A horror film possesses certain particular traits that educe the emotions of horror, terror and fear in the viewer, the plots frequently involving themes of death or supernatural.
Early horror movies are largely based on classic Gothic literature, for instance Dracula, Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, but in contrast, modern horror often draws from the insecurities of society or the taboo, which in turn has created three sub-genres from the original of ‘horror’ – horror-of-personality (Psycho), horror-of-Armageddon (Invasion Of The Body Snatchers), and horror-of-the-demonic (The Exorcist).
Coming from personal experience, I personally believe the key purpose of a horror movie is to scare you, to make you feel unsafe or vulnerable and to feel empathy towards the hero or heroine whilst watching them go through hell. In order to do this, a director has to consider everything from lighting to music; a scene where a heroine is hiding from her attacker wouldn't be as affective if it wasn't for an ominous soundtrack and dim lighting.
Key characteristics...
- Non-diegetic sounds that have been amplified i.e ragged breathing, floorboards squeaking, knives or weapons being used, blood dropping etc.
- Close-up shots of characters at crucial moments in the plot of either the attacker or the victim – being chased, being the chaser, hiding, etc, particularly in the trailer.
- Most horrors have that eerie blue-ish light with deep shadows and bright contrast (editing).
- Fast-paced editing can mirror a pounding heart, therefore building tension and fear.
- On the other hand, long, drawn out shots can also build tension in the same way, by making the viewer wait for the fear.
The trailer for the first Saw movie has many of these characteristics. For example, at the very start it shows one character in a dark room, using the flash from his professional camera in order to see, as he’s just been developing photographs, and the whirr from the camera coupled with the blinding flash of light and then sudden darkness instantly instills fear into the viewer; you know there's someone there, because he knows there's someone there, and you're almost begging him to just turn on the light instead. After this mini opening sequence it uses a diegetic sound of a beating heart, which I really like as it automatically shows how the character's blood is pounding, how they're utterly frightened, and it then uses fast paced cuts, only showing us clips of the scene behind the heartbeat throughout the entire trailer, so you never really clearly see what is happening, you just hear it. This technique works brilliantly when you think about how frightening it is to lose the ability to see. Never knowing what is happening is the most frightening thing in any horror movie, and the Saw trailer depicts this perfectly.
Similarly, The Ring trailer uses this flashing, fast-paced editing in order to confuse the viewer, with the same blue-ish tint to the air and using the same technique as Saw when you can hear, but you can’t understand. It differs from Saw however, because it has a tinkling, ominous piece of piano as the soundtrack, the type of music that once may have been sweet and innocent but is now horrifically creepy, which could mirror how Samara, who at first look is a normal little girl, brings about the death of people around her by getting them to watch this video tape.
