Conventions of horror films and characters

Paradigms of horror films:
These are the certain concepts that we associate with horror films. They are guidelines that all successful horror movies follow, and without them we would not be able to categorize a film into a specific genre.

Character conventions;
• The killer is normally a shady character with a history. Something has happened in his/her past to make them the character they are.
• They normally have a trademark weapon/characteristic that makes them recognisable.
• The victim is either a virgin/promiscuous (final girl theory)
• The virgin girl is always innocent and always survives
• The promiscuous girl is always the first to die- there is normally a scene that shows us she is sexually active and therefore we know she will die first.
• The ending is always a good outcome in that the good defeats the bad.

Weapon conventions;
• The knife is used as the main weapon in horror films, as it inflicts pain to the victim, but it is a slow and painful death.
• In violent slasher films, there are other weapons that follow the same idea. In “The Texas chainsaw massacre” there are hooks, meat cleavers and chainsaws used to torture the victims.
• The most effective weapon that a film can play on is the mind. By creating a sense of fear for the viewer, they are creating their own interpretation of fear, which is much scarier than and monster or villain.

Setting/Location conventions;
• Stereotypical horror films are often set in “scary places” such as forests, haunted houses, churches ect. This allows the audience to be enveloped by all of the conventions of the genre.
• The most recent horror films are set in “safe” places, which toy with the audience, as it makes the question whether they are really safe or not.
• If a film is set in a “stereotypical” place, it often has all of the typical paradigms that go with it; dark, bad weather, isolation.

20th Century horror
• Pathetic fallacy- the mood is associated with the weather
• Dark, grainy images
• Social commentary- spread of disease- there were often films about vampires (The house of the Devil- 1898)
• Dark, cold, isolation, bad weather

30’s-40’s
• Hollywood were able to budget on films more so films became bigger
• Dracula (1931)
• Sadistic/ Masochistic
• Fear, Heroes/villains, thrillers

50’s-60’s
• More technology so villains/monsters looked real.
• Blood- stereotypical convention used to show pain/ suffering
• Zombies, mutation, nuclear radiation
• Devil and demonic possession- popular topic as it relates back to peoples fear of religion and the unknown.

70’s-80’s
• “video nasties and slasher films”
• More graphic scenes of violence/sex
• Aliens- man went to the moon- fear of the unknown.
• Romantic/sexually explicit- the audience feel safe as they relate to it which makes the horror scenes more effective.
• Sex, evil, schools, children

The 90’s
• Reality- filmed on handhelds to become more realistic
• The Blair witch project (1999)
• Social commentary- racism

21st century
• Psychological horror mixed with reality
• Mind-games, families, children, the home (safe places)
• The ring (2002)
• Paranormal activity (2009)

Examples:
• Psychological- “The grudge (2004)”
• Religion- “The exorcist (1973)”
• True story- “Paranormal activity (2009)
• Monster/gore- “The decent (2005)”