Genre Analysis

The killer in horror films look the same almost all the time. For example, they are always dark and mysterious and majority of them are always wearing masks. In films like, 'Halloween', 'Scream' and 'Friday the 13th' are just some of the horror movies that include knives as a murder weapon. Most other films include different weapons such as a chainsaw (Texas Chainsaw Massacre). Other films don't even use weapons, for example in 'The Conjuring' doesn't incluse any weapons, also you don't see anyone die, they tell you about people dying but you don't in fact see people getting killed. In other films such as 'Final Destination' it involves many different deaths, for example, 2 people die in a roller coaster crash.  

Most horror films are set in an old fashioned house, which always looks rather spooky. Films like 'Friday the 13th' and 'Cabin in the Woods' are set in the middle of the woods and in a cabin. However, you get some movies that are in houses that are more modern than you would expect, for example 'Insidious' and 'Sinister' are set in modern houses, this could suggest that not all horror movies need to be set in a mysterious house. Other horror films are not even set in houses, for example some horror films such as 'Grave Encounters' is set in an old asylum this is showing all places can be scary. 

The majority of horror films relate to each other. For example, most of the time it is always about paranormal activity around their house, or a killer on the lose. Majority of horror films include teenagers or groups of teenagers and they stumble across a killer or they are in a haunted house. Horror movies will always include more than one teenager\adult that come across a mysterious house or a killer and most will include police, or ghost hunters.

I think the most common theme in horror movies would be deaths, I think they use death a lot because it scares people the most. The other common theme I think would be paranormal, I think its common because it entertains the audience because of it being jumpy. It's a good thing that is actually scares the audience because then it is a successful horror film.

The structure of horror films are quite similar. The always tend to start off slow and letting the audience know about all the characters and the surroundings. A little bit into the movie they will notice some kind of problem for example, in 'Insidious' a little boy doesn't wake up and doctors don't know what it is, when actually he is lost in another world. Some horror films such as 'The Conjuring' uses flashbacks, I think they use flashbacks because it makes the films more dramatic. In 'The Conjuring' it shows the two ghost hunters lives and introduces you to a doll called Annabelle which is based on a true story.

Not many horror films tend to use actual music, they often use just sounds which are used in the jumpy parts of the films because it will make the audience jump twice as much as they would to if there wasn't any sound. In films like 'Sinister' and 'Insidious' it is all silent but then when the demon comes on the screen it plays a loud bang which is giving it effect. The sounds are very hard to shock the audience.