1. Why is horror the best movie genre
Horror movies have had arguably the most impact on not only cinema, but on culture as a
whole, more so than any other movie genre. Perhaps this is due in part to the effect that
horror has on its viewers. Unlike many movies, Horror encourages an active audience, one
that is constantly worried and thinking during its run, and after the movie is done, they
continue to think about it, for it is in the moments after, when left alone, that those movies
become truly horrifying. In this way, horror movies have more of an impact on its viewer than
any other, possibly why it retains some of the best viewerships. Regardless of the film's
quality, a horror movie villain is far more likely to stick in your head, when a sequel to that
movie is released, you will find that the viewer retention and gross will be far better than that
of the average sequel, Bride of frankenstein outdoes the original, Saw II has a higher gross
than the first, and capitalisation off of Bela Lugosi's Dracula spawned sequel after sequel, of
varying quality, but consistent profit, such as Son of Dracula, .Daughter of dracula, and
house of dracula. Active spectatorship allows for films that can be open to individual
interpretation, essentially allowing for these fan theories that make these sorts of films stick
in your head, the average moviegoer may passively watch a movie and forget it when its
finished if it has no room for interpretation, but with that thinking about it after the movie is
done, people will remember your movie, and this is something horor does well
For studios, Horror is a safe bet, you will often find that successful directorial debuts of some
of the best filmmakers have horror involved, Stanley Kubrick had “The Killing” , Steven
Spielberg had “duel” and more recently, Jordan Peele's “Get out” and John Krasinski’s “A
quiet place”. Perhaps horror is the best movie genre because in that vein, it attracts stellar
filmmakers, perhaps because the naturally r-rated nature of Horror allows them to push the
boundaries of filmmaking. Hammer Productions insistence on not showing its Villain, The
use of a loophole in the Hays Code (Disallowing Nudity in films) that allowed Independent
movies to show nudity, usually through the lens of horror., such as in Maniac (1934 film), the
use of new film techniques, such as the popularization of the Dolly Zoom in “Vertigo”. Or
even in race relations, Night of the living dead contains one of the most famous and one of
the first african american protagonists in film, that coincidentally ended up serving as a
fantastic satire on american racism with its ending, being released very soon after the death
of Martin Luther King JR.
Horror always pushes boundaries, and that is why perhaps people are always willing to see
it, because they are morbidly curious about what boundary is going to be pushed next.
Whether or not it is something disgusting or positive.
Humans search out pieces of media to suit specific needs. Blumler and Katz’s Uses and
gratification theory states that humans consume media to:
1. be informed or educated
2. identify with characters of the situation in the media environment
3. simple entertainment
4. enhance social interaction
5. escape from the stresses of daily life

2. We see that horror fills most of these out in a way that no other genre can, Humans fear
response is much stronger than any other, thus in Horror, we are at our most distracted, thus
escaping the stresses of daily life, in the same way, by watching a Horror movie, you are
putting yourself in the position of the current protagonist, you are afraid as they are afraid,
thus you are identifying with these characters whether intentionally or not. In this way Horror
fulfills several points on the theory of gratification, could this be why it is the best genre?
The rise of horror films can be credited to intertextuality. Specifically the fact that the original
rise of horror contained many films that were direct adaptations of gothic horror novels such
as The Phantom of the opera, The Hunchback of notre dame, and of course Frankenstein
and Dracula, the two horror movies published by universal that took the world by storm and
changed the face of horror, leading to most early horror movies being direct adaptations.
One of the first original horror movies was The Unknown by Tod Browning, who later made
freaks, he is important to note for again, pushing the boundaries of what could be shown on
film, by having the movie have some of the earliest examples of gore in cinema. The
intertextuality of Horrors first years is what gave it its popularity, fans of these gothic books
tended to flock to see their favorite on the big screen, giving these types of films a fan base.
Away from this, intertextuality also plays a part film to film, as spoof horror films have proven
to be very popular, oftentimes outselling their conventional counterparts, as you don't need
to watch many horror movies to understand their conventions and tropes, movies such as
Scary Movie, Sean of the dead and Cabin in the woods. Scary movie is the most prominent,
parodying everything from Halloween to Texas chainsaw massacre. Any genre that can
inspire so many subgenres, From slashers, Sc-fi’s, and Spoofs, must be a great genre.
Social media also plays a part on why these movies are so popular and loved, the
supernatural or mysterious nature of most of these movies encourages people to talk about
things left unsaid in the film, the more niche the movie, the more people flock to the internet
to discuss said movie, such as fan theories on the nature of the aliens in Alien being enough
to kickstart an entire new series “Prometheus”, 15 years after the ending of the alien
resurrection, the last movie in the franchise. This reliance of social media in the
advertisement is also apparent, with a recent french movie, Ravenous, we can literally see
social media stats, the teaser was largely viewed through social media, with the quick nature
of instagram, twitter and snapchat meaning that short videos are perfect for viewing in this
nature. Horror lends itself well to this sort of quick viewing to pull people in, as you can
simply show the premise of your movie and hint at the mystery and people will likely be
interested in it.