Supernatural horror film
Supernatural horror film is a
Comparisons
For such films and other media, critics distinguish supernatural horror from psychological horror. Mathias Clasen writes in Why Horror Seduces, "Supernatural horror involves some kind of suspension or breach of physical law, usually embodied in or caused by some kind of supernatural agency such as an uncanny monster or a ghost... psychological horror, on the other hand, does not involve violations of physical law, but features naturalistic (if often implausible) menaces and scenarios."[2] Paul Meehan also distinguishes supernatural horror films from psychological horror, "The threat to societal order comes from something preternatural or anomalous: a haunted house, a curse, or a monster like a vampire or a werewolf."[3]
Charles Derry, writing in Dark Dreams 2.0, contrasted supernatural horror and pseudoscientific horror as "two basic methods of explaining things away" in horror stories. Derry wrote, "Into the supernatural group one could fit all the monsters and horrors that are somehow involved with religions and ritual," highlighting witchcraft, Egyptology and reincarnation, and zombies.[4] Aaron Smuts considers horror "to be a genre with two main sub-types, supernatural horror and realist horror" and that they "have different charms".[5]
History
While fictional horror-themed literature, theatre, and other visual culture had existed, the terms "horror film" and "horror movie" as known in a contemporary term did not become common place until 1931 and 1932.
In the early 1940s, supernatural horror films had more contemporary settings, but the genre was ultimately superseded by psychological horror films. By the end of World War II, the supernatural horror genre "met its demise", being overshadowed by the atrocities of the war. By the 1950s, science fiction horror films had replaced supernatural horror films, and psychological horror films also became more popular in the same decade, ultimately eclipsing supernatural horror.[8] The few supernatural horror films that were produced in the 1950s were often set in haunted houses, a continuation of haunted-house films prevalent in the 1940s.[4]
In the 1960s, horror films like
In the 2000s, violent horror films called "
Box office
The highest-grossing supernatural horror film, adjusted for inflation, is
In 2013, Variety's Andrew Stewart said supernatural horror films grossed more at the box office than other horror sub-genres. He advised that filmmakers interested in tapping into the profitable market of low-budget horror should focus more on stories about ghosts and the supernatural, as movies about slashers and extreme horror tend to have less consistent commercial success.[16]
Use of music
Joe Tompkins wrote that following the 1950s, many "Gothic and supernatural horror movies utilize dissonance, atonality, and unusual configurations of instruments to signify all sorts of anomalous, paranormal activity". He wrote that Black Sunday (1960) and The Haunting (1963) "make use of atonal clusters, which operate in sharp contrast to tonal music and thus provide antagonistic symbols for supernatural evil and good (respectively)". He also highlighted that The Amityville Horror (1979) and Poltergeist (1982) "employ various thematic materials ranging from soft-sounding lullabies to atonal outbursts".[17]
According to Janet K. Halfyard, supernatural horror-comedy films deploy various strategies to using music "to simultaneously locate the film within—or at least close to—the horror genre, while at the same time encouraging the audience to laugh instead of scream".[18]
References
- ^ Buffam, Noelle (March 26, 2011). "Supernatural-Horror". scriptlab.com. The Script Lab. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
- ISBN 978-0-19-066651-4.
- ^ a b Meehan 2010, p. 4.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7864-3397-1.
- ^ Smuts, Aaron. "Cognitive and Philosophical Approaches to Horror". In Benshoff 2017, pp. 6, 18
- ^ Rhodes 2022, p. 636.
- ^ a b Rhodes 2022, p. 644.
- ^ a b Meehan 2010, p. 5.
- ^ Chappell, Caitlin (May 2, 2020). "From the Psychological to the Supernatural: Horror in the 1960s". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ISBN 978-1-4766-2984-1.
- ^ Staff (October 21, 2015). "How Horror Movies Have Changed Since Their Beginning". nyfa.edu. New York Film Academy. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
- ^ Blicq, Tom (December 7, 2014). "15 Great Supernatural Horror Movies Worth Your Time". Taste of Cinema. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
- ^ Mendelson, Scott (September 22, 2017). "Box Office: 'It' Is Now The Highest-Grossing R-Rated Horror Movie Ever". Forbes. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
- ^ Whitten, Sarah (July 22, 2019). "Hollywood doesn't adjust the box office for inflation, but if it did, these would be the top 10 highest-grossing films of all time in the US". CNBC. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
- ^ "Supernatural Horror Movies". The Numbers. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
- ^ Stewart, Andrew (September 16, 2013). "Five Examples of Why You Should Stick to the Supernatural When Making a Horror Movie". Variety. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
- ^ Tompkins, Joe. "Mellifluous Terror". In Benshoff 2017, p. 199
- ISBN 978-1-135-28044-4.
Bibliography
- Benshoff, Harry M., ed. (2017). A Companion to the Horror Film. ISBN 978-1-119-33501-6.
- Meehan, Paul (2010). Horror Noir: Where Cinema's Dark Sisters Meet. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-6219-3.
- Rhodes, Gary D. (2022). "The 'Horror Serials; of the 1910s: Episodes in the Construction of a Film Genre". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 42 (4).
Further reading
- Cherry, Brigid (2009). Horror. Routledge Film Guidebooks. Routledge. pp. 7, 48, 154, 194–197. ISBN 978-0-415-45667-8.
- Dyson, Jeremy (1997). Bright Darkness: The Lost Art of the Supernatural Horror Film. Cassell. ISBN 978-0-304-70037-0.
- Ursini, James; Silver, Alain (1994). More Things Than are Dreamt of: Masterpieces of Supernatural Horror, from Mary Shelley to Stephen King, in Literature and Film. Limelight Editions. ISBN 978-0-87910-177-0.