Conventions of Psychological Horror

When looking at what to include in our film opening, we decided to look at the conventions of psychological horror films so we know what to include and how it will be effective when used in an opening.

Psychological horror films have many conventions which make them effective and scare the viewer. Within a psychological horror, there will be large use of darkness around points of the story where perhaps someone is being watched, or killed. This is effective because the darkness can isolate the character on screen who is the victim, and put them in a vulnerable position, this creates tension and builds fear.

Example Films:

-The Resident

-Orphan

-The Shining

-Silent Hill

-The Thing

-The Uninvited Guest

Psychological films aim to use the viewer's emotions to make the story much more scary and therefore a better viewing. This involves using situations which could happen in real life, this is often much more scary than a supernatural horror because the viewer can relate to the story much more and sympathise.

Another convention of horror films is the use of a villain. Often in psychological horrors, there will be a villain to spy or attack in some way, physically or mentally, a vulnerable, weak victim. This means that there will always be certain ways to capture the villain's point of view and their intentions, or see the fear of the victim and their reaction to what they're faced with. For example, in The Resident, we see the villain watching the victim through plug holes and plug sockets, there are close ups and eye line matches to show exactly what he is looking at, and his perspective. This shows how in psychological horrors, often normal people are actually the threat, in this case, just an ordinary landlord is the cause of all problems. Psychological horrors also focus on how normal people are effected, again in this case there is no particular reason why the victim is targeted, she is just in the right place at the right time for the killer to get her.

Psychological horrors tend not to be as gory as other horror sub-genres, like a slasher for example. Instead, they use editing and non-diegetic sound to build up suspense. For example, in The Shining, there is a famous scene when the little boy cycles up to one of the hotel rooms. Although nothing happens, the viewer is made to believe something terrible is about to happen, and becomes nervous for the boy, as the non-diegetic sound increases in volume and intensity as he nears the hotel room.

There is often lots of mystery in psychological horror films. The unknown becomes a feature which can be used to scare both characters and the viewer. In Orphan, evidence of this can be seen, because at first it is not clear what Esther, the young girl, intentions are. For much of the film, it focuses on Kate, her adoptive mother, trying to figure out what is wrong with her and why she is a threat. This causes controversy among the family, but in the end is revealed. The shocking twist in the storyline is effective as the viewer's do not expect it at all, making the film scarier.

Location is a major factor in psychological horrors. Often, psychological horrors are scary because they are realistic, the scenarios presented in the film could happen in real life. This is why the location is so important, by using places such as school, isolated areas, houses and hospitals it makes the story more believable. These increase the viewer's fear because hospitals for example, can be linked to death or pain, so the viewer is immediately set up for something to happen involving those things. Also, when the locations are combined with other factors, such as scenes being set a night, it creates another element of fear for the viewer because there are areas they cannot see, and do not know what might be waiting for the character in the unknown.

From this research it is clear that in our opening we do not need to show anything gory, instead by getting the location and lighting right, a scary opening can be achieved especially when combined with a good story line and characters.