If the heart then freezes, then it rushes, an icy cold penetrates into the soul, which makes goose bumps all over my body, and I want to tighten my eyes tightly, then maybe you are watching a horror movie?
Called to scare
The history of films of this direction goes far into the past of cinema. Already at the dawn of the creation of this genre, they wanted to scare viewers from the screen, because horror is a horror film. Sometimes with the help of hints, creaking floorboards, and sometimes with frank scenes of cruelty. An atmosphere of intense expectation, bloody scenes of reprisals against the victim, escalation of anxiety - everything is called “horror”. This, by the way, helps release adrenaline into the blood, which is useful in small portions. So, the main difference between the works of this genre is the fear that arises in connection with the unexpected development of the plot. Whether it’s a fantastic component, against the background of which an action takes place, or a raging element, maybe a terrible form of violence, resulting in a real horror. Films of this plan were taken to a new level by Alfred Hitchcock, introducing the concept of “psychological horror film”. His masterpiece "Psycho" with the main character - maniac Norman Bates, killing girls, transforming into the image of his strict mother, has become a classic of the genre. A scene in the bathroom with shower spills pouring into the drain hole of the heroine’s blood, her cry, gradually fading eyes, from which water flows like life ... This episode went down in movie history as one of the worst, and actress Janet Lee later admitted that is afraid since then to take a shower.
About zombies, cannibals, vampires ...
Horror films are divided into several categories. With stories about cannibalism (the best horror of this direction is a cycle about the psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter, including “Silence of the Lambs”, which at one time received the main award of film academics in the USA). Films about zombies, whose ancestor is considered to be George Romero with his "Night of the Living Dead" of the late 60s. Horror stories about vampires: how not to remember Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula! Although this film adaptation of Bram Stoker fits the definition of “Gothic horror films”, as well as all versions of Frankenstein, of which there were many. Films about werewolves, the first of which, black and white and dumb, was shot back in 1913! Horror - this is the so-called slashers (aka body counting films) - when heroes, mostly young people or teenagers, are killed by a psychopath. A vivid example is “Friday. 13th ". The subgenres of horror are both tapes with a mystical plot, and "black comedies" like "Operation" Dead Snow ". True, there were Nazi zombies, so this picture can be assigned to several categories at once.
Not only blood
By the way, the curious festival of independent cinema dedicated to the horror genre has been held for several years now. This is After Dark Horrorfest. It has a slightly different gradation of horror movies, each subsection has its own week (there are 8 in total). These are the weeks: monsters, rituals, zombies, curses, ghosts, maniacs, killers, aliens. Once the authors did not stoop to savor the bloody insides, everything was shown in hints and with the help of artistic techniques. What can not be compared with today's revelry of bloody scenes demonstrating falling guts and scattering brains. A kind of “fashion” for such a naturalization of violence was introduced by a Malaysian who moved to Australia, James Van, who shot the picture “Saw. Game of Survival ”and thus laid the foundation for the famous franchise. But horror is not only blood!