Horror - The genre

Horror as a film genre has gripped audiences from its early beginning. From the late 1700s and 1800s the success of the Gothic novel inspired readers everywhere to feed from the scary genre. The success of the books and the obsession and love to be terrified meant that film makers knew that by transferring the Gothic or the horrific to the screen would be a lucrative business. The demand for more led film makers to create a visual world for viewers to lose themselves in. Bringing the books to life drew in audiences to feel the adrenalin rush of fear, excitement and anticipation which were evident in these films. This led to film companies continually making more, making it a never-dying genre. The genre itself tests our fears and puts them on a screen for us to visualize. However one of the main reason's horror is successful is because of the unpredictable, anticipating, suspenseful atmosphere created. With growing audience sophistication film directors have to go beyond our expectations to shock us. There are many conventions that make up the horror genre. The traditional fear of a monster figure has been outgrown by other conventions more of a psychological nature. Audiences have hungrily grasped the graphic, petrifying story-lines of horror movies over the years, the obsession we have of our own mortality as human beings acting as a main contributor. Our love of being constantly terrified and asking ourselves the questions of "what if?" has drawn in audiences again and again. Our masochistic obsession of wanting to put ourselves in impossible situations and thinking up never more terrible ways to die has made horror an existing successful genre.