Group 3

Genre Research

The genre for our film is horror. The repertoire of elements for the horror genre include: Iconography, Characters, Setting and Narratives.

Examples of Iconography

Blood (e.g Psycho Hitchcock 1960); monsters (e.g. I Am Legend Lawrence 2007); religious relics (including crucifixes) (e.g. Dracula Coppola 1992); kitchen knives in a wooden block (e.g. Disturbia Caruso 2007); creaking doors (e.g. Paranormal Activity Peli 2009); screams (e.g. Scream Craven 1996); skulls (e.g. The Skulls Cohen 2000); thunder and lightning (e.g. .

Examples of Characters

Monsters (e.g. Alien Cameron 1986); ghosts (e.g. Thirteen Ghosts Beck 2001); vampires (e.g. Dracula Coppola 1992); werewolves (e.g. Dog Soldiers Marshall 2002); ‘maidens in distress’ (e.g. Paranormal Activity Peli 2009); zombies (e.g. Dawn of the Dead Snyder 2004); experts in ‘supernatural science’ (e.g. Halloween Zombie 2007).

Examples of Settings

Castles (e.g. ; old dark houses; suburbia; Transylvania; cellars.)

Examples of Narratives

Vampires: ‘creatures of the night’ that need to drink blood to survive.

(Werewolves have their own set of characteristics, including the inability to be killed unless they are shot by a silver bullet, and affection for the full moon.)

Haunted house: restless spirits need exorcising from a building;.

Possession: an evil spirit needs exorcising from a body.

Creation of monster: a ‘mad’ scientist tries to create a life form.

Slasher: a psychopath terrorises a small community or group of friends.

Rape-revenge: a victim’s rape leads to revenge.

No film will include all the above elements, although spoofs do include more than most. Films therefore combine a number of the elements

http://www.palgrave.com/culturalmedia/lacey/p/Genre-clean.pdf