Psychological horror
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Psychological horror is horror based on knowledge and situation as opposed to horror based on gore and fright. A well known example is The Sixth Sense. This is made more explicit in that many horror films are not based on psychological horror, using instead "cheap" fright and gore to thrill the audience.
Psychological horror plays more on the psyche than to the instinctual reaction to violence. By confusing and/or reaching the subconsious of the viewer, psychological horror is able to have a deeper effect that is more socially acceptable than a gory film, yet is also nearly universal in impact. This genre is similar to the psychological thriller in that it uses psychology, but in the psychological thriller, the psychology is often applied to a character as opposed to the viewer. Psychology can be applied to the viewer either through subconsious of behaviorist perspectives. A subconscious approach would be to find a common phobia or point of underlying fear among a large spread of the population, and play upon this. For example, someone may have a subconscious reaction to an unstable vehicle, from possibly being in a car accident at an early age. This could be played upon by haveing someone driving hear an unusual noise, at which point anyone who might be repressing a memory of a car accident would feel uncomfortable. A behaviorist angle would be to have a boiling pot of water on the stove. A small child may reach up to pull it off, and the crowd would feel uneasy due to their memories of when either they or their child had such an accident.
Psychological horror is more common in literature than in modern film, and can also be found in some computer and video games. Prominent examples of video games that make use of this brand of horror include the Silent Hill series, ' and '.
Key Elements of Horror
1. A highly improbably sequence of events, that usually begins in an ordinary situation.
2. Main characters with whom one can identify.
3. Lives of others depend on the success of the protagonist.
4. The mood and setting are dark and/or foreboding.
5. The plot contains frightening and unexpected elements.
6. Violence (although in psychological horror violence is not necessary)
7. A third person perspective is used.
8. A plain style of cinematography is used.
Why is it Effective?
Psychological horror is frightening to some viewers because of the tension built upon throughout the story. Splatter films usually rely upon sudden "jolts" and direct physical threats to sympathetic characters, such as a monster jumping out from behind a corner. The primary effect of psychological horror is to play upon the anticipation of a perceived threat, or to confuse the viewer regarding the nature, or existence, of the threat (examples of the latter approach can be seen in the films Let's Scare Jessica to Death and Hour of the Wolf, and the game Silent Hill 2).
Oftentimes, psychological horror films have no recourse to the "gore" prevalent in splatter films. However, some violence may be used to reinforce the notion of possible physical danger, while still keeping true to the psychological nature (an example would be the 1999 Japanese film, Audition).
Occasionally - such as in the film Blair Witch Project - the antagonist is never revealed. With no explicitly defined threat presented on screen, the "fear-of-the-unknown" theme becomes central and can be explored fully.
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