Horror Films are unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, and cause fear and apprehension. Horror films look on the dark side of life and focus on the forbidden, and strange and alarming events. They deal with our fears, vulnerability, and the terror of the unknown and the fear of death.
The classic conventions of the horror film include: the final girl, a frightening place, dark or threatening mise-en-scene , narratives that move from equilibrium to disturbance and back to a new equilibrium, a horrible human/monster, themes of death and destruction, iconography such as knives and masks, and a disorientation/disturbance of the audience
For example in Scream (Directed by Wes Craven) these conventions are employed literally and at the same time self-consciously. The dialogue of the film includes detailed descriptions of the mechanics and effects of the horror film.
In Scream the final girl is Sydney (played by Neve Campbell) fulfils the role of the final girl. Characters are being killed all around her and she is left at the end of the film having to meet head on the killers. This approach allows her to discover the true identities of the killers and find out the truth about her own mother’s murder. The final girl confronts her own past traumas and fears. Confronting fears face – to – face is a good thing to do in my own production, as it will create tension towards the audience.
In Scream the frightening place is not a gothic castle or an isolated house, but the domestic home, this somewhat goes against the conventions of horror but it still creates the edgy and thrilling side of the horror because it’s not normal. From the first killing of Casey in her home, we realize that the place we would naturally consider to be safe is, in fact, not. I would use this in my production because its part of the create and fear can be generated from it. In Scream the killers attack in the home, and this makes the invasion that much more detailed and frightening
The opening scene of Casey’s killing also provides examples of the ominous mise-en-scene characteristic of a horror film. She often moves around the house lit by lamps which provides small amounts of light and shadow. The darkened spaces are frightening for both Casey and the viewer because they provide places for a killer to hide and later on make its move on attacking the victim, which is Casey. The lack of illumination in the scene is both literal and somewhat scary, but yet natural. When Casey looks out of the window the mist over the pool also provides an example of disorientating mise-en-scene.
The monsters in Scream are, of course the killers who bring chaos and death in the film. What is interesting about Wes Craven’s version of this convention, is that they are not damaged victims who kill for their own pain. (this could be argued) These are bored teenagers with little or no motive and for many viewers this is a far more frightening creation.
Horrors have something called Iconography and Scream shows a good example of this. Scream includes many classic icons of horror. We see knives and a mask in the opening sequence and these are used throughout the film to signify the killers. Knives are intimate violent weapons. The killers must attack from close quarters and often stabs many times, heightening the fear and pain of the victim Horror films use disguise as a means of confusing the viewer and obscuring the killer’s identity until the end of the film. I would use this in my production as it creates suspension and plays mind games with the viewer and makes them want to know who the killer is so therefore have to watch the entire film.
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