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Supernatural Horror - Film Genre




Supernatural horror films often include the use of tense, or disturbing music/soundtrack, such as implementing violin strings for some - Insidious (2010). They also have quick shots and camera cuts, along with shadows, often used to hide the antagonist - usually there to seek revenge on the protagonist. The protagonist sometimes has close up camera shots of their face to convey the emotion they are feeling at a current time - likely fear. They will most likely be a female, possibly troubled by something that occurred in their past which would make other characters unsure of the alleged supernatural occurrences until it's too late.


Religious imagery/figures are used often, portraying the literal battle of good and evil: crosses, holy water, priests and churches. The entity is, almost all the time, too powerful for the priests who either leave or are killed in a gruesome manner.


After the 80's, supernatural films often adopted the "haunted house" stereotype of a typical innocent family or newly-wed-couple moving into a house that is either haunted, built on top of an ancient burial ground or was the scene of a tragic event, or they have lived there for a long time and only recently discover the history. This has conveyed a really stereotypical approach to supernatural horror films which has been used in a variety of different films based in this genre E.g. Sinister (2012), The Conjuring (2013), The Conjuring 2 (2016).


The lighting is often dark and bleak, mainly with back lighting and/or low-key lighting to convey shadows in the form of silhouettes. Along with violin strings mentioned earlier, orchestral music is also used to properly convey the other-worldly power of the antagonist in the narrative of the scene. Lastly, screams and cries, when unexpected, are predominantly used to get a fearful reaction from the audience.

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