A Horror Genre Analysis

This essay will be examining the genre of Horror, its conventions and origins. A dark genre that aims to unsettle. Wholly unique in the aspect that traditionally film often attempts to lull the audience into a comfortable sense of detachment. A voyeuristic element of disconnect from the screen, yet Horror's appeal is it's aim to immerse. Mise en scéne, the use of lighting and sound all common film techniques. Used to play upon the audience's most basic instinct, fear.

The notion of the 'uncanny' is reoccurant in Horrors, the idea that something familiar has been altered in such an unsettling way that the audience garners discomfort. The use is particularly effective in film as the fear of the uncanny is so dissimilar to tradition notions of

fear, perhaps more an uneasiness. Much unlike the use of gore and paranormal in Horrors; the uncanny dips into something between the familiar the creepy or unnatural. This is referred to as the 'uncanny valley', an area of human thought directors often play upon to terrorize the audience. The immersive, voyeuristic experience of cinema allows the peak areas of discomfort to be abuse, a heightened fear of the unknown.
When considering the notion of the Uncanny it is important to relate the idea of the Other.

The Other concerns a view of 'Use versus Them'. 'Them' being someone or something deemed unfit in society. Wallace's adaptation of It presents the antagonist (Pennywise the clown) as the Other in this situation, an especially horrifying clown when clowns have already been deemed frightening decades ago. One must consider his relation to the Mise En Scéne, which is a perfect image of middle America, a suburban landscape that would be so familiar to a majority of the audience. Pennywise is the Other invading a comfortable space, effectively defamiliarising it to a point that Western pleasantries such as balloons become a rather threatening weapon. Horror truly offers a completely different experience to the audience, whereas other genres leave the audience in joyfulness, or perhaps an enlightened sense of self; Horror creates paranoia. With the use of jarring scenes and imagery that leave the audience up at night, Horror certainly sticks with it's audience. But these horrific scenes make up most of the appeal, in a world with unclear and or lack of any immediate threat, the audience has the privilege of terror as a fun, leisure activity. Furthermore, the contrast of Horror and the real world can be rather reassuring. Statistically the likelihood of finding yourself in a situation like Hitchcock's Pyscho is so small, yet the thrill of the adrenaline rush, living out this situation in cinema just is unexplainably exciting. In the way the moment of terror before parachute jumping

is.
Scenes to scare yourself silly such as in the 1990 film adaptation of Stephen King's It. Tommy Lee Wallace directs the film in such a way that the psychological element of creepiness is very much at the foreground, yet Wallace also chooses to utilize other Horror conventions such as gore and the paranormal (for Stephen King's original novel centers around themes of all Horror, essentially complying gore, paranormal and the Uncanny). The fear of clowns is so recurrent (as previously mentioned) that it is easily abused to heighten terror, when the subject of Horrors face is obscured by makeup or a mask social intercourse is temporialy cut off. The audience is disconnected from the subject's emotional response, the newly introduced neutrality offers a very specific type of terror. The psychological terror of the unknown, a certain cognitive dissonance when the audience is met by ambiguity.
Furthermore, It has a concise example of the Uncanny in Wallace's adaptation, that being the storm drain scene. The recognizable elements of suburbia are made no longer comforting by the appearance of Pennywise the clown. His horrific face fades in from the darkness of the storm drain, the high angle shot is somehow subverted as Pennywise is still in control of this scene, still the threat (unusual as high angle shots usually suggest otherwise). Close ups of Georgie and Pennywise's faces offer an uncomfortable closeness, the close ups also serve to accentuate Tim Curry's terrifying costume, long pallid face, yellowed teeth, bulging eyes - all signs of unkempt nature. An instinctive red flag, such features serve as a visual icon in the Horror genre. There is certainly a lack of warm and welcoming mosters in Horror. Georgie is within an arms reach of this unsettling character, twinkling background music (much like a tinny unfashioned music box) creates a rising intensity, as if the scene will surely climax with something horrific. Which is guaranteed in a horror film, or else it would not be a horror film.
Stephen King himself outlined the three types of true horror: The gore and disgusting nature, visible pain inflicted, the audience produces and empathetic response in which they too image the physical pain. The second being the paranormal, a glaringly obvious threat, terrifying yet explainable. The final being the aforementioned uncanny, no immediate or obvious threat, yet an unmistakable uneasiness. Here, we witness that the genre of Horror lends a lot of its genius to literature, film as a meticulous piece of art formulate for an emotional response.
But why would an audience subject themselves to fright when films exist to please? Stephen King states that: 'The mythic horror movie, like the sick joke, has a dirty job to do. It deliberately appeals to all that is worst in us. It is morbidity unchained, our most base instincts let free, our nastiest fantasies realized . . . and it all happens, fittingly enough, in the dark.'1
The antagonistic invasion of the familiar furthers an audience's fear. For instance, the setting of It is an unassuming American suburban neighborhood; rather like the setting for many of the audience's own lives. An ability to picture oneself amongst the characters and setting of a film is something all films have in common (as a escapist activity), yet Horror films view this as an opportunity to harness the audience's own fears. A dark cinema is collective act of isolation, the theatre goer is surrounded by others yet their focus on the motion picture can be so absorbing and immersive it may feel like they are alone with the characters.
It is important that the protagonist is relatable, their fear will become the audience's fear. For this reason the horror is usually manifested by the protagonist, summoned by mistake. The kind of idle mistake an audience member could picture themselves making. Conflict in horror is a simple format, antagonist versus protagonist. But horror occasionally endeavours to blur the lines, it can be truly horrifying when the threat is not clear, when it is uncertain where to place one's trust. However, Wallace's It is heavy handed with the convention of antagonist versus protagonist. In the case of murderous clown versus children the audience is definitely going to draw allegiance with the children. The use of children in horror films is a recurring motif, maternal and paternal anxieties are so instinctive and universal the effectiveness of drawing upon them is incontestable.
Furthermore, horror often plays upon ambiguity, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho regards a character was an ambiguous motive. So much so, that only the end reveal confirms whether Norman Bates is the film's antagonist. Hitchcock essentially subverts previous expectations of the horror genre2, what had been a genre based on the classic monster-based horror (during Hollywood's 1930-40 Golden age of Horror, such as James Whale's Frankenstein and George Waggner's The Wolf Man) or the considerable obscurity of B-Movie horror; Psycho defied expectations. The idea of the easily understandable 'Other', an obvious paranormal or monstrous threat, Hitchcock presented his monster as an attractive young man. His disturbing nature was internal, a previously typical horror narrative would regard an obvious 'monster', physically different and threatening to humans.
The use of colour and music in Psycho is highly effective in contributing to the overall tone. Scenes with Norman are almost always lit inadequately, notable his office. The artificial lighting from his lamp is dim enough to cast angular, unsettling shapes. Or serve to illuminate Norman in bizarre ways. Hitchcock uses Mise en scéne to produce an atmosphere that is at it's very core, unusual. Not paranormal or objectively threatening. Just a palpable sense of unease, from both the diegetic ensemble and the viewers.
Surprisingly, horror is a genre almost alone in the fact that editing is not the most important atmospheric device. The use of lighting, sound, overall diagnosis and characterisation create what directors hope to be a palpable edge of fear and uneasiness.
Lighting is incredibly important to cultivate an appropriate horror atmosphere. Darkness is a scary thing, the unease of not knowing what exactly is awaiting out of sight. Barsam's Looking at Movies conceptualizes the use of horror movie cinematography, the generous use of 'night scenes (and) chiaroscuro lighting- the use of deep gradations of light and shadow within the image.' Well defined shadows and silhouettes are stark and angular; they will always lack a certain human softness.
Shadows, masks, an uneasy lack of understanding; all staples of the horror experience. Unlike most other genres Horror's effectiveness does not always stem from what is immediately present to the audience on screen, rather the lack of, the aforementioned ambiguity. An example of this would be the famous shower sequence in Hitchcock's Psycho. Rising tension is brought on by the lack of action, the shadowy figure approaching Marion in the foreground. Yet, Hitchcock harnesses what is effectively a jump scare. When the curtain is opened an extremely quick zoom brings the audience a point of view shot for Marion, accompanied by a jarring, dramatic, incidental violin score. Marion is blinded by a single light in the background, as is the audience. The shot is therefore mysterious, all that can be seen is a mid shot of a figure holding a knife. The Uncanny comes into play as an obscured face is neither threatening or positive, yet the addition of a knife certainly tips this shot into threatening.
In conclusion, the conventions of horror are a complex topic to define when the genre is constantly adapting to contemporary fears and anxieties. Horror obviously endeavours to create an atmosphere unlike any other genre. What may have made one generation uneasy, uncomfortable may not even phase another. But classics such as Hitchcock's Psycho work as true terror. Certain elements like the Uncanny and the Other may change relatively but there will always been a foundation of horror. Hitchcock's Norman Bates is a perfect antagonist with unclear, unjustifiable motives. Horror reminds the audience of social norms, it reinstates our own humanity. To witness someone break these norms is captivating. Captivating in a disgusting, disgraceful way