What are some of the key conventions of the horror genre

We all have different opinions on horror films, some people love them, and some people are terrified. But what ever your opinion on them, the genre of horror has conventions so that the viewer knows that they are watching a horror, some of the conventions are setting, narrative structure and different character types. Horror films are designed to frighten and panic us, they invoke hidden fears. The fears in which we experience can be anything from, fear of death, nightmares and terror of the unknown.



The theme, horror, connotes many different ideas to me; the known against the unknown, monsters and demons, setting of old abandoned houses. There are a number of different ways in which a horror film can be themed on, such as binary opposites, things like, natural vs. unnatural or good vs. evil. This was the theory of Claude Levi-Strauss. Other themes include, the return of the repressed/hidden evil inside, this was Freudian theory, he said it is when a memory of a event, that has been blocked out or even been able to recall because it was either painful or traumatic, is triggered by particular smells or tastes, often many years later. Science out of control, one classic example of this is Frankenstein, where a mad scientist makes many creatures but one is misguided science and turns against the creator.


When you first begin watching a horror film, you can straight away tell what the genre is by the setting. Often, in the out of hours or night time and majority of horror films are set in small communities or places which are isolated from the inner city, set in rural areas as it offers more opportunities for the victim/s to be outsiders of the community or isolated. Or perhaps the community shares an old secret that is never to be told. This is not always the case, but even within the larger setting is an abandoned house or church in the community, that can have a number of floors, such as attics and cellars, places for secrets and the unknown. One of the films we watched was Halloween; this is a good example of a small community, isolated, where the events take place in old three storey houses. Some other settings in which horror films are set is religious places, such as ‘The Exorcist’, or medical institutions, where the mentally ill live.


The signifiers that are present to us in the genre of horror are the colours black and red, these clearly connote darkness, danger and blood. Objects that are present in the mise-en-scene are bladed objects/weapons, blood stains on clothing and objects that represent religion, such as crucifixes. These are present in Eden Lake, the hoodies carry knives and their clothes become blood stained after attacking the boyfriend. Other iconography that we think of when we see horror film are the lighting, non-naturalistic, normally low key with an emphasis shadows and from unexpected angles to cast and create unknown shadows and to connote hell and bonfires. If the light is natural, it usually comes from moonlight or sunlight and normally from above. These were all clear in the films we watched, in Halloween, there are night time scenes where the moon light shines and gives a spooky feel to the film.




The technical codes, including camerawork, sound and editing are all very prominent. The camerawork is expressive with lots of high and low angles, this can show the shadows that are cast from the lighting and makes the shot look terrifying as the viewer. To make the audience disorientated, which is common, there may be canted shots and arcs. Along with these shots that confuse the audience, the victim is viewed in extreme close ups, so that the audience can identify with the terror and fear that the victim experiences, ECU can also be used for sudden shots on the monster which gives the feeling of personal space being invaded.
Another common shot is the POV (point of view), often subjective, is in the view of the monster watching the victim or from the victims POV and putting the audience in this position which questions the audience’s identification. However, during both films we have watched we see that the objective person at the beginning (victim) becomes the subjective and we see the film through their eye’s and experience and creates more fear.
The editing used in horror films is generally unsettled and jumps different shots so that it isn’t smooth for example LS to CU and cutting out the MS. Another section of editing that can create the effect of jumpiness and when something scary is about to appear is when the editing pace is increased.
Sounds are important, the sounds which you hear in horror films are normally diagetic, such as footsteps and heartbeats, and these are known as ambient sounds.

The different character types that you get in horror films are protagonist, monsters/villains and children/teens. The protagonist is the lead character ‘victim/hero’, and many times results in them being the survivor or the Final Girl. The lead character often fights the villain, which is the good vs. evil.


Vladimir Propp, a narrative theorist, examined 100s of examples to see if they shared any structures. He identified 8 different character roles, the villain, the hero, the donor (who provides an object), the helper who aids the hero, the princess (a reward for the hero) the princess’s father, the dispatcher who sends the hero on his way and the false hero. Propp said that one character may fulfil more than one role; this is very true for the film, The Shining. In this film the role of the hero is shared between Danny and Wendy, Jack is the villain and the Cook (Hallorann) is the donor and helper.



A classic Hollywood narrative structure, (normality-enigma-pathway to resolution-closure or hero-agent of change-quest-resolution-closure) these are marginally applicable to the horror genre, but the closure may be left ambiguous for the reason of a sequel to be made, this is based on Todorov’s theory.
Propp also proposed an outline on the basic structure of which indicates the development of the plot into 31 functions. The first 7 are broken down into the preparation, these first functions relate to The Shining, and reinforces the idea however it doesn’t follow the other points. After preparation is complication where the hero plans something against the villain, in the section transference the hero takes on the actions given by the donor and uses the object given to him. During the struggle section, the villain and hero fight one another and generally the hero is branded by a scar or a mark. The hero then returns and recognized, where as the villain is punished. However, this does not work for all the films we have studied.

These are just some of the key concepts of the horror genre, but with all the different makes a film that could the audience can identify with and feel the fear in which the victim feels.