Horror is an interesting case of genre. While having the capacity of being unique, horror films often fall under very similar story structures and production designs. This is because all horror movies have the same common goal: to scare the audience. The adrenaline rush of being scared is why this genre is so loved and many of its films and known as cult classics, take Jaws or the Friday the 13th franchises.
CONTENT:
Horror movies rarely break away from the American story structure of an establishing period, an enticing action, a climax, and falling action. The establishing period is when the horror elements haven't been implemented into the story yet, everything is normal and calm. For instance, in Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead, the film starts with a group of friends going on a normal camping trip, no horror elements found, it's not until the group makes it to the cabin where the inciting action takes place. The rising action is often used to build up the horror, murder after murder, the Friday the 13th films commonly follow this rising action structure. This story structure works particularly well in horror as it establishes the normalcy in the narrative world, which makes the audience feel more connected to the characters and world.
Suspense can be found in nearly every horror movie. Suspense can be used to build-up to the scare, a long, excruciating, pause right before a monster jumps at the camera is a common way to use suspense. During this pause, horror movies often go one of two ways, either staying completely silent until a loud sound scaring the audience, or a build up of music until the scare. Both can be found in IT (2017), specifically when "The Losers Club" uses a projector to map out what they know so far, until their meeting is cut short by the evil clown Pennywise.
Horror movies also often use monsters to achieve the fear element. Hundreds of horror films' antagonists can be divided into ghosts, zombies, demons, curses, aliens, or un-killable monsters. A common fear of humankind is the unknown, so using fictional monsters correctly can make the audience extremely fearful while also being confused at what their seeing. Movies like Aliens, 28 Days Later, and The Exorcist all use one of these monsters.
Horror movies can also use the opposite of mythical creatures to scare their audience, opting for the more realistic approach. Films like The Strangers and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are often credited to being realistically disturbing. The latter even being thought by audiences to be based on true events when released.
PRODUCTION:
Darker values are often found in horror movies, as they try to achieve a more gritty and uneasy feeling. Very rarely are bright hues used. The darker colors add to the fear element of these films, taking advantage of humanity's innate fear of the dark. Dark blue is often used as well, to create an eerie mood and give off a cold, dead atmosphere. In Jordan Peele's Us, a dark blue tone is used to create a cold and evil tone when the twist is revealed.
Loud sounds are often used to add on to the fear. Often horror scenes begin with complete silence with minimal to no sound only to be interrupted with a large sudden sound. Both nondiegetic and diegetic sounds can be used here. Nondiegetic sound is commonly used to build suspense. in the Friday the 13th films, Jason's score is used to signify that he's close and he's ready to hunt his victims.
Suspense is also expressed through prolonged shots of a certain object or location. Usually this shot shows a dimly lit location and holds on it for an uncomfortable amount of time before something comes out of it. This can be found in The Barbarian, when Tess, the protagonist, stares down a dark tunnel, the shot holds on this tunnel until something quickly crawls towards the camera, creating suspense and relinquishing it with a scare.
MARKETING:
The general audience for horror films are teens and young adults. Horror movies tend to be too disturbing or graphic for younger audiences. A poll done by CBS News in 2021 found that older people tend to not like horror as much as teens and young adults, with a 48% difference between the two.
Horror trailers mainly focus on the scares included in the movie. This is done to "wow" the audience and scare them through the trailer. If the scares are well-made, it could leave an impact on the viewer, which would increase the chances of them seeing the movie since they remember more about it. The trailer for Smile used this technique. At the end of the trailer, a sudden, disturbing scare happens where a character's head turns upside-down completely. This scare could have made some viewers jump and therefore heighten their interest in the film. Using scares like this in the trailer can also increase the word of mouth, as if the scare is impactful enough, people will go on social media and talk about it.
Horror movie posters often use reds and blacks. The reds can be used to convey a gore-filled, bloody movie, and black could be used to enforce this idea of a dark, scary movie. Horror posters also include disturbing imagery, whether that be a severed body part, a weapon, blood, or a masked killer.
SAMPLE:
