Conventions of Supernatural Horror Genre

Locations

Main conventional locations within Supernatural Horror films include the main protagonists house, seen in Sinister and Annabelle, or locations that are meaningful within the characters life. This convention is used to create an un-ease for the audience, watching the characters being attacked and terrified in locations where they would normally feel comfortable and safe.

Woodland areas are also a big convention for the Supernatural genre with the idea that these creatures live out of sight in isolated locations. This is seen in films such as the Blair Witch Project and The Cabin in the Woods where a mix of a wooded area and a house is used, really playing on conventions.

                                  Storylines

There are two common storylines that Supernatural Horrors tend to use. The fist type is one located within a home where the previous residents have died and a new family moves in. This then triggers the occurrence of paranormal events, for instance the film Sinister takes the format of this storyline.

The second conventional type of plotline used is when something happens to the main character in the film that forces a spirit/ curse to come to them, this takes place in the supernatural horror Drag Me to Hell an Annabelle.

Characters

The main characters is a ‘normal’ person living out their lives, conventionally a woman, and is initially portrayed as harmless, caring and loving. Generally, the main characters start off as innocents but through the films, they carry out acts of survival becoming more and more ruthless, shown in The Cabin in the Woods.

Another type of character collection is to have a group of people, conventionally teenagers, who are targeted specifically by a supernatural being whom of which continually torments them until the end where a final climax finishes the film.

Costumes

Costumes in a supernatural horror are conventionally very simple so that the audiences attention isn't taken up by the unusual attire of a character and diverted from the unusual events and weird occurrences that would happen in a supernatural horror film.

The main character would wear quite conservative clothing, nothing excessively provocative or revealing. If an adult, the character is likely to also wear smart and sophisticated clothing for work with quite neutral colours so as not to make them look particularly special.

During the scenes where the characters are prayed upon by the supernatural aspects of this horror film, the clothing would be the same, smart and sophisticated, however would be dirty, dishevelled and bloodied up, making them look rather erratic, fitting the situation that they have found themselves in.

lighting

Lighting is a large part of Horror films in general, and in Supernatural Horrors, normal shadows created by back lighting are generally distorted and manipulated to add to the supernatural aspect of the film and meet conventions of the genre, as well as add tension to the scene. The visual stimulation of lighting, using different techniques such as under lighting that comes from a source below, used in scenes of desperation of the characters, and blackouts of light, where tension builds as the character has found themselves in the dark with nowhere to go and stuck with the supernatural presence, is very effective for the horror aspect of the film.