Alexander D: Conventions of Horror and Thriller

It can be said that the horror and thriller genre often overlap with each other. This is an attempt at recognising the overlaps by looking at each of the two genres individually, and then establishing what it is that we are trying to achieve with our film opening.

Following post contains spoilers. You have been warned.

THRILLER

The main characteristics of thriller

• Suspense, which is the crucial aspect of thriller. The sense of unknowing and mystery helps create an "on-edge" feeling for the audience, making the actions of the protagonist and - possibly - the antagonist unpredictable. This "on-edge" feeling further ensures that the audience is, as the word suggests, constantly alert to the story of the film. As Alfred Hitchcock said himself: “There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.”

Themes

The elements of the thriller genre vary, but they contain primary elements that help define the genre. For example:

• Each character is, either by accident or out of curiosity, dragged into a dangerous conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve.
• Often, the film's main plot line focuses on a mystery that must be solved.
• The forces of the antagonist's must initially be supreme in terms of intelligence and strength compared to the protagonist's.
• Furthermore, the protagonist and antagonist may somehow battle each other, either through physical fighting or a battle of the mind or wits.
• The characters, setting and plot has to be credibly realistic or natural.
• On a smaller yet significant note, the presence of innocent characters draws a parallel with what is perceived as an essentially corrupt world.

A selection of sub-genres of Thriller are listed below, along with their common themes.

In Crime Thrillers,: o    Ransoms o    Captivities o    Heists o    Revenge o    Kidnappings	In Psychological Thrillers: o    Mind games o    Psychological themes o    Stalking o    confinement/deathtraps o    horror-of-personality o    obsession
In Mystery Thrillers: o    investigations o    "whodunit", or detective storyline, akin to Film Noir	Paranoid thrillers o    Fringe theories o    False accusations o    Paranoia

Characters

The characters present in thriller films are typically "common" people. Following the common conventions of the genre, they must be realistic and help create a sense of verisimilitude. They have more than often a shady side to them that may not initially be present, and appears later in the plot. However, there are characters who can be considered as stock characters.

• Examples of these characters include:
• Criminals
• Stalkers
• Innocent victims
• Characters with deep dark pasts
• Sociopaths
• Cops, akin to those seen in Film Noir

• The protagonists are frequently ordinary people, and while the protagonists of thrillers have traditionally been men, women leads are increasingly common. An example of this would be in Silence of the Lambs (Demme, 1991), where the female lead is played by Jodie Foster.
• Commonly in crime thrillers, the protagonists are "hard men", men who're accustomed to dangerous situations - such as police officers and detectives.
• In psychological thrillers, the protagonists are reliant on their mental capabilities, whether that is battling wits with the antagonist or battling for sanity in their own mind.

Story

The themes of the assorted sub-genres provide a basis for the story of a thriller. There are, however, conventions that the majority of thriller movies follow:

• The protagonist is set against a problem. It does not matter which sub-genre a thriller falls into, it will emphasise the danger that the protagonist faces.
• Another aspect that is emphasised is the puzzle aspect of the plot. The audience is given clues to the solution of the problem or the revelation of the true danger. The threat is sometimes abstract or unseen.

Setting

The setting of thrillers is largely set in the urban and suburban scene. Often, thrillers present the world and society as dark, corrupt and dangerous. The atmosphere of creepy menace and sudden violence is mostly present.
However, thrillers that are psychological thrillers make use of, as with horror, the themes of isolation, a pastiche of feelings or personality disorders in the characters. An example of this would be the film classic Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960), where the character Norman Bates has a mental disorder in which he assumes the identity of his mother and himself.

HORROR

The main characteristics of horror

• The primary focus of any horror film is to play with the fundamental fears of the audience, be it home-invasion,  a murderer or a phobia. It is this that is essential in a horror film.
• Additionally, creating an intense atmosphere is key to establishing the sensation of horror in the audience.

Themes and conventions

As with thriller, the themes  within a horror film vary in themes from genre to genre. Detailed examples of themes below:

Ghosts, demons, or other depictions of supernatural occurrences.  Often, Supernatural-Horror films combine elements of religion into the plot.  Common themes in Supernatural-Horror films include the afterlife, the devil, and demonic possession. Unlike Religious Thrillers, Supernatural-Horror films are not limited to specific religious elements and can contain more vivid and gruesome violence.

In a zombie horror, the protagonist is either placed in the beginning or in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, using everyday tools such as crowbars, sharp or blunt objects to defend themselves - unless it's America, in which most survivors use firearms. In early zombie films, such as Dawn of the Dead (Romero, 1978), zombie films were often metaphors for the growing consumerism in capitalist America, the zombies resembling this metaphor. In modern terms, the idea is more weighed upon the thoughts of viral outbreaks, such as H1N1 and STD's. While up to debate as to what type the zombies/infected of 28 Days Later are, the concept of the film falls under the latter category.

In teen slasher horror, the themes are largely centred upon the vices of teenagers, playing on the themes of promiscuity, sex and the transition into adulthood.

In a psychological horror, it is a play on the mind, for either the protagonist, the audience or both. The protagonist faces a situation whereupon an aspect of their mind or psyche is threatened by inner or outside forces.

  

Characters

Protagonists are often civilians, and in most cases female (e.g. Ellen Ripley(Sigourney Weaver) in Alien, Lorraine Warren(Vera Farmiga) in The Conjuring). They are thrown into a situation that is fundamentally horrifying, and through perseverance and survive the ordeal - though not before losing a large proportion of friends or family to what is hunting them, who is murdering them or, in some cases, before they have murdered everyone themselves.

• The concept of "The Final Girl": This particular type of character is most evident in the sub-genre of horror known as teen-horror. The Final Girl is at first seen as weak and fragile, but in the end proves to be the strongest of the group of teenagers. They are usually portrayed as being morally clean, abstaining from drugs and alcohol and don't involve in sexual acts.
• An example of the protagonist falling directly into a horrific scenario would be from the opening scene of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead remake from 2004. (Video below).   

• Interestingly enough, the male characters that have some level of bravado present in horror films are usually what gets them killed, especially in teen horror. There are few exceptions, though, such as Predator (McTierman, 1982), The Thing (Carpenter, 1982) and the original Night of the Living Dead (Romero, 1968), where the lead was (controversially, at that time) an afro-american. There aren't many protagonists in horror films that are males, the some of whom are portrayed in comical horror films(e.g. Shaun of the Dead (Wright, 2004) and Army of Darkness (Raimi, 1992).

Story

The sub-genre of horror is very influential as to how the plot develops.

• A supernatural or monster horror set in the wilderness will set the character against the threat of isolation and being the prey - a monster in the woods, being the central antagonist.
• In modern zombie horrors, it is often the interaction between the living survivors that drive the plot, less than the violent interaction between the living and the living dead.
• A psychological horror, as discussed under themes, will focus on a plot wherein the protagonist is somehow attacked psychologically, either upon his mental state of mind or his identity. 

Setting

Once again, the genre determines the kind of location that will be used in a horror film.

• Urban settings are used to connote the idea of either isolation within the self or claustrophobia, being somehow contained within one place. 
• Therefore, in these settings, locations are chosen to instil the above phobia. Dark alleyways, abandoned shopping centres or abandoned streets are conventional within urban horrors, especially in zombie horror.
• In contrast to the above, some sub-genres of horror include locations that are set in the wilderness or somewhere far from advanced civilisation, such as a small lakeside town, to create a sensation of loneliness or isolation.
• In Science Fiction horror, the setting is set in space to establish the same sensation of isolation and of being alone. An example of this would be Alien (Scott, 1979), where the horror that the ship's crew face is all set on the ship.
• The settings in psychological horror are often deceptively ordinary, such as cheerful suburban homes or shabby hotels. Especially the former is something we have available, and something that we can use to establish the setting.

What we are trying to achieve:

What we are essentially trying to achieve in our opening is the establishment of elements from both the horror and thriller genres in our film opening. Therefore, the type of opening we want to establish is somewhat akin to the Dawn of the Dead example further above (without, of course, the zombies), whilst also building up the suspense that thriller contains. As such, the type of horror opening we are going for is down to the very specific sub-genre of horror-of-personality. Our character has no recollection of his own identity (which we will attempt to establish through mise-en-scene, camera and potentially sound) and will be thrown into this mind-twisting plot from the get-go. Thusly, it is important that we are able to establish the fact that our opening is a combination of thriller and horror, and not just the one or the other. 

As such, we must draw upon the themes, setting and character type from the two genres to address our concept, and combine them, so it fits our plot and opening sequence. Finally, whilst not mentioned within this post, the combination of these two genres must also be present in our chosen typography. It is absolutely key that we include these conventions, as to not stray from our chosen genre.