Psychological Horror/Thriller Research

Our chosen subgenre is psychological horror/thriller.

Psychological horror films use feelings of the characters' fears or guilt to provide scares. Emotional instability of a main character can be highlighted to increase the horror. Psychological horror films have more in common with a typical thriller film than horror films. They are very subtle in comparison to other horror sub-genres but still just as effective. The amount of actual physical harm is very low in contrast to other horror sub-genres such as slasher films because the fear and tension is created within the mind of the character and subsequently the audience. 

Films of the genre

• The Ring
• The Shining
• Jacob's Ladder
• Gothika
• Pi
• Case 39
• 1408

Films with Similar Story Lines

• Don't Look Now
• Pulp Fiction
• Trainspotting

Characters:
The main characters are usually haunted by personal troubles be it alcoholism or mourning for a close friend or family member. Films play with their heightened emotions to make them question what is real and what is not. Main characters tend to be people who have little or no people to consult with about their troubles and issues. The events of the stories either destroy the character physically or emotionally or makes them overcome their personal demons.

Misé-en-scene

Settings, props and characters are typically normal to the target audience's everyday life. Films are usually set in suburban, isolated towns. Isolation is vital for the genre because it makes the main characters feel as though no one can understand the strange situation which makes them question their sanity and psychological state. Characters tend to include either people with children, who are married or in relationships. They have everyday responsibilities that could be completely interrupted or destroyed by the strange events. The colour palates of the film genre are usually dark and eerie colours such as purple, blue, black, white and greys. Red will sometimes appear within the films to represent danger or blood. The lighting is also usually really low and dim. Make-up is left very natural for main characters. Yet for eerie characters or illusions, the faces are left very pale so they look drained and creepy. Also, make-up such as prosthetics and fake blood are used frequently the genre to either show the injuries that main characters have maintained from defending themselves or for characters to look frightening and abnormal.

Iconography
There are many items or things that can relate to a film of the psychological thriller/horror genre. Weapons such as knifes, axes or machetes are easily related to psychological horrors in particular as these items make the audience instantly thing of murders and death which horrors centre themselves around. Blood and liquid of red colour frequently emerges within the films to make the audience make the connection to death and harm. Children frequently occur within these psychological movies. This could be because childhood plays a major part in the development in the audience's psyche and many people have memories within childhood that still scares them or they cannot explain. Dark corners or places are also frequently used. The dark is used continuously because people do not know or cannot fully see what happens in the dark so people's imaginations tend to run wild. Mirrors are also a frequent motif. They could be used as the characters cannot see inside the their mind or what is exactly real but a mirror is meant to reflect what things actually look like.