Analysis of Horror Film Genre

A typical film genre depends on shared iconography, formal themes as well as related narrative structures and substance. Horror, as a TV genre has been around for so many years, and it serves the purpose of scaring people. Hantke asserts that the principal effect of a horror film is to make a person to jump, or be nervous from something that is happening (2). The writers of horror films utilize the exploitation of fear in making their moves realer when it comes to frightening people. The success of a horror film is determined by the amount of fear it instills into the audience.

Horror refers to the powerful and thoughtful fear, an aspect that inspires dislike. This film genre strive to draw out the emotions of fear, horror, as well as terror from the audience. Horror is debatably the most extreme, extroverted, as well as exploitative genre because of its grim prosthetic effects, abrupt bursts of music, skeptical resurrections and uncalled for nudity scenes.

Horror films are amongst the most appealing genres of films. This is because horror films dare to push the societal traditions to the limit, and serves the purpose of shocking, as well as scaring the audience. Horror films appeal to many people due to the general dull lives that are portrayed in them. According to Walters, male audience for horrors utilizes that moment to get close to their female counterparts, since females normally likes being scared in the presence of males.

One of the most fascinating aspects of horror films is the number of cultural icons that it has generated. For instance, The Chucky Doll, Alien, and the Scream have become children toys and, as a result, they are now household names. Prometheus (2012), an Alien movie was a genre-bending sci-fi/horror film that was unique. The film provided a combination of complicated as well as fascinating science fiction plot with a really horrifying concept on the subject of the alien race in the film. A follow-up is presently in the making that will carry on the remarkable science fiction/horror intersection that Alien started.

The Cabin in the Woods that was produced in the year 2012 is amongst the unique movies that have been made. This film deals with the subject of horror movies in a manner that is creative as well as interesting. The film employs the use of satire, fantasy, as well as unsurpassed turmoil so as to pass across its message. The Cabin in the Woods (2012) has all the elements that a contemporary horror film ought to have, even though with a little more aspect of self-awareness.           

In horror movies, when a couple has sexual intercourse, their lives are in danger. In the Friday the 13^th (1980), the acts of sex are presented as perversion, giving the audience the reason for the death of a couple. Horror movies are unique in their capacity to represent both physical fears to the audience as well as gender identity fears and the roles that are innate in them. The modern horror films comprise of a mixture or blend of all the aspects of preceding decades. There are those which have monsters, others are more pragmatic, others mix different genres, whereas others are totally original.

Horrors serve various purposes. They provide an enlightening mirror image of the concerns that people face.  Horrors as well offer an exclusive space for free discussion regarding the moral and societal shifts that take place in our communal paradigms. According to Kuettel, viewing horror movies enables people to encounter their secret fears and eliminate them through meeting it head-on. Weapons that are used in these films include bloody knives, clubs or guns.

There are particular characters that are found in many horror films. They include ghouls, zombies, psychiatric patients, murderers , as well as monsters. There is as well the central character who is hunted down, the girl who overcomes the killer in the end, and the rescuer whose purpose is to help others out. The clothes that are used are torn or very dirty. In instances where there is a killer in a horror film, he may disguise himself using a mask. For instance, in Halloween, Michael Myers, who is the killer, dresses in a boiler suit along with a white mask. The plot of this type of genre often comprises of themes of death or mental illness. Many horror films also have a central villain. Horrors have been thought to manipulate some people to emulate the brutal techniques of torture or murder that are shown on the screen.

In conclusion, during the past 20 years, horror movies have not been able to create an increased amount of cultural icons as it was during the 70’s and 80’s. It seems that film producers in this genre are out of ideas to make fresh approaches to horrors. However, there are always other new approaches of scaring people. The new found recognition of the zombie fiction as well as satirizing genres seems to be taking this genre into a new direction, and might probably bring horror films to their optimum potential.