Horror Conventions

By Thomas Beckensall

Iconography • Axe• butcher knife• Blades• Spikes• Saw blades• Murders • Demons• Pickaxe• Haunted house

These are props or objects in the scene that make the feeling of the movie appear more dramatic and slower, for suspense.

Style• Lighting• Shaken camera• Dramatic music• Montage• Match on action to weapons or enemy

The styles of the movies set the horror genre as the lighting plays a major part of the film as it gives certain points of interest within the scene.

setting• Any building during a natural disaster• The title could be the place of the films setting• Dark places• Houses as it is breaking an entering• Underground reminds the viewer of hell

The setting of a horror could be classed as iconography but the setting is classed as the estate or town that makes the mood of the movie more apparent.

Narrative• The mysterious killer• Fear of the unknown• Claustrophobia• Hallucination • Trapped • Freedom but still in danger

The classic narrative structure of horror movies normally ends with the harmless virgin girl being the last survivor and ends up killing the demon or beast.

Characters• Jigsaw• Teenagers• Business men• Family• Tourists• Maniac• Curious character

The characters are normally split into the vulnerable and the attacker which can change around as a twist which is like the character has been transmuted throughout the story. Characters are the main part of the fear of the film as living things are the main thing that plays with the viewers emotion.

Themes• Physiological• Gore• True story• Monster• Religious• survival

The themes are the basis of the movie as it makes everything originate around that one main idea. Themes attract a certain audience who would be attracted to that type of theme.