Wolf Creek:Desolate Rural Landscape

This is frightening to an audience because even if

the victim managed to escape, there is nowhere to hide and no one around to

help.

28 Days Later:Deserted Urban Landscape

Images of an empty London are shown at the beginning of the

film, before the audience and the main character is

aware of what is going on. This is frightening

because London is always busy, and in this first scene it is eerily quiet, which, with the fastening pace of the music, builds up tension.

For the capital to have been deserted, something horrific must have happened. Stillness is used for suspense in horror, as

you don’t know when it will strike.

Paranormal activity opening:

Horror movies that claim to be “true stories”

Wolf Creek opening:

Fourth Kind opening line: I'm actress Milla Jovovich, and I will be portraying Dr. Abigail Tyler in The Fourth Kind. This film is a dramatization of events that occurred October 1st through the 9th of 2000, in the Northern Alaskan town of Nome. […] Every dramatized scene in this movie is supported by either archived audio, video or as it was related by Dr. Tyler during extensive interviews with the director. In the end, what you believe is yours to decide. Please be advised, that some of what you're about to see is extremely disturbing.

These movies appear more frightening to the viewer, as it makes them think that the events in the film could really happen to them.

Other examples: The Exorcism of Emily RoseThe ExorcistThe Blair Witch ProjectThe Amityville HorrorThe Haunting In Connecticut

When you can hear the horror, but not see it.

This makes horror movies seem scarier, as it lets the

audience use their own imagination, and naturally, we

think of the worst possible scenario first.

Can help cut costs, and keep within a budget, as elaborate

costumes, and extensive digital editing is not needed.

Signs: Scary when you can hear the aliens on the roof, and the dog being

killed, but you cant actually see it. Loses horror factor when you are able to see the alien and it’s not as bad as

you thought.

Unable to Escape

Blair Witch Project: the characters walk

through the forest for miles, but they always

seem to be going around in circles.

Causes the destruction of characters.

Grave encounters: Try to escape out the front

entrance, but when they manage to break down the door it now appears

to lead down more hallways in the asylum.

Mindlessness • Particularly in zombie based films, the horde will only have one thing in mind, and that is often the protagonist/s brains. This creates a feeling that you would not be able to control their actions in any way, which in turn makes the viewer feel helpless and overwhelmed.

An Overwhelming Antagonist

• Although it is not uncommon in almost any genre to feature an antagonist that seems overwhelming to the protagonist, it is shown in a very different way within horror films in order to enhance the fear. This is often done in horror films that are expressing supernatural forces or other, unnatural, problems. The feeling of this can be developed, by showing the protagonist as frail or weak, or completely under the control of their opposite. This relates back to the mindlessness of a horde as mentioned before.

Gore• There are often two takes on gore within horror films,

either the film will focus most of the imagery on showing large amounts of unpleasant images, to make the viewer feel uncomfortable in order to increase the fear. Or the film will cut away from gore, letting the viewer create their own images and also adding to the feeling that they do not know what is being done, which can again add to the fear through feeling uncomfortable.

• It is arguable that a good horror film will not need to show excessive amounts of gore, as the focus of the film will be intense enough. But others might argue that in order to truly feel part of the scene, you would have to see everything in it. The impact affecting both, however, is whether they would like their film to be remembered as a film that shows a lot of gruesome images (i.e. SAW franchise), or one that truly scares its audience through its lack of them. (i.e. Paranormal Activity)

Useful Quotes on Horror Film Characteristics• Wikipedia Page - The trait of the genre of horror is that it provokes a response, emotional, psychological or

physical within each individual that causes someone to react with fear. In order for that response to be elicited there are different techniques used, such as unreal figures (phantoms, mummies, etc.), or more real situations and figures (serial killers). The whole horror genre is built up upon people's fear of the unknown and anxieties. According to H.P. Lovecraft, "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.“

• Life123.com - The Framework Of HorrorUnlike drama, where the goal is to get the audience to experience a range of emotions, horror has a much simpler goal. The goal is to get the audience to experience fear. An expert in the horror genre will have a number of tools at her disposal to create fear. Among the most common are:

A chill in the air. Practitioners of the horror genre use atmosphere to establish a supernatural world, where fear is the common currency. Gloomy weather, shadowy locations and strange noises in the distance are just a few ways to establish that something wicked this way comes. Often, the amount of time and detail devoted to the atmosphere of a work of horror allows the environment to become a leading character in the work.Not for the timid. Works of horror often use graphic violence, strong language and sexual situations to evoke fear, anger and tension, respectively. While any or all of these devices may be implied, they are often explicit in today's horror.He can't be stopped! Most works in the horror genre feature an antagonist that is supernatural or has supernatural abilities. While monsters were popular in the past, human (or human seeming) villains are more common in current work."The End," or is it? Typically, the endings of horror works are left unresolved. Although cynics may claim that this device is used to create room for sequels, the traditional open-ended conclusion also gives the audience a sense that the threat still waits just around the corner.Watch out for that cat! Unexpected events (sometimes called "pop-outs") are used to keep the audience guessing and the level of tension high. Falling objects, darting animals and sudden loud noises are examples of this technique.No problem telling the bad guy. Antagonists in the horror genre tend to have exaggerated personalities-their evil tends to come with a capital "E." Horror villains are often cold, unreasoning and unreasonably cruel.