Horror Films are unsettling films made to frighten and panic us, normally in a shocking finale, while entertaining us at the same time. Horror films focus on the dark side of life, the supernatural and evil events. They deal with our most primal nature and its fears. Whatever dark, primitive, and revolting traits that simultaneously attract and repel us are featured in the horror genre. Conventions of horror movies are things that you expect to see in a horror film. There are two types of conventions: Convention 1 and Convention 2. Convention 1 includes blood, death, killing, villain, victims, haunted houses, isolated settings, monsters, evil etc. Whereas, Convention 2 are things such as weapons, darkness, storms, chase sequences, gore, violence, screams and ghosts.
As we can see here the villain known as Freddie Kruger in the film Nightmare on Elm Street, has a signature weapon that helps to create the evil, scary and violent image. Weapons in horror films that are used to kill the villain’s victims make a statement. The director wants you to feel a certain way about the gore you're seeing on screen. The different weapons used in a horror film are for different effects. The butcher knife is a weapon audiences are most familiar with and is like basic killings. For example, in the film Psycho the most memorable scene is when one character gets killed in the shower by a butcher knife solely because of the use of the weapon. Chainsaws are used by villains to keep their intentions clear, killing someone with it is messy and uncomfortable and even the noise is unsettling. This is why the scene in Scarface in the most memorable in the entire film. However, the most disturbing method of killing a victim in a horror film is with their bare hands. A villain who kills their victim with their bare hands is extremely angry as we notice in the American version of the film Grudge. This is the most disturbing method as the audience can identify with the villain since they too have bare hands
Isolated/Haunted houses are affective as the audience can relate to them since there has been a time when we've all walked passed a creepy house and been frightened. The first thing we think of when walking past an isolated house is that it is haunted. This is because of horror films such as the Amityville Horror which portrays isolated houses as having something to do with a curse or evil spirits.
Gore used in horror films play a special role as it is what the audience expect to see in a horror film . For example, films like Tokyo Gore Police uses gore affectively as it makes the audience cring and feel uncomfortable, however, it can also make then enjoy the film a lot more.
Panic Room:
Scream:
