Psychological Horror

One of my many favorite sub-genres is psychological horror...I chose to research it for this project to dive deeper and extend my understanding of the genre, themes, conventions and audience.

Psychological Horror is a sub-genre that stems from horror. To be more specific, the genre tends to focus on elements that are used to develop a very disturbing/distressing atmosphere. So whether the audiences goal is to explore the depths of human emotion in a safe environment or to feel the exhilarating emotions that come with trying to figure out the dark truths about human nature. In addition, the target audience for psychological horror is pretty broad and it usually stems from younger adults to adults. The genres main goal being to disturb the audience, to fill them with anxiety and paranoia allows the audience to long for MEDIA that will let them feel the thrill.

Genre Conventions

- Content:

1. Unreliable Narrator

In many films the main character can't be trusted...keeping the audience on the edge of their seats. This genre focus the fear onto the main character, not the outside but the inside of their mind (which is usually unstable). Due to the characters unreliableness the audience can gain anxiety and make them question what is real.

EXAMPLE: Black Swan (2010), The main characters hallucinations and certain obsessions made her a very unreliable protagonist.

2. Gaslighting

This genre usually tends to blur the line between reality and the fake (delusional) story. In this way, the horror becomes internal. The audiences is able to see that even if there is no visible slasher...the real monster in their own story is the mind. This tends to stir fear in the audience

EXAMPLE: Shutter Island (2010), the whole movie was about the main characters investigation, but it was not until the end where his memories begin to unravel and where the plot unfolds.

3. Slow build-up of Suspense

Psychological horror films rely on building up tension, rather than using jump-scares. They slowly build of suspense through different production techniques.

EXAMPLE: Hereditary (2018), throughout the quite film, and the many unsettling events the movie makes the audience feel uncomfortable.

- Production Techniques:

1. Sound

- suspenseful music

- silence

- eerie sounds

- mickey mousing (syncing movements with music)

2. Lighting (used to create an unsettling, and frightening feeling)

- lowkey lighting

- flickering lights

- uses colors to advantage (red light, blue light etc.)

3. Cinematography is used in many ways to not only to make the audience feel anxiety, but it id also used to trap them into a reality where they begin to feel uncomfortable and make them question.

- unsteady camera (handheld)

- closeups (tight framing)

- long takes

- off centered composition

EXAMPLE: The Shining (1980), long takes are used to build tension and to intensify anxiety.

4. Editing

- jump cuts

- repetition of shots

- interrupting shots (flashbacks, hallucinations)

Institutional Conventions (how is genre marketed):

The target audience spans from 15 year old (young adults) to 35 year old (adults). This is due to the prominent fact that psychological horrors are enjoyable to those who are more "mature" and can understand that sometimes the real monster can come from within yourself. This age group is generally not only looking for the thrill, but they are open to experience feelings and lack of comfort. Although men are more likely to be horror fans, women tend to respond more to the genre. Research does say that the genre tends to appeal to both.

Most psychological horror movie posters are usually the main character in a frame of distress, pain, fear

Film Sample #1:
Jack the main character takes a job to look after a Hotel in Colorado during the winter (its closed). He takes his family with him (son and wife), and as soon as he arrives he is told by the manager about the incident that happened a decade prior. Danny, Jack's son, is warned and told to avoid room 237. As the weeks roll by, Danny starts having scary visions and Jack is going through writers block. Throughout their stay Jacks mental health starts decreasing and he even starts dreaming about killing his family. Danny's vision become more disturbing and Jack becomes a manic man set on hurting his family... This film is able to combine hallucinations, mental weakness, anger, isolation and use it to their advantage. It also uses really long and quite scenes which make the audience feel disturbed. The poster shows violence and the manic episode luring the audience into the clear madness of the main characters unstable mind.

Film Sample #2:

Split follows the story of a teenage girl who gets kidnapped by a man that takes them to his underground home. Imprisoned in an isolated facility with her friends, they freak you and try to form a plan. Almost every time this man comes in the girls realize that he acts differently. Later throughout the film, it becomes clear that this man has dissociative identity disorder (DID). Developed and seen in the movie, the man has 23 distinct identities...with each being able to be seen by the public when holding the "spotlight". Some of his alter identities help and inform the girls of their big plan...fostering the perfect conditions for "The Beast" a new identity to take form. Throughout the movie, the girls make many escape plans only to fail. The film was able to keep the audience in the dark because we were figuring out the unpredictable information over time. This is a psychological horror because the man's DID made it so the audience couldn't predict his behavior. Not only that but the suspense came from the 24th's identity and the sudden/constant changes in the mans behavior. The poster hints at Kevin's "fractured" mind.