What Makes a Horror Movie 'Great': Essay

Horror films are unsetting films centered on the dark side of life, designed to frighten and cause dread and panic through invoking our worst fears, often in a terrifying finale, while at the same time captivating and entertaining us. But what is it that makes a ‘great’ horror movie? What is ‘great’ can be subjective – what some people like others may dismiss – however I consider some of the most successful horror movies of all time share certain features in common that make the movie ‘great’ such that it will continue to play in our minds even if we close our eyes and ears. It just won’t go away.

Great horror movies focus on our fears and phobias. There are various sub-genres of horror such as slasher, monster, supernatural or inanimate objects, but all ultimately, they play on the audiences fear of death. So, a great horror movie needs death, although not necessarily a lot of it. It also requires suspense, involving anticipation that something bad will happen, but not knowing when it will occur. The director Alfred Hitchcock was a master at such suspense. And the suspense and death will usually occur in dark, scary places, playing on our earliest childhood fears of being afraid of the dark and what hides there. It may also include creepy crawlies such as snakes, spiders and rats which frequent the dark places and amplify our phobias. It is also why thunder and lightning are common in horror movies – the darkness interspersed with sudden flashes of light that can kill.

Fear of the unusual is also a common attribute in successful horror films. This can take the form of disfigurement (such as zombies) or even dismemberment (as in ‘Saw’, where cutting off a limb was the only way to escape – itself adding an element of dramatic irony), again a reflection of fears harking back to childhood when we were afraid of things that were different or unusual looking. Horror movies have added a twist to this concept in that they have taken things that are usual and made them unusual. Examples include a car (‘Christine’, 1993), a doll (Chucky in ‘Child’s Play’), a young girl (‘The Exorcist’, 1973) and a clown (‘It’, 1990). Indeed the ‘success’ of such films is perhaps even reflected in an increasing number of people confessing to a fear of clowns.

While the content of the horror film must play to our fears and phobias, the characters themselves, (protagonists) must also at least be realistic enough that we can relate to them and feel a sense of empathy for them in their situation of dealing with their ‘monster’ (antagonists) regardless of what form such monsters may take. For example, in ‘The Babadock’ (2014), while there is a malicious supernatural being threatening the family, it is dealing with themes of parental fear of inadequacy and conflicted love, emotions that many in the audience would relate to. Probably the most successful horror movie of all time in engaging the audience in this was ‘The Exorcist’ (1973), a movie about a young girl who possessed by demons. At the time of its release, such was its intensity that it was common to see people leave the theatre before it had finished and some theatre owners even had medical personnel standing by to deal with medical emergencies caused by viewing the movie!

While the above identify various elements needed, it is not enough that they simply exist in a film for that film to qualify as a great horror film. It is how such elements are encapsulated and presented by the filmmaker that helps determine the greatness or otherwise of the movie. For example, a movie can have lots of death and gore, but if presented incorrectly or with little else, it will become a simple parody.

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One of the most effective ways horror filmmakers combine the necessary film elements referred to above is by their use of sound. The sound of fear can be difficult to define but all the great horror movies have a soundtrack that is evocative and enhances the emotions being experienced by the audience. Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ (1960) was famous for its ‘stingers’, which were sharp, highly strung violins, designed to shread the nerves of the audience. Many other movies, such as ‘Halloween’ (1978) up until the more recent Netflix series ‘Stranger Things’ (2018), have gone with eerie synthesizer soundtracks. The effective use of sound is also particularly demonstrated in ‘The Conjuring’ (2013), where abrupt sounds e.g., a handclap, are used to jolt viewers into alertness, and then the film builds on this by a rapid increase in pace to increase suspense with the audience growing in anticipation of the impending finale.

In addition to soundtracks, the type of sound is also very important. The use of non-linear sounds, such as distressed animals, people screaming, high pitched squeals in ‘The Shining’ (1980) for example, was very effective in creating tension and a general sense of unease for the audience. And it is not just the sound that you hear that is effective. Infrasound, i.e., a tone that exists at 19 Hz or lower frequency is sound that cannot be heard by human ears but can be felt by the body. It occurs naturally in wind, earthquakes, avalanches and suchlike and so such ‘sound’ is naturally unsetting to humans. Successful horror films such as ‘Paranormal Activity’ (2007) used infrasound, unsettling their audiences to the extent of in some cases movie-goers complaining of nausea.

In a similar vein subliminal images have been used in one of the greatest horror movies of all time, ‘The Exorcist’ (1973). Subliminal images are images that flash on the screen very briefly such that they are not obvious, but register in the viewer’s unconscious mind. The director of ‘The Exorcist’ noted he deliberately used subliminal messages to unnerve audiences, for example, by on three separate occasions, including one of the demons who inhabits the main character’s body, for an eighth of a second each time.

One of the most common tropes of great horror films is the use of the jump scare, i.e., surprising the audience with an abrupt change in image or event, which increases the stress for the audience in knowing something is going to happen but not what that is. Good examples include the hand coming out of the grave in ‘Carrie’ (2013) and the bed-swallowing in ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ (1984). Probably the most famous jump scares of all however are in ‘Psycho’ (1960) with the shower scene or the revelation of Mrs. Bates in the basement. Indeed, the shower scene is also a very good example of how filmmaker editing is used to maintain the pace and build-up of the suspense so necessary for a great horror film. The tension is built up to the extent the audience is manipulated into seeing what they never actually see. For example, in ‘Psycho’ (1960) the knife is not actually shown stabbing the lady in the shower. Like ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ (1974), the audience doesn’t see the hook pierce the woman’s chest, and yet in both cases the audience probably believe they see it such is the tension built up.

While pace is needed to build up and maintain the key element of suspense, another effective technique used had been for scenes to deliberately be longer than they need to be. Again, it builds the tension and engages the audience, the audience asking itself, ‘Why is this scene still happening? What’s going to happen next?’. Such imaginative use of camera work is a common feature of great horror films. Underexposing an image creates a mysterious feeling, accentuating shadows. Placing the characters and props directly in a frame but refusing to completely reveal them – a common technique used in ‘Insidious’ (2010) – is effective in deliberately building up tension until the final, terrifying reveal. And it is the build up to, and the play out of the finale that can often determine a horror films greatness or not. The final reveal should leave its audience with a sense of fear, confusion and dilemma. The ending of ‘The Blair Witch Project’ (1999) is a good example of a great horror movie made by its ending. Throughout the movie there is a constant, slow build-up of tension and fear, increasing in intensity, until it culminates with the terror of an abandoned house and the remaining character simply standing still staring at the wall, not able to look behind her.

Horror movies rarely win Academy Awards or other film awards. Often, they are looked down upon as having little artistic or intellectual value. And yet making a great horror movie is extremely complicated and challenging. It relies on engaging with the emotions of the audience, having them focus on elements they instinctively do not want to focus on: namely fear and being frightened and scared, through the building up of tension and suspense. The object is to make the audience feel uncomfortable and yet remain invested in the two-hours of the movie. Filmmakers have to use a wide variety of film elements and techniques to achieve this. A measure of achievement of this is, like great works of art or literature, there is an image of the great horror movie which endures even if we close our eyes and ears although, unlike art and literature, it may well be an image that we would prefer to forget.