What is a Horror?

I was faced with a question that sounds straight-forward initially. 'What is a horror?' A Horror film is designed to scare the viewer and take them out of their comfort zone. They often include a creepy/scary character causing havoc in the movie world. But it is not so easy to answer such a broad question with no examples.

An Ultimate Horror film causes psychological fear. Viewers are spooked by the unimaginable and the fear of empty frames, wide empty areas, silence etc.

There are 9 types of Horror films:

• The Ghost Story  (The Sixth Sense/ Silent Hill)
• Classic Monster  (Frankenstein)
• Vampire             (Dracula/Queen of the Damned)
• Zombie              (28 Days Later)
• Slasher             (Freddy vs. Jason, Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
• Animal              (King Kong: Original)
• Serial Killer       (Halloween, Hannibal)
• Horror Sci-Fi     (War of The Worlds)
• Supernatural    (The Ring, The Eye)