Realism is often skewed in Horror films for dramatic effect, an example of this can be seen where body counts are often bigger and death scenes much more elaborate.Moral and social values also influence the events and the audience's perception of the film. For example, in many teen horror films characters that do drugs, have sex or drink are much less likely to survive, which can be seen as a comment on morality in society and sometimes religious, expectation.
Examples of codes and conventions:
> Frighten the audience and cause panic
> Cause dread and alarm
> Invoke our hidden worst fears
> Capitivate and entertain us in a cathartic experience
> Often draws to a climax with a shocking finale
> Always a lead character, who often survives the film
> The conscious killer has a pattern eg. of victim or weopan
> Usually 2 characters in conflict
> Often the 'good' person will survive
> Weopans can be used to kill silently and require 'intimacy' eg. a knife attack, to some, is paralleled to rape
> Isolated, quiet locations
Cliches such as "I'll be right back" are a common theme through which the audience knows that something, usually of misfortune, will happen to one or more of the characters. However, sometimes these clishes are used to precede a 'false jump' in order to make the predictable, unpredictable.The cliches of horror films have been explored in the 'Scream' series and parodied in films like 'Scary Movie' and audiences have become more conscious of them. For this reason the horror genre is constantly adapting to create new codes, conventions and cliches to continue scaring and surprising the modern audience.
Examples of some cliches (mainly slasher)
> The protagonists are unsympathetic teenage groups
> Groups split up and are picked off one by one
> The police are inept
> Phones will be out of signal or battery or will cut off before the victim can relate the location to those on the other end
> Killers often have parental/ family issues and NEVER run
> Killers are often seen moving the bodies of their victims and/or displaying them
> The killer appearing to be dead and then returning to life
> Fake scares
> Beware of certain dates such a murder anniversary and the places where they happened.
> Twist or ambiguous endings in case a sequel is planned
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