How Do Genre Affect The Culture Of Horror Films

What is common between most horror films and texts? They all use similar types of codes and conventions. These codes and conventions differ between genre and can be easily identified. These also reflect the values of the audience they are intended for. The 1993 stop-motion animated film, ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’, directed by Henry Selick, and the 1845 poem, ‘The Raven’, written by Edgar Allan Poe, are both a part of the horror genre, as they follow the codes and conventions of that genre. They use similar visuals, sounds, characterisation, and themes. Using these and other conventions, audiences can identify a genre, which influences their opinions and feelings about the genre.

Horror is a genre that is often overlooked due to a plethora of reasons. Readers tend to think of vampires or werewolves, but it is much more in depth. Horror is a genre that if dissected properly, can help the reader understand the correspondence to society. The Horror genre has been around since the 1890’s, when Georges Méliès was credited for creating the first horror film, emphasizing the idea that horror films have a cavernous meaning. In Georges Méliès famous short film, Le Manoir du Diable, the main character confronts Satan and has nowhere to run. This represents conflict within oneself, coinciding with the idea of a deeper meaning being prevalent throughout Shirley Jackson's work. In the novel, The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley

Everyone loves to watch a good horror film. Whether the effects in the movie are really gory or extremely unsettling, these nail-biting experiences are what give the audience a thrill as they try to peel their eyes away from the screen. The concept of these movies is to give the viewers a good scare, one that will have them glancing over their shoulders or double checking if their doors are locked at night for the next week. This genre has been around since the late nineteenth century, but horror movies did not gain much popularity until the 1930s. Modern day horror films have evolved from its beginnings, but the elements in a horror movie are consistent regardless of time.

What is horror? Webster's Collegiate Dictionary gives the primary definition of horror as "a painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay." It stands to reason then that "horror fiction" is fiction that elicits those emotions in the reader. An example of a horror film is "The Shining", directed by Stanley Kubrick. Stanley Kubrick was a well-known director, producer, writer and cinematographer. His films comprised of unique, qualitative scenes that are still memorable but one iconic film in his collection of work is The Shining. Many would disagree and say that The Shining was not his best work and he could have done better yet, there are still those who would say otherwise. This film was not meant to be a “scary pop-up” terror film but

Horror is the genre that keeps the reader on their toes for nights upon end. It keeps them thinking. Thinking about how cruel and disturbing someone, or something, could possibly be. Thinking about what in the world happens to a character after the story drops off in a cliffhanger. Thinking about the probability that the events in the narrative could transpire in real life. Thinking about how likely it is for those things to happen to the reader. Refusing to look out their window in fear of seeing the glimpse of a murderous face, and listening to every sound with acute accuracy, praying that the noise is not one of a stranger creeping up the stairs. Scary accounts make the reader live in fear whenever the

Since it’s infancy at the beginning of the eighteenth century, horror has followed certain conventions that results in an awakening of the senses, evoking intense emotions of fear and terror in the audience. Horror feeds off triggering the primal fears embedded within all of humankind, creating a sense of menace that is the very substance of this genre. Furthermore, the central menace of a piece tends to enlighten the human mind to the world of the paranormal and the enigmatic, dark side of the unknown. The movie “Psycho” directed by Alfred Hitchcock is a perfect example. Infamous for its shower scene, but immortal for its contribution to the horror genre, “Psycho” was filmed with great tact, grace and art in regards to horror conventions.

As a society, there is a lot of excitement placed upon horror and horror films; ask anybody and they could recall what the first horror movie they saw was and when they saw it. In fact, there were 753 horror films release in 2015 alone. However, during the 1950s, there were only approximately 244 or so horror films released throughout the whole decade. During the 1960s, that number nearly doubled from 244 to 517 (“Letterboxd”).

Despite the fact that the format in which a story is told can create a plethora of differences, the genre can link stories together across medium. Horror has ties to stories that date back hundreds of years and use similar conventions which allow one to classify these stories together in the horror genre. Part of what makes a classical horror story is some form of a supernatural element that tends to focus on either life or death however since the introduction of visual media certain stylistic conventions have been adopted in order to create an emotional effect in the audience. Although the genre tends to link together stories from medium such as film and video games there are still drastic differences between them due to core differences in their functionality that are able to change the way in which one receives the story.

What is it about horror movies that makes it so appealing? In Stephen King’s essay Why We Crave Horror Movies, he introduces the desires of fear. He argues that watching horror movies allows us to overcome the inner insanity inside us, allowing us to train out inner demons, accomplishing this through the use of ethos, humor, and metaphors. King does a good job of establishing credibility.

A girl runs frantically through the woods trying to escape an axe wielding villain. The defenseless victim suddenly trips and collapses to the ground. The villain laughs wickedly as he lifts the axe above his head. The girl releases a final scream as the weapon quickly ends her life, causing the audience to go silent as they watch the villain drag away the lifeless body. Death, blood, guts, suspense, screaming, and terror are all just a few things to expect when watching a modern day horror film. What is horror? Horror can be defined as an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust. (Wilson) The description of horror is not very pleasant, but for some reason horror films are extremely popular. Why is this so? People are addicted to the

Horror is designed to scare, cause alarm and dread, while also entertaining the audience at the same time in a cathartic experience (Dirk, 2016). Horror films are meant for a specific type of audience that enjoy scary films. Dirks (Tim, 2016) approach to genre horror, is that films went back as 100 years ago, from the earliest days our vivid imagination in seeing ghosts in the shadows to be connected emotionally of the unknown, and fear things that are improbable. You watch a horror film, it makes you aware of the scary surroundings, the essence of fear itself, without actually being in any sorts of danger. Dirks argues that there is a fun and thrill factor in being frightened, or watching something disturbing. It gives you that feeling of an adrenaline rush, as well as having that feeling someone is actually next to you lurking in the dark (Dirk, 2016).

Over the past 10 to 15 years the horror genre has been the subject of a big discussion. This discussion has been made by many different people to get a better result. The discussion quickly turned into a debate about ethics and how the horror is for civilized people. Henry James once said that the only criterion for a good art is that it must be interesting. Times do change and the horror gets more and more interesting. But what is horror? Some people sees the horror as a funny thing with funny creatures. Other people sees the horror as an insanity or internal fright. What horrifies one does not necessary horrify another. That is a quality that has always worked against horror and have also been one of the strongest points of commonality. The

In movies history, there was no music the movie till 1931. Introducing sounds in horror movies was an important step to make movie more realistic. Mr. Rudolph Arnhein believed that sound of voices and other noises enhanced the felt presence of the events. The sounds in horror movies came from different instruments and other noises (Spadoni). The most common sounds in horror movies are ticking clock, thunder and rain beating against the windows (Kelleghan).

The horror movies of the past ten years of so have tended to be more violently graphic and visceral - a reflection of modern times, perhaps. Think of the blood and gore, of the violent deaths at regular intervals in such movies as the Friday the Thirteenth series, I Know

Japanese horror movies have a long history. Stories that inspired the movies are even older. In Edo and Meiji period, horror and ghost stories going around Japanese society were known as Kaidan. These folktales then being show on stage as Kabuki and Noh play before the transition to screen.