COMMON CONVENTIONS IN HORROR FILMS

SECLUDED LOCATION• Horror movies love to place their characters literary in the middle of nowhere. So that

there is no one that could help them.

• Woods

• A ghost town

• A summer camp

• A dormitory during the off season

• An abandoned house

• An abandoned amusement park

CHARACTERS FORGET ABOUT THREAT• Loads of times there is a threat, curse, danger or worse that the characters know about.

However, they either forget about it or just don’t take it seriously.

POWER IS CUT• In the most scariest moment the lights will just magically go off. And everyone will just

assume that it was the killer.

PHONE LINES ARE CUT• The killers will almost always take the phones out so that the police or any other help

can’t be called. If there is a phone seen I a movie it is most likely not working.

• In these days the battery will just run out, or there will be no signal or it will be broken.

SOMEONE INVESTIGATING A STRANGE NOISE• This one of the most common conventions in horror movies. There will always be

someone who will go for example, in a basement, without lights, to see what is the noise. And most likely that person then would not return or would either scream.

SOMEONE RUNS UPSTAIRS INSTEAD OF OUTSIDE• You will see scared victims running through the house trying to get away from the killer.

When they come across the stairs and a door, they will without thinking run upstairs, thinking that they will be safe locked in the same house as the killer.

VICTIM COWERS IN FRONT OF A WINDOW OR DOOR• Someone is hiding against the window/door/ wall without thinking that the killer will just

grab them.

• Or the victim looks out of the window sees nothing and when they turn away the killer just jumps in and grabs them.

• There are more ways of this scare.

VICTIM INEXPLICABLY FALLS OVER• Almost in every horror movie the victim WILL just fall over to make it easier for the killer

to catch them.

VEHICLE WON’T START• In every horror film where the victim is running to a vehicle to get safe, by the time he

gets in the vehicle will realize that the vehicle just wont start.

FAKE SCARE• Fake scare is used in horror films for a long time now. It is an old convention in horror

films.

• This usually happens by a friend/relative/boyfriend/girlfriend/sibling scaring the main victim. Then when there is an actual killer they will think thet it is their friend again.

WARNING GOES UNHEEDED• It is in human nature to do/go opposite what you are told.

• For example, someone has heard of this really scary place where a person disappead a year ago. So he tells his friends about this and everyone just wants to go, even though they were just told that someone disappear there.

SOMEONE IS KILLED IN THE FIRST 5 MINUTES• It is usually done to set the mood for the rest of the film.

• It also suggests that later in the film other people will die.

X YEARS BEFORE / AFTER• This is used to let the audience know for example, what happened at that specific place

many years ago and then years later there is a group of friends that want to go there. But the audience will already know that that is not a good idea.

• There are many more ways to use this convention.

THE STORMY NIGHT• It is most likely that in the day of danger it won’t be sunny outside. It will be raining, dark,

a fog, thunder, lightening. This is to create the scene of fear.

THE SHORT CUT• If you are trying to get away from the killer why not take a short cut through the woods

you have never been.