Mood board- Supernatural Horror Conventions

Conventions of Supernatural Horror


Setting: often the locations consist of secluded areas such as dark forests, an empty road/pathway or a vacant, spooky house. All of these possible locations indicate a sense of vulnerability for the characters in them, due to the vacancy and unfamiliarity of the area.

Costume/props: The costume and props really depend on the time that the film is set in. Many supernatural horror films include ‘flashbacks’ and a way of showing this is through the difference in clothing and props. For example, in Insidious 2 the family dress in your average modern clothing (jeans and t-shirts) and use modern technology such as mobile phones, TV’s and baby monitors; however a flashback to an earlier time period is shown through the fact that the women is wearing a long frilly dress, and is stood in an old fashioned looking child’s room (there’s a dolls house, rocking horse, old fashion wallpaper, etc.)

Characters: In the majority of supernatural horrors the characters tend to try and block out any evidence of the evil around them, as they don’t want to believe in a supernatural force. Many films of this genre focus around the lives of a family, as viewers are often more scared and tense when watching a film if it involves the vulnerability of a child (Examples- Insidious, The Conjuring, Sinister, The Woman in Black, Paranormal Activity 2 and 3, etc.). A lot of the time, however, they focus on couples (Paranormal Activity, The Grudge). The couple tend to be young and have aspects of vulnerability, for example the female protagonist in Paranormal Activity is ‘haunted’, she’s clearly terrified in the film and her boyfriend tries to protect her and make her less defenceless.

Lighting: Low key lighting is used frequently to emphasize the connotation of darkness and evil, and the areas of highlight within the low key lighting often display a figure/shadow. Low contrast tends to be used in the scenes where the characters are human, and this displays a sense of dullness and exhaustion, indicating that the evil force is getting to the characters emotionally. High contrast is sometimes used in scenes where the supernatural force is at work, as the high contrast conveys a sense of power, for example harsh blood reds are used against black in Insidious when the human character is fighting a demon.

Camera: Low angles are often used to display the evil force as dominating, for example in The Grudge the supernatural being is placed at the top of the stairs/on the banister, this indicates that they are more powerful than the human character. In contrast to this, high angles are frequently used on the characters that are being affected by the evil forces, like in Insidious when the mother is listening into the baby monitor- the evil force is clearly upstairs with the baby whom she can hear on the monitor, and the high angle camera angle reinforces her feebleness.

Sound: The dialogue tends to be diegetic, as this creates a realistic effect in the film as all the sound is originating from within the screen world (so supernatural horrors often avoid voiceovers for example). Sound effects are used to create an eerie feeling, sound effects such as wind blowing, floorboards creaking, thumping, etc. However, ironically, one of the best effects to create a feeling of eeriness is silence. Silence creates suspense and tension.

Editing: Supernatural horrors often use temporal editing, as they aren’t bound by normal time, so they frequently use flashbacks and flash-forwards. Parallel editing is also used a lot to create tension, for example in The Conjuring the parents are driving home at the same time that their daughter is being locked in a room by an evil force, this causes the viewer to feel panicked as they want the parents to get home in time to save the child.