The Ideaologies Of My Chosen Genre..

In my opinion, I think that Psychological horrors are the most memorable and shocking out of all the genres. 
I believe that they stand the test of time more than any other type of horror, and that you are able to see elements of psychological horror influencing most scary movies. Psychological horrors are often based on such surreal subjects eg. cannibalism, serial killers, ghosts.. Yet they are still able to have some form of grip on reality and get underneath the viewers skin. Making the audience believe that "This could happen to me".
A good example of this could be the 1992 film 'Candyman', it carries all the conventions of a typical psychological horror. Based on a similar storyline to mine, it follows a young woman investigating the urban legend of the candy man. When watching the film i noted that although it was horror, there wasn't that many gory or 'horrifying' shots. It focused more on building up the anticipation that something was going to jump or or that something bad was going to happen to the characters. In addition there are lots of features that make the story of the urban legend believable, this is clearly important as this is what reinforces the idea of the audience feeling as though 'this could happen to me'. In addition, there is a clear link between what is shown on screen and Laura Mulvey's theory. It featured the stereotypical trope taken from 70's slasher movies, involving a teenage virgin being 'punished'.  I think that a psychological horror film doesn't end after you've left the cinema.. it stays with the viewer as a new fear, because of the storyline seeming so realistic. You could compare watching a psychological horror to being on a roller-coaster, they both relate in the way that the anticipation of the 'drop' increases until it seems almost unbearable. When it does 'drop' you find it is short lived and that your anticipating the build up again.


Directors of these films, rely on giving the viewer a false sense of security at the beginning of the film. This trope is also common of psychological horror trailers too. I have found that Classical music most often played by string instruments such as violins, highlight the peace of mind the characters have and the happiness they feel. However I have also found that as the plot shown in the trailer unravels, the clip time shortens and what's on screen is accompanied by something to heighten the suspense and suggest that the viewer should be fearful. A typical feature of sound that relates to this is often a heartbeat or even drums. In addition to this i have found that a good way to effect the viewer. I think that a really good effect is when the drums or heartbeat is playing, and the pace increases, is to completely stop the sound and briefly just show blackness on screen. This is soon followed by a 'horrifying' image and a loud almost screeching sound.