Genre - History of Horror and Conventions

One of the main features of a horror film is that is has to engage with the audience by inciting emotions such as fear and disgust about what they are witnessing on screen. The Horror genre can overlap with a variety of other genre’s in order for it to progress and continue to terrify the audience. An example of the genres that horror can link to is the Supernatural genre as well as well as Thriller. Plots and narratives for horror films often use images for the actual world and pervert and change them by adding in monsters or accentuating real violence from society. The varieties of fictional characters that stereotypically appear are ghosts, werewolves, Satan and vampires. Horror also features characters that could exist within real life, such as Jack the Ripper and other forms of killers and torturers. Some of the original horror films were based upon Gothic Literature. Examples of these are Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein and Dracula. A large amount of the original horror films were created in Germany. The Hollywood films began in the early 1920’s, where popular films such as Phantom of the Opera and Waxworks were created. The 1930’s is when Hollywood horror films became intended for mainstream audiences. It was during this time period that notable actors such as Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff became famous for their portrayals as Dracula and Frankenstein respectively.

Hammer Horror was a production company that had large amounts of success with the Horror genre in the 1950’s – 1970’s, these films contain blood and gore in colour. They often stared the respected actors of horror at this time such as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. They had large success with films such as the curse of Frankenstein and The Mummy. The director of these films, Terence Fisher, is deemed the creator and biggest influence for all modern Horror films. Hammer Horror films were popular until the 1980’s when the studio ceased to produce up until 2007, when larger Hollywood budgeted films took over. Horror films after this developed into psychological films, in which the perpetrator and the object of horror are not revealed to the audience, an example of this being the popular film Halloween.

During the 1990’s Horror films took a step backwards as the gore aspect had worn out and the audience had changed and developed. The new audiences wanted films that challenged them instead of simple slasher films. The Horror genre has inspired a variety of different productions, that span a variety of genre because of the well recognised traits it posses. It has had a variety of documentaries and show dedicated to the progression that has happened since horror began. One of the most recent is “A history of horror” a BBC 4 production that stared Mark Gatiss running down a list of some of the most arguably influential films produced in this genre.

Horror is an important genre, within my plan for a short film. The idea of frightening the audience and to push the boundaries of their perceptions is a concept used in my short film. The fact that my plan consists of two characters stuck on a platform that is counter weighted with a noose around their necks; if one of them is removed from the platform, the weight on the platform shifts and the second character is hung. This aspect of the characters death, could be deemed gruesome, even though this action is not conveyed on the screen and is only suggested to the audience. The idea of the audience perceiving the death in their own minds, not only links to the psychological aspect of the film, but makes it terrifying in its own way to the individuals watching the film. It also signifies that all though the threat of death is a crucial piece of content, it is not the main feature of the film or the narrative. Due to the fact this film contains a constant threat of death as well as images of people being ready to be hung; horror is an important genre choice for it.