Monday, 22 December 2014

Types of Horror


Body horror-

These films use lots of gore in order to scare the audience, scenes involving decapitation and bloody fights are common within this sub-genre. Examples of good horror films with lots of body horror include the Saw films, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hostel and the Final Destination quadrilogy. Most recent horror films will not be straight body horror any more but will rather combine it with another sub-genre. This is because body horror doesn't have the same effect on audiences now that is used to; we are more accustomed to seeing this type of thing on the news whereas in the past people would have walked out of the cinema upon seeing gore.

Action horror-

Action horrors are an increasingly common sub-genre of horror. The fast editing used creates excitement for the audience and collision cutting is also used in order to build the tension within the film and intensify the action. Examples of action horror films are Dawn of the Dead (2004), The Crazies, The Purge and Resident Evil.

Psychological horror-

Psychological horror films rely on collision cutting and jump scares in order to make the film scary for the audience. A common theme for psychological horrors is the supernatural, and a lot of them use a family as the main characters of the film. This makes the films more appealing to a mainstream audience for whom family is their main concern. Examples of psychological horror films include The Uninvited, The Woman in Black, The Blair Witch Project and the Paranormal Activity films.

For my film trailer I am mainly going to use the action horror sub-genre. This is because it is my personal favourite type of horror film, having appreciated films like Dawn of the Dead (2004). and I think that I can use this in order to make an effective trailer. I feel I've watched enough action horrors to know what works and what doesn't. However I will also be using elements of psychological horror conventions in order to amplify key moments in the trailer, and this will maximise the “horrere” (shuddering) effect.

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