Codes and Conventions of Horror.

Settings.

Common settings in horror films include very large and eerie places for example big and spacious homes which the victim is familiar with, this way if something or someone evil comes along it makes them feel more uncomfortable as its in their home and in a place where they should feel the safest.  Most Horrors are set in suburban areas where the city and help is usually further away. It's more common for the supernatural horrors to use the setting of a big house set in the suburbs, they are also usually very welcoming and cosy but there is still an eeriness about them as appose to old horror films where the houses would appear haunted in a very obvious way.

 Below: The house that is the main setting in 'Insidious'

Below: The house that features in 'The Uninvited'

Both of the images above show very nice, big and spacious houses that obviously cost a lot of money. Add contrapuntal sound and you have yourself a horror film setting. 

However it is also very common for horror films to be set in woodland areas, forests, warehouses or abandoned areas. You would see these locations used in the slasher sub-genre because these sort of settings would include only the killer and the victim.

Sights.

Sights that are conventionally seen in horror films, especially in 'Zombie' horrors are the extreme long shots that show a landscape or city that is completely empty. A place that is always buzzing with life, people, and cars. A place that never stops, one day suddenly does . There are no people around, there is rubbish everywhere, absolutely lifeless. This is shown to emphasize the isolation, emptiness and loneliness of the whole place. This sight is seen in films such as 'The Crazies', '28 Days Later', 'Dawn of the Dead' and pretty much every other zombie film out there. 

Weapons.

The most conventional use of weapon in horror films are items such as knives, axes, chainsaws or any other sharp and heavy objects that could do a lot more than just damage. Also things like garden equipment or kitchen utilities are seen a lot. For example ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’  featured a killer who used a chain saw as a main weapon to tear through his victims.

The film 'Psycho' is famous for it's shower scene where the female victim is killed with a kitchen knife.  One of Clover's brilliant ideas was that by using a knife, a form of rape is achieved with the killer overpowering his helpless victim. You don't ever see guns used in horror movies as it's a quick death that doesn't involve any torture or gore which is something that the audience love seeing in horror films. 

Events and Occurrences

The most obvious event and occurrence is a horror film is of course the killing of a victim and escaping death. Something that is seen very often in slasher horror films is a group of young adults stopping off at either a petrol station or a supermarket in the middle of no where, the occupier always has some sort of connection with the killer and warns the young adults to not carry on their journey or encourages them so they end up in the territory of the killer. 

Other common events in horror films are things such as the victim hiding from the killer inside a wardrobe or a small room, at this point the killer will get closer and closer. You will hear the victims breath get faster and then there will be a pause before the killer find the victim and kills them. This moment will be very fast and loud and will make the audience jump.


Another reoccurring event would be of a victim looking through a key hole of a door, a whole in the wall or so on. This would be where the victim is watching the killer looking for them, whilst they hide. You would then see a close of the victims eye peeking through, which is conventionally followed by a point-of-view shot through where the killer will appear, making the audience jump with fright. 

 In slasher horror films, it's common to see a girl home alone, vulnerable. Just like in the film 'Scream' where the girl gets a phone call from the killer without her realizing that he is a killer. She will then act like she is not scared and humor him, but she will end up getting killed anyway. What makes this film scary is the fact that a load of teenagers are watching horror films and mock the killer, which is something that teenagers in real life would do. It adds a fear factor to it, and makes you feel like something similar could happen to you. 

In supernatural horrors, a conventional event involves a character in the bathroom bending over to wash their face, when they look up, they see the reflection of either a ghost, possessed child etc. behind them in the mirror. You see this convention is 'Deadline', 'The Eye' and in the film poster for 'The Unborn'.