Friday, October 8, 2010

Characteristics of the Horror Genre

1. Settings- The setting for the horror film is a very important aspect and normally consists of a very isolated location. This could be a house in the middle of nowhere, away from anyone else. This also leaves the main characters alone in their trouble with noway of gaining help from people around them. There is also the diaster film in which a whole city of country is wiped out leaving the main characters on there own in a vast place, for example in '28 Days Later.' These are both very effective film openings and help to show the horror genre.

2. Characters- There should always be a Protagonist in a film; this is the hero/ heroine and this character will normally be the last surving character. If the Protagonist is a girl then the will be called the 'final girl' and this derived from Carol J. Clover's book, in which she says it is important for there to be a final girl who beats the male Antagonist.
The Antaginist is the character in which the trouble comes from, they will either be a supernatural killer or a human psycopath. There will also be the stock characters; such as the monster fodder which is a character that is normally killed very early on in the film and this helps to show the audience who the antagonist is and the genre of the film.

3. Iconography is also another important aspect and these are used to show the horror genre. Horror iconography are items such as masks, knives and guns and these are usually owned by the antagonist.



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