The fear of horror films

Not everyone likes Horror films. Not everyone appreciates the cathartic thrills of being cinematically scared. But every filmmaker should get to know the Horror genre, why it is such a persistent force in screen culture.  If you, as a filmmaker, understand how and why Horror works you will go a long way to understanding the nature of screen-drama across the board.

When we consider a film genre we have to consider what that Genre sets out to make us ‘feel’ and what the consistent and expected feeling-state of that genre is? A surface level response in regard to Horror would obviously be to say that Horror sets out to make us feel ‘scared’. But whilst this is certainly true its also not very useful.

What does ‘scared’ mean? What comprises a scare? Is there only one kind? If there’s more than one, what are they, what is the difference between them and how does a good horror choose which scare to use? And when?

The answers to these questions are in a podcast from a class I delivered as part of the AFTRS Grad Cert in Directing. You can download and hear the podcast here (right+click save as) or go to the Podcasts page of this site.