What is horror?
Typically when it comes to horror movies, us people think of fear, gore, jump scares. These psychological terrors aren't appealing to some, but to many its an adrenaline, sitting at the edge of your seat type of feel and they love it. And when Halloween season comes around its the best genre to sit and watch with friends on a festive night. That's why most Horror movies profit the most during October and also because of how low-budget these films are.
Content
The suspense in a horror movie is one of the most important factors when it comes to this genre. With out suspense there is no uncomfortable-what's going to happen effect. It keeps the viewers nervous waiting for something bad to happen. It creates false predictions in their minds, making the movie really good when there is a plot twist. Fear is also another important factor, but fear isn't anything unless suspense is imbedded in the film. With jump scares and violent actions in Horror movies, people don't fulfill the satisfaction in the adrenaline rush.
It is very rare to find a horror movie without these plots: Character's splitting up, Going down the basement (even when the audience is screaming not to), A woman being sexualized then right after being murdered. No matter how basic and stereotypical these things are, people love them. Horror movies aren't typically watched for their cinematic purposes or symbolism, but rather the rush addicted feeling people get.
Production Techniques
Lowkey lighting is a very common technique horror films typically use. With a dark ambience people unsafe and uncomfortable watching how dark it is in the movie. Along with lighting the color red and black is used a lot in this genre. With the color red signifying blood and black signifying darkness and an empty void.
Sound is one of the most important when it comes to production techniques. It keeps the viewers nervous and adds suspense to the movie. It is most commonly succesful in the jump scare effect. Where the music is building and once the audience sees the popup they also hear an abrupt noise, scaring them even more.
Marketing
With marketing, they spend more time in attracting the general age range of teens to young adults. Most elders aren't going to watch something that could put a strain on their heart. With the use of showing something innocent and making it scary, it intrigues people. Along with having many reds on the poster of the movie, it contains the a person or a thing. The main subject in the poster is either scared or it is scary. It has to show that it is truly evil in order to catch the target audience's attention. When a poster is showing multiple characters it is to show the relationships between each of them and the fear they all share.
samples:
The film IT (2017) is based on the stories of Stephen King. It follows 7 young outcasts that face a great evil that takes the form of a clown. This clown goes to their town every 27 years to eat the children of the town. Throughout a whole summer this group of friends figure out how to defeat this clown, along with facing their own fears and challenges. The idea of having a clown portrayed as an evil presence is very common in the horror genre. Taking something that symbolizes comedy and childhood innocence and turning it into something ugly and scary. It also contains many reds along with the red balloon being the symbol of the clown. The set design contains neutral colors until they go into the sewers where it changed into dark lighting and many black and greys. the clown, pennywise, lives. showing the change in environments and tone, telling the viewers that the sewers are a very dangerous place to be in.
In the film The Conjuring (2013) it takes place in the 1970's where paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed are asked to visit the home of Carolyn and Roger and their 5 daughters. There they discover the horrors of the house and its past of witch craft, demonic presences present themselves in a mild manor, but only increase from their endangering the lives of everyone in the house. This movie has extreme lowkey lighting. it also contains sounds that enhance the use of jump scares and suspense. When imbedding the fear to the audience, this movie does just that. With its use of set design and also FX makeup. This movie is constantly giving the tone of gloom and despair. Having not a lot of gore but just the right amount people are still able to enjoy the movie.
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