Sep 19, 2019

Posted by in Movies

Popular Horror Movie Genres and Sub-genres You Should Study

If you particularly love the horror genre of movies, you may find it difficult to decide which particular genre or sub-genre to set your heart on! There are so many of them. Now if you are thinking of analyzing all of them to find a special one to focus on, this is not an easy task; but it’s indeed an interesting one. Let’s look at some horror movie genres that will simplify your job a bit.

Zombie/Virus

Zombie

Traditionally zombies are seen emerging out of their tombs or resulting from somebody being bitten by a zombie. But in any case, they are dead, or to be exact dead and then undead. They are generally slow (though they are seen running in recent movies, causing increased fear), silly and numerous. Some of the great zombie movies are:

  • Zombie (1979)
  • Dawn of the Dead (1978)
  • Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974)
  • Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Virus

After a while, moviemakers found more scientific methods to generate zombies. Several movies began to base their storylines on viruses that would convert people into zombie-like creatures. While the rules of infection are generally similar to those of old zombies, variants can occur such as infection triggering by TV waves like in The Signal (2007), with some words such as Pontypool (2008) or by adrenaline as in Rammbock (2010).

Paranormal

The fear of paranormal and unknown is an all-time favorite topic for horror movies. Whether it’s ghosts, demons or witches, paranormal genre is one of the scariest one.

Haunted Houses

The thought of a structure being undead is certainly terrifying as in 1408, a room itself is alive. Some of the most renowned haunted house films are:

  • 1408 (2007)
  • The Amitville Horror (1979)
  • The Haunting (1963)
  • House on Haunted Hill (1959)

Ghosts and Spirits

Ghosts and spirits are not new as they exist since forever in legends and tales, before movies even came into existence. In horror films, they typically are the souls of dead individuals which do not leave earth for whatever reason (mostly to take revenges) and keep haunting people. Some popular examples are:

  • Mama (2013)
  • Ju-On (2002)
  • The Frighteners (1996)
  • Poltergeist (1982)

Demon, Devil and Hell

Whether it’s the demon’s servants or devil itself, a major source of inspiration has been religion for horror films. This sub-genre is actually a crossover between zombie and possession films, but includes movies related to hell too. Here are some of the best demon movies:

  • Devil (2001)
  • Prince of Darkness (1987)
  • Demons (1985)
  • The Beyond (1981)

Start studying the horror genres and sub-genres, and you’ll find numerous interesting aspects that will attract you towards this fearsome yet ever-fascinating topic even more.