Horror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness. Many horror movies also include a villain. Horrors have been dismissed as violent, low budget movies and exploitation films.
The personal part of a horror film is finding out what the audience’s identification of fear or terror is, such as a fear of their body being ripped or being kidnapped by a mental person.
The ideological part of a horror film is the implicit or explicit messages embedded within the narrative and the themes of punishment and rejection at subjects which deviate from “correct” thinking. There are simplistic messages such as the virgin “good” girl surviving at the expense of her rebellious “slutty” friend. Whereas to more subtle fears of strangers and hitchhikers breaking our boundaries or the condemnation of any deviant, such as a non-Christian. More of the ideological part is our perceptions that the power of science can defeat the darkness at the expense of older beliefs in religion or superstition. In modern understanding of fear we can rationalise the supernatural and defeat it with psychology. Modern media creates “demons” by crusading against sections of society or labelling them. Lastly there is the industrial and financial part of what a horror film. The most lucrative genre in the film industry draws in huge audiences justifying the continual re-invention, re-making and franchising of every successful horror product. We re-make lots of films to try and make them better as they were popular the first time hence a 9th nightmare on Elm Street or a lethal weapon 4. Re-making is good as the producers already know it will be popular so they will make money.
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