Sub-Genre

As a genre of film, horror is a multi-layered style that is made up of a variety of sub-genres. These sub-genres each have their own codes and conventions that define them and differ them from each other. The sub-genres are: 

Name: Slasher
Storyline Features: Movies that are excessively gory, contain one main serial killer, and a 'final girl'
Conventions: Final girl, killer with previous trauma, masked killer, bladed/sharp weapon (e.g. knife)
Example: Scream (Pictured right)

Name: Horror-Comedy
Storyline Features: Movies that combine a sub-genre of horror and comedy
Conventions: Over the top killings and general actions, humorous red herrings, idiotic characters
Example: Shaun of the Dead

Name: Supernatural/paranormal
Storyline Features: Movies that contain elements of the paranormal such as ghosts or curses
Conventions: Objects moving by themselves, invisible/supernatural forces, curses, chanting, contrapuntal sound
Example: The Shining (Pictured left)

Name: Monster
Storyline Features: Movies that contain mystical beings
Conventions: Ancient setting (e.g. Castle), old curses/spells
Example: Frankenstein

Name: Body horror
Storyline Features: Movies that scare a viewer through gory bodily harm
Conventions: Gore, unnecessary violence
Example: Saw (Pictured right)

Name: Psychological
Storyline Features: Movies that creates horror through fear, guilt or religious beliefs
Conventions: No physical weapons, relatable setting,contrapuntal sound
Example: Rosemary's Baby

In the 1960's, a media professor named Charles Derry generalised these sub-genres into three other "master sub-genres" that horror movies can be categorized into. A lot of modern horror movies span over various sub-genres in an effort to attain viewers, so they can therefore be categorized as these:

• Horror of Armaggedon - Horror movies that detail events that could end the world if they aren't overthrown/solved. These films were popular during the 1950's to '60's especially in Asia, however modern Zombie movies fall under this category also, e.g. World War Z.

  

• Horror of Personality - Rather than having excessive amounts of gore, the villain in these films are humans that have horrific personalities. These are either about a person's insanity (e.g. serial killers) or a person's transition to insanity. These films were most popular in the 1990's to early 2000's, e.g. Silence of the Lambs.

• Horror of the Demonic - This genre is of forces that are supernatural/paranormal and of the "unknown". This sub-genre consists of four main themes: vengeance, corruption of innocence, mystic phenomena (possession, curses etc.), and religious symbology (generally Christian symbols), and these can be combined to give a more horrific effect. This has been most popular in the recent decade as it challenges the audience much more intellectually than the other sub-genres, e.g. Drag Me to Hell.

For this project, we have decided to create a movie that is supernatural/paranormal and a horror of the demonic. We have made this decision because the sub-genre’s have an “unknown” element to them in that the audience cannot necessarily see the curse or the means behind an action, only the action itself. In addition to this, we believe that these sub-genres present a more sophisticated, intelligent and believable style of scare as opposed to the gore and sometimes ridiculousness of a slasher film