Research: Conventions Commonly Found In Horror Films

Secluded Location

Horror movies generally set in a location where they is no one around to help them. For example; the woods, a ghost town and an abandoned amusement park.

This is done to make it feel much scarier because with no one to help you it makes you feel much more on edge.

Characters Forget About Threat

Characters in horror movies always seem to forget about their threat, many times during horror films the characters conveniently put it out of their minds that there is danger, death or worse and people are telling them about it or they know it. For example someone telling the campers that a psychopath kills all campers in the area but they put the threat out of their mind and camp there anyway.

Power Cut

During a horror film there is almost always a power cut that takes place and usually at the scariest moment of the film. The lights suddenly go out and suddenly the characters are at risk making it very scary.

Phone Lines Are Cut

To go along with the power being cut the killers also cut the phone lines most of the time, making it very scary because the victim has no way to seek the help they need whilst the killer is hunting them down. 

Someone Investigates A Strange Noise

This is most annoying to watch features of any horror film in my opinion. Instead of a character doing what any other normal human would do (get out of there as quick as you can), they decide to look for what is causing the strange noise and this leads them straight to death.

Someone Runs Upstairs Instead Of Outside

This one links to the one before about investigating a strange noise, it is again a very stupid decision that characters in horror films always seem to make. Instead of a victim running out of the door to potential freedom and safety they instead decide to run up their stairs into a room and lock themselves in, with no escape.

Victim Cowers In Front Of a Window Or Door

A classic in horror movies is that the victim seems to always cower in front of a window or a door (something easily smash able). When the victim hides in front or a window or a door the killer seems to know where they are and smash through grabbing the victim, a jump scare. Or the victim looks out a window (car windows also) and they see nothing but when they turn away the killer pops up and smashes through.

Victim Inexplicably Falls Over

Victims seem to fall over the stupidest stuff at the stupidest time and instead of getting back up they seem to do some stupid crawl to get away from their killer which is pointless and basically asking to be killed.

Vehicle Won't Start

Vehicles wont start when they need it to the most, I bet the vehicle was working perfectly fine before this day and suddenly your car is rubbish and is trying to get you killed.

The Fake Scare

A fake scare is one of the most over-used conventions in horror films. This is a scare that is not related to the original threat. For example; a friend jumping out, a door slamming and someone looking into a mirror. Very easy to do but very simple and effective to scare your audience.

Warning Goes Unheeded

It is apparently human nature to go where one is told not to go and do what you advised not to do. This is achieved in many ways, for example; dreaming about something bad happening at a place you don't want to go but you go anyway, people tell you that there is a psychopath on the loose in the woods but you still decide to camp there.

Someone Is Killed In The First 5 Minutes

This isn't really a bad thing but it happens in nearly every single horror movie. When this is well done like in movies such as; Jaws, House, Halloween or Scream its used to set the mood of the rest of the film and can be very effective.

Flash Backs/Forwards

This is usually at the start of the movie setting up the events that happened before the main story such as the first minutes of Halloween or The Descent. Or even a film where we see the latter effects of an incident that will happen after the main story in the film. This is used nicely in a lot of horror films because you do not know if its before or after and keeps you guessing.

The Stormy Night

Since the days of Victorian Horror and even before (Dracula) this has been one of the horror genre's most overused clichés. It is used in horror films because in your childhood you were most likely scared of thunder or lightning and rain creates atmosphere.

The Short Cut

Instead of taking the nicely lit up road ahead which will take an hour you instead take the route that will take considerably shorter but is rumoured to have killers lurking throughout and also it is very dark and very dangerous but still the character still decides on the short cut instead of the longer route.