Conventions of the Horror Genre

June release The Last Exorcism: Part II

The horror genre, ever since the early 20th century, has a number of conventions that make it distinct from others, and are now popular cliches that attract audiences. Across most horror films, the protagonist and other victims tend to be young attractive women, or unlikable youths, who mostly deserve to die. The conventions of mainstream horror include the supernatural, suspense, and jump scares. Creepy young children tend to fulfill a villain capacity, as well as old women, and demonic possession is a major theme in films such as The Exorcist. Ancient curses, and angry ghosts often feature as a plot line.

The sub genres, such as slasher, zombie and the suitably dubbed 'torture porn', tend to feature extreme amounts of gore and violence, while vampire films usually feature erotic elements. These can some of the more popular horror films, as evidenced by the sequel after sequel of Saw.

Some of the more popular horror films of recent years, such as Paranormal Activity and REC feature a found-footage style, providing a modicum of realism which seems to attract the masses. These films attempt to portray the events as being 'real'.