or community dealing with a catastrophic change, which is usually due to a monster of some sort.  The opening act consists of an ordered society that is unaware of the looming disruption. Examples of Horror films with a ‘normal’ town are Halloween, Gremlins, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Examples of Horror films with an isolated group are The Thing, Evil Dead, and Alien. Examples of Horror films with and individual are Carrie, The Exorcist, and Rosemary’s Baby. The monster threatens stability and is the chaotic element that breaks down the social order. The monster tends to be the core of the film that makes it a horror. The reconstruction is when there is a return to a stable form which is not necessarily good. The process of reconstruction provides the genre’s basic narrative drive.

Horror is an easily influenced genre and is often merged with Sci-Fi, Thriller and Fantasy which makes it difficult to categorise it/properly genrify. A horror film is normally defined by the presence of monster. There are a lot of different types of monsters and sub-genres but they tend to fall into one or more of four categories, however each of these is subject to cross-fertilisation and combination.

There are natural horror films. Nature represents primal fear and it is chaotic, unpredictable and violent. Human’s insignificance in the universe is shown by futile attempts at controlling its forces. Ecological horror films show the effects of the planet on humankind, which tends to be either as punishment for meddling, the primitive attacking the modern or man as insignificant to the greater purpose of nature’s cycle. The sub-genre often crosses with scientific monster. Resolution tends to be achieved by scientific means, confrontation which re-establishes the main characters link with the primitive self or by nature just running its course.

There are supernatural horror films where the supernatural monster is usually a fantastical evil spirit or object of fear that cannot rationally exist. This monster often attacks both the body and the soul. Many supernatural creatures are based on religious mythologies and folklore. Associated with these are prescribed methods of dispatch, although the cinematic form will often expand, develop or defy them. Supernatural monsters, because of their incapability to be fully explored & uninterpretable nature, also allow the film maker to let their imagination run riot, creating terrors outside our waking reality.

There are psychological horror films where the psychotic killer is based in the real world. The sub-genres thriller and slasher rely on the evil or madness of a vicious perpetrator to evoke their thrills. Sometimes they are given an excuse or a reason for their actions; abuse at the hands of the father, a frightening oedipal complex, or noisy neighbours. Occasionally there is no obvious motive for a killer’s crimes. Stories can be taken from the news or claim to be based on true events to provide extra chills. Sometimes the psychotic killer is crossed with the supernatural creating very memorable horror icons.

There are also scientific horror films and a popular take of the genre is the mad scientist, with a brilliant mind yet fanatically driven, blinkered vision that can lead to all kinds of evil, accidental or intentional. Frankenstein’s monster is a product of a man’s obsessive determination to create life from dead flesh, but people often question who is really the monster, creation or creator? Scientific horror movies often reflect contemporary fears, such as radiation & the atom bomb or biological terrorist attack. These films often explore the ethical considerations of using science for evil as well as good; science is often to blame when things go awry yet is frequently called upon to save the day.