Jude White
A2 Media
9315
Horror Iconography
Across the horror genre, there is a lot of shared iconography that I will have to consider in order to make a convincing horror trailer. Whilst all of this iconography is of course not present in all horror films, there are many key tropes and images that are re-used time and time again, and I will try to cover a good amount of these here.
Gothic/Occult Imagery
Many horror films, particularly older films, focus heavily on occult or gothic imagery in their overall mise-en-scene. Such films tend to have an emphasis on symbols, such as pentagrams, and on rituals. They also generally feature old-fashioned settings such as grand mansions or castles, even if set in the modern day, or close to it. A relatively recent example of a gothic setting would be the film adaptation of Susan Hill's 'The Woman in Black,' which is set in a dilapidated mansion, isolated in the middle of a moor. The Woman in Black better fits the template ofa ghost movie, but contains gothic elements. The isolation of locations like this helps to make the characters feel more vulnerable. Another recent film, 'Sinister,' employed occult elements combined with others discussed on this page to create one of the most unique horror experiences of the last few years, featuring a fictional deity called 'Bughuul,' with an emphasis on symbols and sacrificial rituals as well as film and technology.
Occult symbols and imagery used in horror films include pentagrams and satanic/demonic rituals. Perhaps the most famous film to feature occult elements is The Exorcist, one of the most famous horror movies of all time, in which a girl is possessed by a demon.
Supernatural/Ghost Movies
In recent years, a greater emphasis seems to have been placed on the paranormal in the horror genre. Ghost movies such as 'Paranormal activity' and 'Insidious' have shot to genre-defining status and led to several sequels of debatable quality, which all in all shows that modern audiences love these kinds of horror films. The iconography of ghost movies is often different to that of Occult movies, although there are sometimes crossovers. One particularly interesting trope of ghost movies is technology; notably video technology. In found-footage stlye films such as 'Paranormal Activity,' the entire film is seen through the eyes of a household video camera, and video distortion, static and other artefacting have become common for the genre. In the cult classic Japanese horror film 'The Ring,' and the classic 'Poltergeist', the ghost communicates or enters our world through a television screen, and in 'Insidious' the antagonist communicates at one point through a baby monitor, and also a radio.
Overall, films purely focusing on the occult seem less common nowadays, but elements of them are present in many recent movies.
Toys are also a common piece of iconography when it comes to ghost movies. They are often used due to the sense of unease created when juxtaposing innocence and evil. A commonly used toy is the jack-in-the-box, as seen in the trailer for 'The Conjuring.' In 'The Woman in Black,' a scene in which the main character enters a playroom full of possessed toys is one of the scariest moments in the entire film. When toys themselves are not used, children's drawings can be used for a similar effect.
For similar reasons to the use of toys in horror, clowns are also something many people find terrifying in a horror setting, due to their alleged innocence in combination with horrific acts, which makes the acts seem even worse. Perhaps the most notable example of a clown in a horror film is Pennywise from Stephen King's 'It'.
Supernatural/ghost movies tend to be set in very 'ordinary' family houses, as opposed to grand mansions or ancient manor houses; this make the characters relatable, which makes the film scarier as we put ourselves in their shoes. This is not always the case; a notable example would be 'The Woman in Black,' but this is a film which mixes elements of gothic and ghost movies.
Case Study: Sinister
The 2012 film 'Sinister' is a perfect example of Occult and Paranormal iconography being used together in tandem. The film follows Ellison Oswald, a crime writer who moves into a house where a murder took place to research his next book. The house itself, as is common with modern ghost horror, is fairly ordinary at first glance, but the hauntings that take place there expertly combine tropes of Occult and Paranormal movies for effect. Ellison finds a myriad of super-8 films, each containing footage of a murder linked to a paranormal deity. The videos themselves are a play on the found-footage subgenre, and as is common in modern ghost movies, the entity interacts with the world via technology. However, the deity itself could be seen as more linked to Occult movies; strange symbols and rituals are associated with it, and it is more of a mythological creature than a ghost. The film does, however, also feature ghosts; it truly merges two genres to produce an experience both like and unlike other films in the horror genre. Children's drawings are used in sinister, as is a large, grand, almost-gothic house towards the film's conclusion. Blood and gruesome imagery are also used, to add weight to the various murder tapes throughout the film.
Found-Footage
Whilst I have already made reference to this subgenre above, I felt it was necessary to expand on it due to its huge importance in modern day horror movie culture. The idea of shooting a horror film as though the footage is real and recovered from a home video camera was pioneered by 'The Blair Witch Project' in 1999. The film saw a group of young filmmakers getting more evidence than they had bargained for when attempting to make a documentary about rumours of a witch in a small American town. The film took the world by storm with its novel approach, and for a long time many people believed the footage was real. Since, many popular franchises, such as '.REC' and 'Paranormal Activity' have been created around a similar idea. Found-footage horror has a certain quality that makes it appealing; you feel as though you are watching real events, which makes the content scarier.
Blood
Blood is perhaps one of the most obvious example of horror imagery; in any genre revolving around characters under constant threat, there are going to be deaths and gruesome injuries resulting in bloodshed. In fact, several subgenres such as the Slasher film revolve around this idea. Whilst blood is less prominent in psychological horror films, given the fact that less of the antagonist is actually seen on screen than in a slasher and therefore deaths are less common, it is still certainly used for impactful moments.
