Horror Film Genre

The horror film genre has been captivating the public for over 100 years. There is a strange love that the public have for being scared which allows people to get a thrill and buzz from watching something. People's imaginations take over and they are sucked into a world that they believe at the time is true and could happen to them at any time. Even though you know that it is not real, there is a part of your brain that causes you to become scared. 

Through amazing special effects, or in the case of the older films, trickery from the film crew, the evil spirit or actions from these are made to be believable. Creaking floorboards and opening doors is a well known way in the horror genre to slowly begin to scare the audience as they realise something is not right. You always see the storyline progress and become gradually scarier as the final few scenes are approaching. The aim in every horror film is to lose connection with the 'evil spirit' and for everything to return to normal. Some however, will end on a cliff hanger, giving you the assumption that there is to be a second film. 

This term we have looked at the Gothic horror genre. It is one of the older genres and is often set at a dark manor house or castle and can feature spooky rivers or forests. The atmosphere that is created is key and focuses on giving the audience a thrill of excitement as they learn about the main characters and the 'unknown'. In the 18th and 19th century, Gothic ruins were found all over Great Britain. These gave inspiration for many horror novels due to the mysterious and eerie feeling they conveyed. 

References

Horror films (2016) Available at: http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html (Accessed: 14 February 2016).

Gothic horror (no date) Available at: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GothicHorror (Accessed: 14 February 2016).