Horror Movie Conventions

People enjoy immersing themselves in fictional stories, whether that be through books, plays, or movies. No two movies are exactly the same keeping people watching more and more of them. Even though the movies may be very different, each story in a specific genre includes the same conventions, constituting them as part of that genre. Horror movies are filled with darkness, suspense, and anticipation. These conventions keep the audience on the edge of their seat wondering what is going to happen next.
Most horror movies take place in the dark because the darkness is associated with the unknown. Since humans don’t have night vision, seeing in the dark is difficult. This can be scary when the characters in a movie know that there is something hiding in the dark but are unable to see it and protect themselves. This can also be scary if the characters in a movie can hear noises in the dark but are not able to tell what they are coming from. This is exactly the case in the movie The Cabin in the Woods. This movie takes place in the woods in the dark. The teenagers that were staying at this cabin did not realize that the basement had zombies in it that were going to kill them because the basement was so dark they could not see but only hear voices. This led

to many of the main characters in the movie dying because they were not able to escape and protect themselves or their friends from the zombies that were unleashed when the basement door was opened. Also, the movie The Blair Witch Project takes place in the woods. They are filming a documentary in the woods when they start hearing strange noises at night. All they have is a flashlight so they are not able to see what is making the noises, leaving them scared and defenseless. Darkness is a big convention of horror movies because it leads to the unknown. Not being able to see what is going on is frightening, especially in an isolated area like the woods. This creates a lot of fear, which is the purpose of horror movies.
Anticipation is another strong convention of horror movies because in movies there is often moments when the audience can see things that are happening in the movie that the characters cannot see. Especially with danger, this can often leave the audience with the anticipation of something bad is about to happen to the characters but they do not know it. In the movie, The Conjuring the characters play a game called Hide and Clap. This is similar to Hide and Seek but the person hiding gives out three claps to let the person searching have an idea of where they are hiding. In the movie, this happens but the audience can see where everyone is hiding but the person looking starts hearing claps from another room. The audience is knows that this is not a real person playing the game but rather a ghost, adding anticipation that something bad could happen if the person plying the game finds or upsets the ghost. Also in this movie, the audience can see a woman hung from the tree in the yard outside but the family that lives there is unable to see her. This shows the audience who is haunting the house but not the movie characters. By the audience knowing things that the characters do not creates this anticipation that horror filmmakers want. Having that feeling that something bad is going to happen but there is nothing to be done about it is scary.
Suspense is also a huge convention to horror movies.

As an audience, we can see bad guys sneaking up behind the characters in the movie before they realize what is happening. In the movie, Halloween, the audience is able to see the character Michael Myers when he is sneaking up on his victims before they notice him. This gives us the element of suspense in waiting for him to attack. In a situation like this, something bad is obviously going to happen so it is only a matter of time until it does. When something finally does happen, the audience is often startled even if it was predictable. The suspense builds up over time but what exactly is going to happen at that peak moment is never actually known till it

happens.
Horror movies thrive of off the spooky atmosphere. These conventions all add to that spooky atmosphere in different ways. The scariest horror movies are the ones that contain the most conventions of horror movies because each convention brings more fear to the audience watching. There is suspense, anticipation, the unknown, and the overall atmosphere that keep the audience waiting for what is going to happen.