1. HORROR NARRATIVES
Narrative conventions are important
for defining genre.

2. HORROR NARRATIVES
• When we think of
horror narratives, we
are really considering
the devices that are
used to communicate a
story to you. In the
exam you may come
across questions like…

3. HORROR NARRATIVES
• How far are the storytelling methods used in the films
you have studied for this topic typical of their genre?
• To what extent are the narratives of the films you have
studied for this topic typical of their genre?
• How are narrative devices used to increase the impact
of horror in the films you have studies for this topic?
• What are some of the narrative features that are
distinctive in the films you have studied?
• How far are the narratives of the genre films you have
studied for this topic predictable?

4. HORROR NARRATIVES
• The assumption is that the WAY a horror film is told is
going to be the very similar across all horror films,
that's what makes it recognisable to the audience. For
the most part these questions want you to:
1. Make known that you are aware of the narrative
features of the horror genre and how they are
used in the films to communicate their stories
2. Discuss how this is done in a similar/typical way
across all films
3. Consider how the films manage to break the
‘genre mould’ and not be typical

5. HORROR NARRATIVES
• Aims:
• To discuss and understand the storytelling methods used in
Dracula, The Descent and Creep
• To do this we need to consider the use of:
• Narrative Structures
• Narrative Theory
• Narrative Themes
• Use of characters
• Use of settings
• Micro features (typical visual and sound techniques)
• And how they are used to draw the audience into the
diegesis of the film.

6. HORROR NARRATIVE STRUCTURES
A narrative convention of
any genre is its predictable
set of plot events
• What could we say is
similar about these films
in terms of plot events?
• Work in your study
groups and write each
film out in 3 acts,
explaining how each act is
similar.

7. Typical 3 Act Structure
• As sited in Film a Critical Introduction
• The first act in a horror film focuses on central characters beginning a
venture into a strange and ultimately threatening setting.
• Stumbling into a forbidding, and often forbidden, setting unleashes a
wave of violence that leaves many (if not most) of the protagonists
dead. As those who survive the initial onslaught begin to fight back,
fear and fatigue provoke dissention within the group, putting them at
greater risk. Those who have come in contact with the monster may
try to warn the larger community, or they go to the authorities to
muster up support, only to be met with disbelief and derision.
• The climax of the film generally involves a dramatic, sometimes
apocalyptic, showdown between the main characters and the monster,
with varying results. In contemporary horror films the resolution of the
plot leaves open the possibility of the monster’s return.

8. NOEL CARROLL
• Noel Carroll, in his essay The Philosophy of Horror, maps out the
traditional narrative structure of the horror film in three stages.
• The first he names the ‘Onset phase’ where a disorder is created,
generally in the form of a monster.
• The second Carroll calls the ‘Discovery phase’, where the characters
of the story discover that the disorder has occurred.
• The third phase he calls the ‘Disruption phase’, where the
characters destroy the source of the disorder and restore normality.
• This similar to what Todorov stated, he argued that the basis of
conventional narrative structure consists of an initial situation
(situation 1); a problem which disrupts this situation; a resolution of
the problem which allows the reinstatement of the initial situation,
perhaps with slight changes (situation2).

9. Onset
Phase
Discovery
Phase
Disruption
Phase

10. Dracula is wreaking Is there an ‘Onset Phase’? The Craig kills one of the workers
Onset havoc in the area in
female spelunkers entered into
the ‘monster's’ territory
in the sewer pipe
which he live going
Phase out a killing people
Van Helsing sends When they realise that they Craig kills the man trying to
Discovery Harker to dispose of
were in the Crawlers feeding
den. The POV through the
attack Kate She is now witness
to his actions she also knows
Dracula and Dracula
Phase kills Harker. Van
camcorder is used for this then
we see one of the Crawlers.
when the controller is killed
then Mandy
Helsing realises the
reason for Lucy’s
illness.
Van Helsing and The women fight for their lives Kate tries to escape with
Disruption Holmwood work
against the Crawlers, only
living Sarah – but is order
Jimmy but he dies. Then Kate
Fights on with George. Kate
together to kill
Phase Dracula. Van Helsing is
restored? And if so who’s
order? (Ideological messages?)
finally kills Craig – but who’s
order is restored? (Ideological
messages?)
successful during a
climatic battle

11. Further reading
• You could also consider the ‘traditional’ three
act structure – relevant for all films
• And Kristen Thompson’s Four-Part Structure
• You were given a sheet on the above point
during the first half term

12. Why is narrative structure important
in genre films?

13. Why is narrative structure important
in genre films?
• Narrative structure provides a formula or
template in film production
• It works as a ‘contract’ – the implicit
agreement between a film and it’s audience
that governs the way fans enjoy it
• Without a typical narrative structure genre
films would not be recognisable to audiences
and conversely films would not be able to
break with predictability

14. Meeting Objectives of the lesson
• You should now be able to:
• Discuss how narrative structure can be used as a
storytelling method
• Discuss the ways in which horror films have
typical narrative structures
• Argue if narrative structure can be used as a
device to create impact in a horror film
• Consider if the narrative structures of the films
we have studied are distinctive or predictable

15. NARRATIVE THEORY
• Be warned that some of what we have already
discussed can come under narrative theory
e.g. Noel Carroll theorising about the typical
narrative structures of horror films. Also
Kristen Thompson’s 4 act structure
• We are now going to consider ‘traditional’
narrative theory, and it’s applications to the
horror genre.

16. NARRATIVE THEORY
• Tzvetan Todorov
• Equilibrium – disequilibrium – resolution.
• Vladimir Propp
• Propp suggests that there are a limited number of
character types that share a function
• Roland Barthes
• Barthes identifies 5 narrative codes which readers use to
decode texts. He emphasises the active role of readers in
creating meaning, and their ‘culturally formed
expectations’.
• Claude Levi-Strauss
• Narratives are structured by pairs of binary oppositions.

17. Todorov’s approach to narrative
• There are five stages a narrative has to pass through:
1. The state of equilibrium (state of normality – good, bad or
neutral).
2. An event disrupts the equilibrium (a character or an action).
3. The main protagonist recognises that the equilibrium has been
disrupted.
4. Protagonist attempts to rectify this in order to restore
equilibrium.
5. Equilibrium is restored but, because causal transformations have
occurred, there are differences (good, bad, or neutral) from
original equilibrium, which establish it as a new equilibrium.

18. Propp’s approach to narrative
• Vladimir Propp studied hundreds of Russian folk and
fairytales before deciding that all narratives have a
common structure.
• He observed that narratives are shaped and directed by
certain types of characters and specific kinds of actions
• He believed that there are 31 possible stages or
functions in any narrative.
• These may not all appear in a single story, but
nevertheless always appear in the same sequence.
• A function is a plot motif or event in the story.
• A tale may skip functions but it cannot shuffle their
unvarying order.

19. Propp’s approach to narrative
• Propp believed that there are seven roles which any character may
assume in the story:
• Villain - struggles with hero
• Donor - prepares and/or provides hero with magical agent
• Helper - assists, rescues, solves and/or transfigures the hero
• Princess - a sought-for person (and/or her father) who exists as
goal and often recognises and marries hero and/or punishes villain
• Dispatcher - sends hero off
• Hero - departs on a search (seeker-hero), reacts to donor and weds
at end
• False Hero - claims to be the hero, often seeking and reacting like a
real hero

20. Claude Levi-Strauss’s
approach to narrative
• After studying hundreds of myths and legends
from around the world, Levi-Strauss observed
that we make sense of the world, people and
events by seeing and using binary opposites
everywhere.
• He observed that all narratives are organised
around the conflict between such binary
opposites.

21. Examples of binary opposites
• Good vs. evil • Protagonist vs. antagonist
• Black vs. white • Action vs. inaction
• Boy vs. girl • Motivator vs. observer
• Peace vs. war • Empowered vs. victim
• Civilised vs. savage • Man vs. woman
• Democracy vs. • Good-looking vs. ugly
dictatorship • Strong vs. weak
• Conqueror vs. conquered • Decisive vs. indecisive
• First world vs. third world • East vs. west
• Domestic vs. foreign/alien
• Humanity vs. technology
• Articulate vs. inarticulate • Ignorance vs. wisdom
• Young vs. old
• Man vs. nature
21

22. Meeting Objectives of the lesson
• You should now be able to:
• Discuss how narrative theory can be used as a
tool for discussing the storytelling methods used
in films
• Argue if the application of narrative theory is
useful when considering the distinctive or
predictable traits of the horror genre
• Consider the usefulness of some narrative theory
to explain the ideology and values hidden within
horror film narratives

23. HORROR MICRO FEATURES
AS NARRATIVE CONVENTIONS
• Taken from: Horror (Brigid Cherry)
• ‘Horror genre most important characteristics are
the modes of affect that horror films intend to
create in their audiences. It is these emotional
and physiological responses that remain constant
while other characteristics and generic
conventions evolve. We need to consider how the
technical codes of cinema are manipulated in
order to bring about these responses.

24. HORROR MICRO FEATURES
AS NARRATIVE CONVENTIONS
• The technical and formal features of cinema
include editing, montage and pacing, camera
work, framing and other aspects of
cinematography and mise-en-scene such as
lighting, sound and costuming, together with
plot, dialogue, narrative and audience point of
view, narrative structure and representations of
characters. These cinematic codes have been
developed and refined by horror filmmakers in
order to depict horrific material visually and
aurally.

25. HORROR MICRO FEATURES
AS NARRATIVE CONVENTIONS
• The aesthetic features that are frequently used by
horror filmmakers to create string emotions such
as shock, fear and revulsion commonly include
point-of-view camera shots and framing, dark or
chiaroscuro lighting, jump cuts and variations in
pacing, visual (an often violent) spectacles that
employ make-up, prosthetic, animatronic, digital
and other special effects, and discordant or
otherwise unsettling musical cues and other
sound effects’

26. HORROR MICRO FEATURES
AS NARRATIVE CONVENTIONS
…shadows only dimly lit by helmet lamps, flashlights, and flares. Even
better, Marshall cleverly uses a home video-camera (with an infrared
light, of course) to show much of the underground action. This has the
simultaneous effect of blurring and distorting the imagery (thus hiding
potential budgetary limitations) and creating a jumpy hand-held look
that perfectly captures the sense of claustrophobic panic infecting the
characters.
But I also wanted to utilize the fact that the caves are pitch black until the girls take a light into
them. The only light source there could possibly be was the source the girls have with them at
the time, whether it be their helmet lights, torches, a lighter, a box of matches, flares or the
fire that they create at the end. That was the only light source, so everything else had to be
pitch black around them. And that enabled us to create these moments where there are very
black. It increases the tension because you have no idea what's in the darkness, and neither do
they until they turn their lights on.
"I deliberately made the Charing Cross station zing with a modern
airport terminal sheen that gradually disintegrates into greens,
earth tones and ochre shades as Kate goes lower and lower into
more macabre areas.”

27. HORROR NARRATIVE THEMES
• THEME: An implicit or recurrent idea
• Going with this definition it’s apparent that one
way of discussing themes would be to consider
the binary oppositions reoccurring across all films
studied
• One key theme across The Descent and Creep is
the theme of entrapment and isolation
• A way of exploring this theme and any other
binary oppositions is to consider the use of
settings and micro features

28. HORROR CHARACTERS
AS NARRATIVE CONVENTIONS
• Key to horror films in the use of ‘the monster’,
and more so in contemporary horror the use of
‘the final girl’.
• When discussing characters there are many ways
you can go about it:
• Representation and gender
• Associated ideology
• Use of micro features
• Function within the narrative

29. HORROR CHARACTERS
AS NARRATIVE CONVENTIONS
“they are un-natural relative
to a culture’s conceptual ‘THE MONSTER’ The ‘monster’ of the horror film is
by far its most important feature.
scheme of nature. They do Without the monster, and the
not fit the scheme; they threat it imposes on the ‘normal’
violate it…monsters are in a world, there would be no ‘horror’
certain sense challenges to to speak of. Hutchings asks the
the foundations of a culture’s question “What makes a monster
way of thinking.” a monster?” and answers that,
(Carroll, 1990:34) “simply being dangerous is not in
itself enough to bestow monster
status…these monsters should not
only be dangerous but ‘impure’ or
‘unnatural’ as well”
(Hutchings, 2004:34-5).
Hutchings attributes the traditional destruction of the monster at the
end of most horror films to this preoccupation with social repression,
“delivering”, he accuses, “their monsters to victimhood as those
monsters are defeated and/or destroyed by the forces of good”
(Hutchings, 2004:157).

30. HORROR CHARACTERS
AS NARRATIVE CONVENTIONS
the Final Girl tends to
The term ‘Final Girl’ was coined by
academic Carol J. Clover to describe the
‘THE FINAL GIRL’ become more and
female hero of the slasher film. Prior to more masculine and
the advent of the slasher, it was very phallic, as she becomes
rare to find a female protagonist is a
horror film who did not need recusing
more active and
by a male. The Final Girl was different, aggressive, turning
however. She was usually distinguished from hiding and
from her teenage compatriots Through
cowering from the
her watchfulness and her aggression,
and she often had some masculine killer to fighting back
qualities as well – either a male- or in fact hunting him
sounding name or abilities or types of down.
knowledge conventionally associated
with men. Most of all, she could not
rely on a male hero to save her but was
routinely placed in a situation where
she had to save herself.
(The A to Z of Horror Cinema, Peter
Hutchings)

31. Meeting Objectives of the lesson
• You should now be able to:
• Discuss how characters and themes can be used
as a storytelling method
• Discuss the ways in which horror films have
typical characters and themes
• Argue if characters and themes can be used as a
device to create impact in a horror film
• Consider if the characters and themes in the films
we have studied are distinctive or predictable