Conventions of the horror genre

Conventions of the horror genre

The horror genre originally began to become increasingly popular after the introduction of VHS. This enabled people to watch films in the comfort of their homes but there was also a new range of films being made.

 Because there was no need for films to be screened at cinemas, several small companies began to produce their own moving images. There was almost no censorship of the films released direct to VHS at first but after a short period of time, several complaints were made and many court cases were opened against a lot of the films, producers or studios because horrors were blamed for changing peoples lives. Many films were banned and the list of these films became known at the video nasties list.

 Horror films are essentially a manifestation of societies fears acted out in front of cameras. They often follow the theme of darkness, fog, or the unknown; something most are frightened of. They also often include taboo subjects which is something few other genres will touch on.
 
 There are many different technical codes which make a horror films what they are. Often special effects such as wounds, blood, ghosts are included but actual recording methods play a huge role in making the film actually scary. Different camera angles such as a cantered angle connotes that something is not quite right and leads to the suggestion that bad things are going to happen later on in the film. There are several different sub-genres of horror films now and each one teds to have its own style of narrative structure. A common structure of horror films is to start with an equilibrium which is the disrupted (this is where the horror becomes clear). There is usually then a quest or mission which leads to a new equilibrium.