What makes a good horror film?

1. Create a story line which the audience can relate to 

By choosing a story line that the audience can relates to, makes it more personal to them and it could scare them more. Researching the different types of horror films out there, I have noticed that a lot of the stories behind the film are either based on a true story or it is based on moral panics. This would be more personal to the audience because if the film was based on a true story then the  audience will feel more tension and uncomfortable because they know that the events in the film have actually happened. I researched into whether horror films scare more younger or older people, and I come to the conclusion that years ago older people were more scared of horror film than we are now. This could have been due to the world war, and other events that have happened around that time. Horror films would have included these events and included links to them in the films. This resulted to the older audience to be more scared of the horror films and it would have affected them more, than the audience now. 

2. Location 

In horror films I think the location is vey important because it sets the scene and I think it also sets the genre of horror for the film. Horror films produced in the earlier years were all quite similar in the sense of location, they were filmed in isolated places such as the woods, abandoned houses and deserted towns. This would create a feel of helplessness because there is no one around to help, and save the characters. More modern horror films are being set in places we go everyday, for example they are being set in houses where lots of people live around. This creates a new sense of fear because the films make you wonder who could be living next to you and also if your friends are who they say they are. 

3. Music

If horror films didn't have music I don't think they would be as scary. Music adds tension and builds up a really scary scenes. Having silence also makes the films scary as well because, because when the characters go silent then it tells the audience that something bad is going to happen, and the silence is always broken by loud jarring sounds, that result into making the audience jump and feel scared.

4. The killers appearance

The older horror films had more killers such as: Halloween, Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. All these film has a clear killer and the audience could have either guessed who it was or the film revealed who the villain was. The three killers in the film has masks which made them look more scary, and because their masks were so iconic the audience is more likely to remember what they look like and it would scare them because they will always remember who they were. Nowadays horror films are based around the unknown, and supernatural. The audience are more likely to question the films more because they don't what is killing people and what is the villain. This scares the audience more I think because they are not left with a clear ending and they are left questioning everything that happened in the film.