The Talk: With David James: Horror Research

Tuesday, November 10th

Horror Research

What Makes it Horror?

Horror might just be my favorite genre when it comes to the enjoyment and appreciation I have for the medium.

Horror is defined as an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust. These feelings are all given to the audience in different ways during different movies. A lot of horror films have an advantage of not needing a large budget to tell its story, some of the most well known and beloved horror movies come from this category. However, that isn't to say that bigger budget horror films are bad, because it allows for even more creative liberties and even better, more scares.

Content-

Suspense is used to build tension in a film, holding onto that for however long the film sees fit, keeping the audience on their toes waiting for the inevitable scare to come at them. Or, it just never comes and you are left with a feeling of terror as the film was able to hold onto you and keep you scared just by building suspense.

EX: The Shining builds suspense by using a series of long and uncomfortable shots holding on things for longer than is needed and through the rising threat of Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson).

Many films in this genre use a series of tropes, or cliches as they're called. Some including the final girl trope, the horny teenagers getting killed in a cabin or forest, the group splitting up and subsequently getting killed one by one, based on a true story, and all around people making the worst decisions imaginable for the situation they're in. Just to name a few. These tropes are infamous because of the heavy reliance on them throughout horror movies as time goes on.

EX: The Friday the 13th series has always relied on two tropes throughout the entirety of the franchise, including the killing horny teens as the most prevalent.

Some films are very grotesque with their showing of the content. Being very disturbing to watch and sit through because of the reliance on this idea. Using a way of killing or torture in a film in grave detail, showing the littlest things or holding the camera for a long time on a disturbing shot adds to this idea.

EX: The film House of 1000 corpses takes on the idea of a disturbing move, whilst not being traditionally scary, it contains a lot of disturbing imagery, making the film tough to sit through.

Production Techniques-

A starting basis for all production techniques is a good screenplay, and then working on the style the film will have. Style and presence are important when it comes to a film and those are expressed through some production techniques to keep the watcher engaged. Two basic techniques include the jump scare, requiring a sense of suspicion and dread as dead silence can change to blood boiling screams, terrifying the audience from shock. The other being Gore, or the usage of blood and effects in a horror film. Some films rely solely on blood and gore to make a successful film, turning savage in the blink of an eye.

EX: The film Saw uses a combination of blood and gore with stylistic choices to get the story across, overall improving the way the story is told and making the film better in that aspect.

Marketing-

Horror film marketing is mostly focussed on teasing the audience, giving hints, building a mystery, intriguing us with the idea are primary ways these films are advertised. All promotional material gives the watcher an uneasy feeling, a sense that something is wrong, enticing them to go see the film and discover what that thing might have been.

Samples-

Accompanied by her husband, son and daughter, Adelaide Wilson returns to the beachfront home where she grew up as a child. Haunted by a traumatic experience from the past, Adelaide grows increasingly concerned that something bad is going to happen. Her worst fears soon become a reality when four masked strangers descend upon the house, forcing the Wilsons into a fight for survival. When the masks come off, the family is horrified to learn that each attacker takes the appearance of one of them.

Wes Craven re-invented and revitalised the slasher-horror genre with this modern horror classic, which manages to be funny, clever and scary, as a fright-masked knife maniac stalks high-school students in middle-class suburbia. Craven is happy to provide both tension and self-parody as the body count mounts - but the victims aren't always the ones you'd expect.