Horror Sub-Genres

Horror Sub-genre's

Comedy Horror


Comedy Horror fuses the typical conventions of horror films with the comedy genre. This has became more popular over time. Examples of popular comedy horror's are; Shaun of the dead and the Scary movie collections.






Psychological Horror


Psychological horror relies mainly on the character and their emotions to build up the atmosphere and the tension in the film. It also relies on sound effects, relevant music, emotional instability and the CGI effect to create paranormal creatures to scare the audience. Lights Out is a new psychological horror which is a good example.








Horror Splatter Films



Splatter films are specifically focused on violent deaths and a lot of gore to scare the audience. These films tend to display an interest in the vulnerability of the human body and the guilty pleasure of extreme deaths. An example of these films is Cabin in the woods.







Supernatural Horror


Films of this genre often include ghosts, demons, or some other type of supernatural creature. These films have plots of exorcisms and deal with the unknown questions of life; therefore, they tend to incorporate religious elements into the plot. Since they emphasise the unknown, Supernatural films are considered quite suspenseful. An example of a supernatural horror is Paranormal Activity.







Action Horror



Action horror is a sub-genre that combines paranormal/evil events and people with gun fights and chase scenes that are often performed in films of the action genre. This genre often contains themes such as zombies, demons, gore, or vampires. A famous Action Horror is Attack the block.







Gothic Horror


Is a genre or mode of literature and film that combines fiction and horror, death, and at times romance.Gothic horror films normally include castles, magic, the supernatural and many other themes or locations that are classed under the Gothic genre. Most of the earliest horror films fall under the Gothic Horror genre. An example is Nosferatu.










Sci-Fi Horror

Science fiction horror can sometimes deal with the paranormal, but more often tends to involve aliens, mad scientists, and/or experiments gone wrong. An example of this is Aliens.







Slasher


Slasher films are mainly killers who we see kill many people in very violent and torturing way. These films typically end with a bloodbath of mass slaughter of the characters. An example of a slasher horror is Halloween.










Change In Popularity


Sub-genres of the Horror genre change over time due to popularity. What this means is that the sub-genre changes reflect with the fears of the generation. Early Horror films mostly consisted of the Gothic sub-genre but has changed many times over the years and now the paranormal and supernatural sub-genres seem to be racking up ranks.




Applying to my Main Brief


Applying this research I have carried out, for my main brief I will most likely use the sub-genre of paranormal as it seems to be in favour. So I will take back this thought to my group and we will brainstorm ideas around the paranormal sub-genre and hopefully create a successful opening for a Paranormal Horror film.