What makes a horror film, a horror film?

The horror genre is one of the fascinating types of film. Not only are there many subgenres included but also is visible in nearly every other type of cinema. Horror has been in cinema since the beginning, in 1896 the movie called “The House of the Devil” came out and became the first ever horror film. During the next decades, the horror genre evolved and changed its meaning and purpose. Since the 1910s we have got multiple types of horror films from psychological to demonic and monster. But what actually makes each of the horror stories a horror?

Starting with the most obvious one, Fear. Each horror story must be scary in one way or another to the audience, that's what makes it valuable for the general public when they get to see horror movies. For instance by not showing what is the threat and concentrating horror on the character's madness and psychological aspect like, “Hereditary” or “The Lighthouse”.

Secondly, for some the most important, the Suspense. Alfred Hitchcock was called “the master of suspense” mostly due to his style of narrating and films like “Psycho” or “Rear Window”. Suspense is what makes us scared and emotionally engaged in the story. It also helps to build up tension together with soundtracks and sound effects.

Moving on, Gore. It was introduced for the first time in “Un Chien Andalou” by Luis Bunuel and it was a massive shock for the audience back then. For the first time, the director tries to shock rather than please the audience by showing the effects of violence on screen. This brings me to the next point, Violence. Violence is a big part of horror films, mostly slashers but any type of horror film possesses some sort of violence. Either physical or psychological. When it comes to examples, “Terrifier” is a perfect one to be defined as Gore.

On the other hand, some are strictly connected with other genres like Science-Fiction or fantasy. This refers to the Supernatural. In this context, it means all the monsters, Dracula, and Frankenstein, but also allegories to Religion or mythology. This often is done with the grotesque which is an inseparable element of a good horror movie. An example would be “Halloween” or “Alien”. Lastly, there must be some sort of the fatum, regarding our characters and events happening with them.

To sum up, each horror film is different and gives creators a way for artistic expression although some elements can be seen in nearly all of them such as fear, suspense, gore, violence, supernatural, grotesque, and fatum, presented in an interesting way give the possibility to create an artistic entertaining film.