Research on Psychological Horror

Psychological Horror

Psychological horror is a sub-genre of horror which artfully plays on certain character's abnormal psyche to frighten the viewers. An important aspect of psychological horror includes the exposition of commonly experienced fears, revealing dark parts of the human psyche we commonly experience yet commonly hide or deny.

Film Poster for 'Rosemary's Baby', a classic psychological horror film

Shown above is the official film poster for the 1968 American film 'Rosemary's Baby', directed by Roman Polanski. The image of the boy's face is unnaturally large in comparison to the rest of the poster, which evokes a sense of uneasiness. The use of blank space on the poster interestingly creates a sense of curiosity, which ties in with the genre.

Jungian Psychology

Jungian psychology (sometimes called analytical psychology) is a branch of psychotherapy which refers to these 'supressed' inner emotions expressed within psychological horror fiction. These collectively unconscious archetypal Jungian characteristics include:

• paranoia of others 
• distrust of others
• suspicion 
• self-doubt

In Jungian psychology, the 'shadow aspects' of someone's personality refer to these traits, which our consciousness disregard. Carl Jung, the initiator of Jungian Psychology, said that 'everyone carries a shadow, and less the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is'. This idea that all of us possess 'hidden' qualities is used advantageously in psychological horror films to scare us.

Codes and Conventions of Psychological Horror

As part of our research, we decided it would be a good idea to make a brief list of the codes and conventions of psychological horror:

• plot twists are frequently used to confuse the viewer
• weapons - they are often not psychical weapons but are more supernatural/psychological
• there is often a feature of hallucinations or visions
• often set in realistic locations - this makes it more relatable for the viewer
• heavy visual feature of shadows and silhouettes 
• there is often a feature of flashbacks
• the music is often contrapuntal to the images on screen to evoke a sense of unnerving drama
• the main antagonist is usually a disturbed individual coming back for revenge
• a high proportion of the victims tend to be female
• the use of children as antagonists is very popular
• there is little visceral imagery used - the horror is more subtle

Personally, I think that this idea possibly links with Freud's theory of introspection - the things in other people we find unpleasant are irritating because they subconsciously remind us of ourselves. Perhaps this is what makes psychological horrors so chilling - they very slightly uproot fears and negative traits deep within us.

-Anna Humphreys