1. Codes and
Conventions
of a Horror
Subgenre research – Supernatural Horror

2. Horror definition
Horror fiction is a genre
of literature, which is
intended to, or has the
capacity to frighten its
readers, inducing
feelings of horror and
terror
Traditional Horror scene

3. History of Supernatural Horrors
Supernatural horror has its roots
in folklore and religious traditions
on death, the afterlife, evil,
the demonic and the principle of evil
embodied in The Devil.
These were manifested in stories
of witches, vampires, werewolves, g
hosts, and demonic pacts such as
that of Faust.
Traditional devil as a
cartoon interpretation

4. Eighteenth century Gothic horror drew on
these sources in such works
as Vathek (1786) by William Beckford, The
Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) and The
Italian (1797) by Ann Radcliffe and The
Monk (1796) by Matthew Lewis.
A lot of horror fiction of this era was
written by women and marketed at a
female audience, a typical scenario being a
resourceful female protagonist menaced
by fiends in a gloomy castle.
History of Supernatural Horrors
continued…
Gothic Horror

5. Supernatural in Film
Supernatural Films tend to
have themes including gods
or goddesses, ghosts,
apparitions, spirits, miracles,
and other similar ideas or
depictions of extraordinary
phenomena.
Traditional image of a ghost

6. Design of horror
Horror films are designed too:
•Frighten and panic its audience
•Cause alarm and dread
•Invoke its audiences hidden
most/worst fears
•Captivate and entertain its
audience in a liberating manor
•Often concludes in a shocking yet
terrifying finale
General reactions of audience
watching horror films

7. Horrors create fears
Depending on the audience
watching, horrors can create
different types of fear:
•Vulnerability
•Terror of the unknown
•Nightmares
•Alienation
•Revulsions

8. Propp’s spheres of action –
within a horror
Lead character – can either be the victim
or the villain
Victim – often results as the survivor in the
film
Villain – Tends to have a trademark
characteristic as to how they kill e.g.
weapons used, who they kill
Binary opposition – good vs. bad (conflict)
Sticks to ‘Propp’s spheres of action’ by usually starting of with
an equilibrium, followed by a disequilibrium then finishing
with a new equilibrium (but can change due to certain
circumstances)

9. Sound
Sound used within supernatural
horrors tend to base around:
•Fast pace music for tense scenes
or action scenes
•Common use of choir singing
•Common use of a beat in the time
of a drum/heart
•Piano/Organ music – whether it
be fast or slow it has a spooky feel

10. Location
Location used within supernatural
horrors tend to be based in places
such as:
•Churches – huge relation to
supernatural and Christ (main base
for supernatural genre)
•Barns/farms – deserted, dark, old
(very traditional horror theme)
•Fields, country roads – deserted,
associated with creepy looking
surrounds e.g. trees, animals and
birds etc.

11. Other…
•Credits – credits follow horror
theme - font, title movement,
images etc
•Shots – many handheld camera
shots; quick zoom ins and outs;
birds eye for establishing shots;
dirty shots