Choice of Sub-genre; Explanation

The Subgenres of Horror Films:

Slasher:

Slasher films often include a masked psychopathic killer that kills a series of victims in a gruesome and gore-filled way. Common props used as weaponry within this sub-genre are knives, chainsaws and axes. The outcome of these films usually result in the lone female surviving and her then dispatching the killer temporarily.

Supernatural:

Supernatural horror films often feature ghosts and spirits at the centre of their narratives. Furthermore other extraordinary phenomena such as miracles, curses or strange ‘going’s on’ could also feature. Common conventions in supernatural films are mediums, séances, flashbacks or past lives or occasions and sometimes a possessed person more often than not a child. It can be argued that horrors featuring a supernatural presence can often be scarier than others. 

The sub-genre I have selected for my horror trailer is Supernatural. My main reason being that the majority of supernatural horror films include an equilibrium which present the characters/family enduring in their normal day to day life, until something destructive occurs and eventually affects them in an unexpected, unwanted manor. This convention enable me, as a watcher to get into the film as it reflects reality and does not portray a very false narrative. The supernatural horror film ‘The Exorcist’ received mixed reviews from its critics quoted below:

Upon its December 26, 1973 release, “ranging from ‘classic’ to ‘claptrap'." Stanley Kauffmann, from The New Republic, wrote, "This is the scariest film I’ve seen in years. The only scary film I’ve seen in years…If you want to be shaken which I found out, while the picture was going, that that’s what I wanted; then The Exorcist will scare the hell out of you." Variety noted that it was "an expert telling of a supernatural horror story…The climactic sequences assault the senses and the intellect with pure cinematic terror."In Castle of Frankenstein, Joe Dante stated, "An amazing film and one destined to become at the very least a horror classic. Director Friedkin’s film will be profoundly disturbing to all audiences, especially the more sensitive and those who tend to 'live' the movies they see; there has never been anything like this on the screen before."

The Exorcist was nominated for a total of ten Academy Awards in 1973, winning two. At the 46th Annual Academy Awards ceremony, the film won two statuettes”

Psychological:

Psychological films are an escape from the gore and violence you expect from a slasher film. This sub-genre of films will feature a disturbed individual whose mental problems unnerve and terrify audiences, whilst containing fewer deaths. The ‘psycho’ will usually look like a ‘normal’ human being, before their monstrous nature is revealed to the audience.

Gothic:

Gothic horror films are traditional in style, harking back to original horror stories, like Frankenstein etc. These types of films tend to feature ghostly apparitions and phantoms however monstrous demons are common but also a handsome hero will enter the dark world of the movie to save the day. Women that feature within gothic horror films are represented as a damsel in distress.

Set in the past, mists, forests, masculine character that saves the day.