2024-2025 Media Blog: Horror Movies

Hello Blog!

Since the spooky season is upon us, I decided to talk about horror films.

While horror movies are not for everyone it is still one of the most popular genres in storytelling, they are quite popular within their target audience. They tend to market mostly towards 15 to 24-year-olds. When it comes to marketing these films, many horror films have a scary tone that is reinforced by heavy and dark colors. It typically tries to make the audience feel uneasy by showing some type of monster or villain in order to intrigue them and make them want to watch the movie. There can be many different sub genres within horror such as thrillers, psychological horrors, and many more, each containing their own unique themes. While each is unique in their own ways, they share one common goal: to scare their audience.

Content:

One common theme in a lot of horror productions is the use of foreshadowing throughout the movie. These movies use motifs or symbols in order to foreshadow either climax in the movie, an important moment, or even the ending. While these types of tricks are not very obvious throughout the movie. They exist in order for the viewer to be constantly intrigued and engaged throughout the movie. One example of this is the movie Black Swan. In this movie, the internal struggles of a ballerina whose only wish is to be the main dancer in the swan lake. Film is a type of psychological horror in which we see mind games and tricks played throughout the movie in order to scare the main character and the audience. This film uses a lot of foreshadowing throughout the story. From the beginning. We see the main character auditioning for her main role, the Black Swan. However, she is told that she is far too innocent and too delicate to play the role. We see her journey as she slowly morphs Into the type of person fit to play the Black Swan, slowly destroying her own mental health.

Another common thing in horror movies is similar plots. Films, whether it's psychological horror or a thriller, usually contain a main character and a villain, whether it's a killer or a monster, there's always an evil force that must be stopped. We see an example of this in the movie Fear Street. This movie does have its own unique elements; however it tends to reference a lot of other horror movies and follows a similar plot. It uses films such as Friday the 13th, the Shining and many more. This can be seen as a movie containing many cliche horror references like witches, crazy killers, and revenge.

Production Techniques:

In the horror genre, films typically follow certain techniques. Lighting and coloring is used to set an eerie and spooky mood. Horror movies tend to create a sense of suspense and fear by using jump scares, dark colors, and eerie music. One of the most important factors in the whole genre is music. Music sets the whole tone for a production and in this case, music is used to build a suspenseful atmosphere by setting an unsettling mood. Sound effects such as whispers and screams also aid to the tone of the production.

For example, In the movie Halloween (1978), a certain melody is repeatedly used. This iconic tune helps the audience see when the killer is nearing and ready to pounce.

While sound is typically very important in movies, in some cases the lack of sound is even more impactful. In the movie A Quiet Place The lack of sound symbolizes their safety and the fact that there are no monsters around them. However, breaking this silence can have huge consequences as monsters with ultra-sensitive hearing attack when they hear life nearby.