Psychological Sub-genre:
Psychological horror is a sub-genre which relies on characters feelings of guilt and fear. Psychological horror is different from genres such as 'Slasher' which focuses on the gore and weaponry of murders. Whereas Psychological is based around a criminal/murderer who looks like a normal human being but has a horrific identity.
Also psychological horrors are generally more subtle compared to traditional horror. It contains less violence but focuses on sexuality and relationships with men and women. These types of films aim to disturb their audience mentally by creating discomfort and fear. By scaring the audience in this way it's somewhat more realistic than a slasher horror film because the fear comes from within and is not as physical. The murders and motives in psychological horrors are more complex and require the audience to think more about what is going on. The murders will not include huge amounts of blood and gore (if any) but more torturing of the victim in different ways. The killers in the films are often sociopaths, psychopaths and pedophiles which explains why the genre can often be mistaken for a thriller. For this reason lots of Psychological horror films are based on true stories of killers with mental illnesses. An example of this is Silence of The Lambs including Hannibal Lector. Some psychological horror films include: |
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