Research: Conventions of the Horror Genre

What are the conventions of the horror genre?
Within a horror film, the conventional narrative is where a single person or group of people are being persecuted by an antagonist. This group of people usually consists of teenagers or people in their adolescent years. The group is an even mix of male and female characters however, when it comes to the end of the film, there is usually just the 'final girl'.
When is comes to iconography, horror has a very distinctive set of conventions. The two main settings for horror films are either a surburban area or an isolated area, two contrasting places. Most scenes in a horror film also take place in either low-key lighting or at night.
A good example of these conventions is the 1974 film 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. A group of teenagers are being hunted by a psycho killer. They are at an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere, and most of the killing takes place in dark houses or at night. At the end of the film, it is the 'final girl' that escapes during daylight.

Horror and it's sub-genres
There are multiple sub-genres for horror. These sub-genres are;

• Gothic- In a Gothic Horror, the typical antagonist is some sort of monster, most notably monsters such as Frankenstein or Dracula. A more recent example film is 'The Curse of Frankenstein' (1957).
• Slasher- The Slasher sub-genre contains an antagonist that is human, however is a psychopath.  Each psychopath hides their identity behind a mask and has a signature weapon, the most notable in 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974) with the weapon of choice being a chainsaw. The protgonists remain a group of young adults or teenagers.
• Psychological-This sub-genre is one focused on the mental and emotional instability of a character. This means the antagonist is usually a regular person who deteriorates over time. An example film here is 'The Shining' (1980).
• Paranormal- Otherwise known a supernatural, this sub-genre focuses on entities & the occult. These films usually occur in modern suburbia, and the antagonist is rarely seen. 'Paranormal Activity' from 2007 is a good example of this sub-genre of horror.
• Gore- Now that audiences have developed, blood and gory scenes can now be seen in cinemas. These films usually consist of torture by a human/psychopath using a range of weapons. The protagonists can be anyone of any age/race/gender. The most successful horror franchise, Saw I- VII (2004- 2010), stems from this sub-genre.
• Found Footage- This sub genre consists of footage that is or is made to look real. The protagonists remain teenagers, however the antagonist it usually an entity of some sort. One of the most famous films in this sub-genre is 'The Blair Witch Project' from 1999. 

The theories behind genre and horror
Within all genre, there are certain theories that can apply across all. Multiple media theorists have identified all types of pleasures that audiences get when viewing any genre. Pleasures that the audience experience could be emotional, visceral, intellectual or counter-culture (Rick Altmans's theory from 1999). In the horror genre the audiences pleasures are:

• Emotional- fright, sadness, tension
  
• Visceral- crying, screaming or other physical effects
• Intellectual- Who will die? Who will survive? Who is the killer? What is his motive? Audiences enjoy the 'Enigma Code' side of films, where the audience predict what will occur in the film beforeit happens. This was first discovered by Barthes.
• Counter-Culture Attraction- the enjoyment audiences get from watching murder or psychotic behaviours. These can be shown in killing scenes where you see POV shots from the killer, such as the shower scene in 'Psycho' (1960).

Molitor & Sapolsky and more
Molitor & Sapolsky were two media theorists, who carried out an experiment on horror films. In this experiment they recorded the length of murder scenes on each gender. They found that the scene length for the murder of a female character was significantly longer than that of a male character. This can link to the theory of Linz, Donnerstein & Adams. This theory states that males will be less disturbed by images of extreme violence against women. This would be caused by the 'hypodermic syringe', which is the idea that people become desensitised to immoral actions, if exposed to them on a regular basis. Linz, Donnerstein and Adams' theory was created in 1989, so this theory may not be relevant to a modern, developed audience.
The idea that horror films are misogynistic is argued by Carol J Clover, who, in 1992,  stated that viewers only associate with the killer up to the point of the final girl. This final girl usually escapes and/or kills the perpetrator. This is a positive view that women have the courage to defeat evil.

In this youbtube clip, the ten best 'Saw' traps are shown. 'Saw' is a Gore Horror and is the highest grossing horror franchise of all time.