Research : Dead Mary, Dead Wood and Wrong Turn

There are many typical conventions in a teen horror, some of these include;

• A secluded location
• Characters forget an obvious threat
• Power is cut
• Problem with a phone
• Character investigates a strange noise
• Characters run upstairs
• Characters hides by a window
• Character falls over
• Vehicle wont start
• Fake scare
• Warning goes unheeded
• Someone dies in the first 5 minutes
• x years before/Later
• Stormy weather
• Character takes a short cut

Recently we watched the openings to three horror films, these were "Dead Mary" "Dead Wood" and "Wrong Turn" then we had a check list which we marked and discussed the conventions used in each of the openings, this helped us think of things we could add into our own openings                            

Below are 2 of the openings we watched and critiqued.

 Dead Mary

This opening uses several of the typical conventions you would find in a horror films such as;
A secluded location, Problem with a phone, Vehicle wont start and a slight fake scare towards the end.

Wrong Turn 

This opening  also uses many conventions and I found it to be a much less effective opening than "Dead Mary" It contains a secluded location, the characters forgetting an obvious threat, fake scares and a character dying in the first 5 minutes. it also uses another convention which most horror films rely on, 'The damsel in distress' who struggles and always has to rely on the male figure. I think the second part of this opening is effective because of the camera shots and props used that give away a brief idea of what the film is about, intriguing its audience

The final opening we watched was in many ways terrible, The plot was completely unoriginal and the opening was ridiculously cheesy, it used conventions such as; A secluded location with no power, character falling over and then the character dying in the first 5 minutes with some non-diegetic sound to make it all the more "horrifying" The characters were effortless to say the least and i couldn't even find the opening on YouTube, so here's a trailer instead.

 

 Dead Wood