Horror

Horror films are all about giving viewers an experience hence elements such as tone, texture, and mood are key in order to make a good horror movie; unlike other genres that rely more on elements such as dialogue and plot twists. Horror movies are exciting therefore its target market is usually teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15 and 25 since they enjoy thrills, and they are mostly males.

Content-wise horror movies encircle common fears therefore they are typically about nightmares, aliens, death, fear of the unknown, vulnerability, and loss of identity. They usually incorporate suspense and surprise elements that will frighten the audience. In order to create the horror effect filmmakers use certain angles to create an unsettling feeling for the viewer. Usually, the lighting is dark with a lot of shadows creating a sense of tension between the audience. Furthermore, the sound used such as high pitches generates an alarm within the viewers. Elements such as mise-en-scene, sound, editing, and cinematography influence the viewers for a more engaged audience. For example, the mise-en-scene is usually dark, in rural and deserted places that are usually abandoned or isolated. Props include weapons such as knives, axes, and chainsaws as well as supernatural features such as castles, graveyards, and haunted houses. This creates mystery and suspicion around the film. The colours tend to be blacks, reds, and brown and these connote the possible danger, blood, or evilness.

The cinematography includes different shot types; many horrors use close-ups to emphasize a character's scared emotions or extreme wide shots to create isolation and distance from a character. Horror uses unique and unusual angles to create confusion and an unsettling feel with the viewer. The lighting tends to be dark, underexposed with lots of shadows, making the audience feel tense and on edge.

Furthermore, the use of sound, such as a high pitch key, creates a sense of alarm with the audience. There is also an emphasis on footsteps, doors creaking, and animal noises, making the audience feel as though they don't know what is around the corner. Finally, editing is horror often tends to have a fast pace and many cuts to make the audience feel distressed, uneasy and builds dramatic tension for perhaps a jump scare.

Horror movies such as The Blair Witch used posters of missing people and posted them on college campuses, created a website that detailed the urban legend of a witch, interviewed false victim families, and fed false information into threads on popular forums using the strategy of trying to make it look as real and relatable as possible. The key to marketing horror movies is to hype up the release as much as possible. Also, a good idea is through word of mouth, get a few influencers to talk about the movie on their social media, and give them the merch of the movie so they can do like a giveaway so their audience interacts with your film.

Examples of horror movies:

1. 'Carrie' (1976)

Carrie, the 1976 horror classic by director Brian De Palma (Scarface, Dressed To Kill, The Untouchables). Based on the debut novel of horror maestro Stephen King, Carrie is a coming-of-age story gone horribly wrong. Sissy Spacek stars as Carrie White, a young, abused teenager with telekinetic powers, who is picked on by nearly everyone at her school. Her powers are awoken by a series of humiliating events, and when the psychological torture goes too far. As previously mentioned, what makes a horror movie a horror movie is provoking fear. In this movie, Carrie takes revenge on her classmates in the worst possible way. The subsequent "prom scene" is one of the most iconic scenes in movie history—tasteless, horrifying, and vicariously thrilling, all at the same time.

That the film has lost none of its emotional power in the four decades since its debut is impressive; its themes and cruel high school setting will always resonate. That the filmmakers produced such a fine film on a $1.8 million budget is even more impressive; it's true that necessity is the mother of invention. King's novel tells Carrie's story in retrospect. It's comprised of multiple "found footage" documents: interview transcripts with the survivors of prom night, newspaper clippings, magazine excerpts, letters, and more. The screenwriter, Lawrence D. Cohen, abandoned this in favor of a more linear, narrative approach.

https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2019/06/carrie-horror-movie-trivia-facts

2. 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the most prominent franchises in horror history. However, it's also one of the weirdest and wackiest. Confusing timelines, an ever-changing Leatherface, retcons galore, and even different cinematic styles per film have made each of the eight movies completely different.

It's also created eight very different Leatherface. From different looks, different personalities, and even different actors portraying the famous horror villain. From his various masks to his peculiar behaviors, some films portrayed Leatherface as horrifying, others as odd, and a few made him seem downright silly.

Gritty, grainy, raw, and realistic, the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre was so terrifying because there was a sense of dread and isolation in every shot.