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Psychological Horror

Alexander Li, Rahul Mirchandani, Sahil Sakhrani

Clips

Themes

Mystery, mentally challenged people, paranormal creatures

Sound effects and music

Narratives

Contrapuntal (music does not fit scenes on screen)

Crescendo used to tell audience the villain is approaching

Dramatic orchestral music

Little or no dialogue; dialogue only used to show panic and desperation

Drumbeats to reveal the heartbeat of the characters and to create suspense and eeriness

Flashbacks to let audience know why a character reacted that way

Relies and plays on character’s beliefs and fears

Tend to have ordinary people end up going mentally unstable

Definition of psychological horror

Costumes

Target Audience

Psychological horror films are films that are a horror but don't have as much blood or gore as a slasher might have. They normally have a story line of the villain tormenting the group of victims mentally rather than physically. It's basically a horror film but it's just mental torture instead of physical.

There is no specific convention to costumes in psychological horrors. Costumes that are worn often tie in to the scene, for example hospital gowns are worn in a mental asylum scene.

Psychological Horror films target mainly the male gender, at least the age of 21. Probably Grade D and under Emulators.

Props

Setting

Characters

Typical settings in psychological horrors are:

Big, empty houses

Forests/Woodland locations

Warehouses

Schools

Hospitals

Mental asylums

Isolated areas

Dark places

Young adult or child, usually female

Mentally unstable

Emotionally unstable

Dark, creepy in looks

Antagonist's face rarely seen to produce mystery and increase suspense

Weapons not designed for killing e.g. pipes

Research items e.g. books, laptops

Sentimental items that are normally innocent e.g. teddy bears

Flashbacks are often used to tell the audience why the antagonist uses certain props to create meaning

Non-verbal communication

Editing and cinematography

Non-verbal communications are used in psychological horrors to create meaning. Here are some of them:

  • Staring, used by antagonists to scare victims
  • Crying, victims expressing emotions
  • Prolonged eye contact by victim, shows that the victim wants something or scared
  • Begging, begging the antagonist for something

Fast paced editing to emphasise confusion and action, slow paced editing to create suspense

Flashbacks are often created to create meaning

Dark, low, dim lighting

Constantly follows main character(s)

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