Horror Film Conventions and Target Audiences

Horror movies are watched predominantly by those seeking some sort of thrill or adrenaline rush, horror movies are very good at making their audience fearful, scared or tense and although we as a target audience may not associate being scared by these movies as a good feeling, the rush and excitement we get from watching them is the feeling we crave and is what horror film directors strive to achieve. Horror films are usually watched by most age groups and are sometimes watched just so you can say you watched it, they can be seen as making you feel the alpha in some way if the film did not scare you but did scare your friends and hold some social prowess if the film has been reported to be gruesome. This is seen in a lot in social groups with movies such as 'Saw' were watching the movie with your friends is seen as some sort of initiation.

Most horror films adhere to a set list of conventions in how they are made and presented to their target audience. Horror films generally use dark lighting to raise tension, the dark is where most people feel least safe as they can not see any oncoming threats, its where they feel most vulnerable so the horror genre takes advantage of this and feeds off it. This method is very effectively used in the movie 'The Decent' were the main characters go pot holing with their group of friends only to become lost and trapped in a cave were they discover cannibalistic creatures that inhabit it, the only lighting in this whole movie is light from a small torch and the night vision on one of the cavers cameras, this really helps to build up a lot of tension and suspense throughout the film and is the main reason why this film was particularly scary.

There is always an agent of change that disrupts the main character(s) normality, usually the monster the film is based around that leads to the main character(s) quest to overcome this change usually by either fleeing or fighting the monster, the story lines of the horror genre usually evolve around the agent of change and what they/it are doing to have an effect on the main character(s). This technique is mainly used in the movie 'Jeepers Creepers 2' were the group of students is running from the creature throughout the entire film, they barricade themselves in their school bus thinking they are safe but the creature adapts and finds a way to break through so the main characters must then run to find a safer place with the creature following their every move picking them off one by one as they go along.

Horror films usually have their plots located in deserted or isolated locations to reinforce the loneliness and or helplessness of the heroes situation, knowing that there is no chance or very little chance of help helps the audience to empathise with the hero and thus feel fear and terror when the hero does, making this genre of film very effective and popular when it comes to projecting emotions onto the audience making horror films very interactive and creating a huge fan base for horror films. This is true for the film 'Alien' were the main characters encounter vicious killing aliens on their spaceship light years away from earth with next to no chance of help, this really helped to raise the films suspense.

There is usually some sort of monster fodder at the beginning of the film that has no direct impact on the storyline just to show the effects of the monster and what it is capable of/why we should fear it. we the audience usually know more about the agent of change before the main characters do making us worry for their safety as they are oblivious to the monster to begin with, this is another key technique the horror genre uses to make the audience empathise with the characters to make them engage more effectively with the film raising their interest to make the film as least passive as possible. Monster fodder is used in the film 'Jeepers Creepers' where the creeper kills 2 police men in their moving squad car at the beginning of the film and throws one of their heads onto the bonnet of the main characters car, this scene also uses symbolisation too help accelerate the fear of this scene as police officers are meant to be the ones to go to for protection but the creature kills them just as easily as everyone else telling the audience that there is nowhere safe to go.

Amongst the evolving of the main storyline there are usually some sort of sub plot that also evolves amongst the main characters where relationships become stronger or weaker, usually were the relationships become stronger we see the characters survive and were we see the relationships become weaker we see characters isolating themselves from the group were they are vulnerable to the monster and easily picked off, this evolvement of relationships and problems encountered by them is another effective tool the horror genre has in its arson to make its target audience relate to the characters through their emotions to make them more active in their viewing and therefore more interested in the film and concerned for the heroes safety as well as creating a need for the relationships to continue to grow. This is used in the film 'Dawn of the Dead' were Sarah Polley's character loses her husband to the zombie infection and seeks the comfort she lost in Jake Weber's character, this helped to make the audience feel sorry for her and want their relationship to grow, this also helps when it comes to building suspense as it means that the target audience wants these characters to survive and makes them very nervous when it looks like one of them might become infected.

In the horror genre the men are typically separated from the boys, the weaker (usually female characters) are normally the most vulnerable to the monster and are therefore usually the first ones to become victim to them, I believe this is done on purpose to make the hero the 'alpha' of the group, making them a more desirable character that the audience aspires to become. This is shown directly in the opening of the movie 'Zombie Land' were the main character talks about and shows the audience that keeping fit is key to survival as a fat man is running away from a zombie but becomes tired and gets eaten.