What is the makeup of a horror film? Why is it that certain movies only make us roll our eyes over the poor choices of the victims while others render us sleepless? As a huge fan of scary movies, I’ve always been interested in knowing the exact aspects of films that makes me jump. I’ve noticed that these aspects are the same in every film, and are so powerful that they affect me every time.
1) The music: When the pretty girl wanders away from the group into a particularly eerie part of the setting, we always hear music playing in the background, intensifying the scene. The music rises to a crescendo and continues to build up until the girl stops and sharply turns to look behind her, but of course, no one is there. And the silence continues as a puzzled look crosses her face, she turns back, and looks straight into the eyes of the killer (here you will here a loud clash of the cymbals). Music is so powerful, I believe I’ve mentioned that before. It can convince us that we are right there, in the middle of the dark alley, with the main protagonist. If you’ve ever watched a horror film on mute, you would know just how big an impact music can make. The moment we come face to face with the killer, the clash of instruments add to our shock and thus helps to increase the heart rate, resulting in simulated fear.
2) The eyes: This is true for me and a lot of my friends. We tend to find killers with enormous eyes to be scarier than those who merely suffer appearance deficits, excuse the euphemism. I will not be showing pictures as examples, because I believe that sleep is important. Think of The Grudge, if she didn’t stare at you with gaping eyes, would she still be scary? It’s been said often that the eyes are windows to the soul, and we can see the mentality of an individual by looking through their eyes. By looking into the crazed eyes of the psycho murderer, our brain deciphers danger and sends a signal to begin the cycle of fear.
3) The Twist Ending: My favorite horror film is Hide and Seek. I’m not going to spoil it for you, but the ending was a huge shocker. What I found remarkable about that movie was that every time I put my money on someone being the killer, the possibility is immediately eliminated. Once in a while they’ll let out a little indication that pushes me to make a completely ludicrous assumption. And then in the end, when the killer’s identity is revealed, I realize just how much I lack in lateral thinking skills. A twist ending, a good one at least, branches from a psychological component of the film and breaks the status quo.
4) Cliches and Archetypes: They appear in every story, and although in some ways they help us predict the events, they are also responsible for building suspense. Imagine you’re participating in the 100m finals, you are in starting position along with a line of other competitors. The starter calls out ‘ready, set…’ but his voice drags on the last syllable. He hadn’t told you to go yet, but you know it will happen. The suspend builds up inside you until it sparks anxiety. The same thing happens in those movies, you know the guy who wandered far from the group is going to be killed next, but you don’t know when. Anxiety can be a huge contributor to fear.
I really enjoy horror films, but what I find even more interesting is dissecting the parts of the movies for fear stimulators. Next time you decide to watch a scary film, try looking for components of horror, not only does it make the film less intimidating, but it’s a fun skill to have.