Conventions of the Horror/Thriller

In order to explore the Horror/Thriller genre, we have watched variety of film opening sequences and compared them. We have watched the opening of Scream (1996)

     In the opening are used some of the most common horror conventions in the genre. Casie is the victim in the case and she is at home. The phone rings a couple of times and a strange man who he does not know asks her questions like which are her favourite horror movies, which was very new in the horror movies and it did not happen till then. The film is meant to mock other horror movies and therefore the horror conventions are very typical. When she starts talking about the horror movies she leans and we can see in the foreground you can see many knifes, which suggests what is going to happen and that the murderer is going to use them to kill the victim. The diegetic sounds and music are also vital for the sequence because when the mysterious man calls again and again, when you can see her fear, the ringing sound is rather ear-pearcing and louder, different than before. In addition, it is night and she lives in the middle of nowhere because there is a wide shot, to establish that you can see only fields and woods and only one car approaching (her parents). The non-diegetic music is very sinister and creepy. You can see fog. You get the feeling that somebody observes her because the camera films sometimes from outside the house (as in the pic). There is a high angle shot, when they are playing the horror movie game, to show that she is scared. When she stabs her with the knife you can hear her screaming and there are some point of view shots, to show the murderer, wearing a mask, also very typical for horror movies. Many horror movies used to start with the murder of a woman, which is typical and deliberately made like that in Scream as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFCStOMqpfk

We have also watched some thrillers and saw the difference between the horror.

In The Sixth Sense (1999) the mood was conveyed very differently, the pace of action and builting up to the dramatical opening (the main character's death) was very slow. However, when the woman goes downstairs to take some whine and there is a close up of her feet, suggesting something bad is going to happen. In addition, it is very cold, which signifies the fact the same. There is absolutely no music, which makes it very different in comparison to Scream. On the picture you can see that they are happy family which also makes his death more dramatical. Later in the movie, when Malcolm is with the little boy, Cole, who can talk to dead people too, to the funeral of other girl. When they have to come into her room. The suspense is portrayed by using props as puppets and marionettes and close ups of them. The little girl suddenly cathes the boy's leg and scares the audience. So, for the scary moments in the movie are used some of the typical horror conventions, but however the idea is different than in a typical horror because it is also psychological.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb5bmX9P1zs


Vanilla Sky (2001) is a psychological thriller and it is also very different from The Sixth Sense and Scream.

The opening sequence start with an arial shot, showing where the main character lives. We can hear a woman's voiceover waking him up. Later when he goes out, his car is old and when he goes out of it, he starts running because he is in a diffent time. There are used many long shots, to show the place where he is, with huge posters everywhere. So, this is a very different type of thriller, more psychological than scary.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTkf1X6RIPw&feature=related

In addition, we have brainstormed conventions of the Horror/ Thriller as:
- death; blood; gore; violence; suspence; mystery; screams; weapons; deformed monster people; victims; killer; no signal; scary subjects as spiders; chasing; mental people; torture; dead bodies; murder; pain; fear; dingy places; abondened houses; scratching; knives; twist in the plot; creepy children; paranormal; graveyards; bad omens; bats; footsteps; trees in wind; mutations; dolls; masks; blind spot; storms; ghosts; protagonist; antagonist; claustrophobia etc.