Horror films are designed to invoke our hidden fears, to frighten and to entertain us. Film genres have particular rules attached to them therefore, in a horror movie, death would be expected otherwise it would not be frightenin. Horror is broken down in sub-genres and themes. Certain horror conventions are seen in the types of sub-genres, these include:
SLASHER- Slasher films typically involve a psychopathic masked killer and a couple of teens, usually up to no good. They wear a mask to protect their identity and are sometimes revealed in the final scene. The killer stalks and kills a sequence of victims in a vicious way often ith a knife or some kind of blade. They are usually a person who has suffered or is traumatised from some sort of abuse therefore acts out on their past events. The victims are generally linked with the killers past. In slashers, the protagontist is mainly a female who is also known as the 'final girl', a theory made by Carol J. Clover which refers to the last female alive to confront the killer. The 'final girl' is usually a virgin and avoids the vices of the victimes e.g drugs and pre-marital sex.
PSYCHOLOGICAL/SUPERNATURAL - Psychological horror attempts to create a realistic effect to inflict fear in its audience. it contains less harm and works mainly to mentally affect the audience rather than display graphic violent seen in slasher movies. It focuses around possessions and dark forces which can remain in a form of spritual presence or appear as a demon, ghost or witch.
SPLATTER- Splatter horror is extreme gore which deliberately focuses on graphic portrayals of gore and graphic violence. The film usually contains lots of blood and guts through the use of special effects, it tends to display an interest in the vulnerabilty of the human body and the theatricality of its mutilation. Graphic violence and sexually suggestive imagery combined in some films have been labeled 'torture porn' or 'gorno'.
ZOMBIE- Zombies are seen as reanimated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft and are described as a mindless human being. In a zombie horror movie it is conventional that the setting is an isolated area where the victims are seen to be hunted down by the zombies either wanting to eat their flesh or turn them into one.
J-HORROR- A common convention of J-Horror films is the Yurei. Yurei, meaning 'soul' or 'spirit', are female who wear white clothing signifying the white kimono used in funeral rituals. They have long, black disheveled hair which comes from the tradition of japanese woman growing their hair long and wore it pinned up only letting it down in death. Yurei ghosts can bridge the gap back to the physical world through emotions which do not allow them to pass on if they died in a sudden or violent manner such as murder or suicide and that the rites have no been properly performed. The Yurei will persist in its haunting unless they are laid to rest by performing the missing rituals.
SLASHER- Slasher films typically involve a psychopathic masked killer and a couple of teens, usually up to no good. They wear a mask to protect their identity and are sometimes revealed in the final scene. The killer stalks and kills a sequence of victims in a vicious way often ith a knife or some kind of blade. They are usually a person who has suffered or is traumatised from some sort of abuse therefore acts out on their past events. The victims are generally linked with the killers past. In slashers, the protagontist is mainly a female who is also known as the 'final girl', a theory made by Carol J. Clover which refers to the last female alive to confront the killer. The 'final girl' is usually a virgin and avoids the vices of the victimes e.g drugs and pre-marital sex.
PSYCHOLOGICAL/SUPERNATURAL - Psychological horror attempts to create a realistic effect to inflict fear in its audience. it contains less harm and works mainly to mentally affect the audience rather than display graphic violent seen in slasher movies. It focuses around possessions and dark forces which can remain in a form of spritual presence or appear as a demon, ghost or witch. 
SPLATTER- Splatter horror is extreme gore which deliberately focuses on graphic portrayals of gore and graphic violence. The film usually contains lots of blood and guts through the use of special effects, it tends to display an interest in the vulnerabilty of the human body and the theatricality of its mutilation. Graphic violence and sexually suggestive imagery combined in some films have been labeled 'torture porn' or 'gorno'.
ZOMBIE- Zombies are seen as reanimated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft and are described as a mindless human being. In a zombie horror movie it is conventional that the setting is an isolated area where the victims are seen to be hunted down by the zombies either wanting to eat their flesh or turn them into one. 
J-HORROR- A common convention of J-Horror films is the Yurei. Yurei, meaning 'soul' or 'spirit', are female who wear white clothing signifying the white kimono used in funeral rituals. They have long, black disheveled hair which comes from the tradition of japanese woman growing their hair long and wore it pinned up only letting it down in death. Yurei ghosts can bridge the gap back to the physical world through emotions which do not allow them to pass on if they died in a sudden or violent manner such as murder or suicide and that the rites have no been properly performed. The Yurei will persist in its haunting unless they are laid to rest by performing the missing rituals.
