Research of Horror Film Settings

When researching horror film settings, generic or unusual, the idea of setting my film somewhere realistic and relatable would make the opening a lot scarier as it's more personal to the audience. By shooting the opening somewhere where the audience may recognise and relate to, they can therefore place themselves in that setting and situation.

This woods setting is from the film The Blair Witch Project. As the woods expands and can go for miles we have a sense of fear or unknown. Woods/forest is a commonly used setting for the horror genre introduced in the 70s. They provide an atmosphere of darkness and shadow away from civilization. The Blair Witch Project brought the forest setting back with a vengeance. Other films such as Wrong Turn and Cabin Fever have followed this trend, proving that forests are great places to stumble onto inbred cannibalistic families or mysterious flesh-eating viruses.

A setting almost always used in a horror film is a haunted house. This house is from the film The Amityville Horror. I think that a house is the most personal setting that can be portrayed in a horror film as everyone can relate to this type of location. Certain expectations of your house may be shattered leaving the audience fearing their own surroundings. Iconic films such as Physco and The Haunting also use the haunted house setting, it is also being brought back into trend by new horror films such as Paranormal Activity.

There are some slightly unusual settings such as an
island or somewhere that's in the middle of nowhere. This location is from Shutter Island. Other isolated settings include The Wicker Man and Wolf Creek. These isolated places initiate the idea that there is nowhere to run.

One more iconic setting is somewhere that is abandoned, such as a hospital, bunker or town. This abandoned setting is a lunatic asylum from Session 9. When an audience sees somewhere abandoned or derelict they get a sense that something bad happened in this place and therefore sets up an atmosphere and sense of fear and suspense. It's like the darker side to a place can be seen once it is abandoned, or appears abandoned.