Case Study on the Psychological Horror sub-genre

For my film trailer I have decided to do a Psychological horror, with some supernatural elements. I have researched and created a Case Study which will allow and help me broaden my current knowledge of the psychological subgenre as well as the supernatural subgenre, thus creating an effective film trailer.

The ‘Psychological Horror is a horror based on knowledge and the situation the killer and victim is in, rather than other subgenres of horror, which is normally based on fright.

It is a subgenre which relies on character fears, guilt, belief and emotional instability to build tension and further the plot line. It is different from the type of horror found in ‘slasher films’, which derive their effects from gore and violence, and the object of horror, does not always appear as a monster or a vicious stalker, but usually another person or a supernatural presence, whose horrific identity is often not revealed until the end of the film.

The ‘Supernatural Horror’ is a subgenre, which has themes on gods/goddesses, ghosts, apparitions, spirits, miracles and other depictions of extraordinary phenomena.

A few examples of films that come from the psychological horror subgenre:

·        Gothika

·        The House of the Devil

·        Psycho

·        Triangle

·        The Strangers

·        The Thing

‘Psychological Horror’ was not widely used, until Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ was released in 1960, thus setting a string of related psycho films to be made. It is the latter element that distinguishes it as a separate genre; however the evil menace here is human, not supernatural. The menace is a criminal, usually determined to have a mental illness or a psychotic personality, in the film. The consequences of the intrusion, of a human evil (the killer) into everyday life characterize the genre. The usual elements of this intrusion are bizarre and the shocking acts of violence committed by the character (the killer) such as adult males who normally have abnormal relationships and contacts with their mothers, biker gangs, inbred families, cannibals, devil worshippers, rapists, stalkers, child molesters and other killers.