Charcater Research - Chloe Lawler

Typical characters within a horror film over the years:

-During the 1930s to the 1940s the characters in horror films were mostly gothic based. The characters included vampires, werewolves, devils and madmen. Films that included these characters were such films such as 'Dracula' and 'Wolf Man'.

-In the 1950s to the 1960s the characters now ranged from possession to characters with personality defects. The characters usually showed a great deal of violence and had psychological problems. 'Pyscho' was a typical film that included a violent character who had psychological issues. The films also included world events where charcters were normally survivors of a war. Other films in this time had characters that suggested to the viewer that they were being controlled by demonic forces, such as paranormal spirits.

-The 1970s to the 1980s showed the charcters of horror films turning to occultism, introducing the idea of “fear of the unknown”. Such films are 'The Exorcist ' (1973), 'Audrey Rose' (1977) etc Characters are generally “possessed” or “reincarnated”, which gives the audience a sense of personal paranoia.

-During the 1990s the films were now generally slasher films  such as ' New Nightmare ' (1994), ' The Dark Half ' (1993) where the characters of the films are almost entirely madmen trying to murder the protagonist.

-The 2000s began the craze of teen-centred horrors. The character are mostly teenagers assumed to be very vulnerable due to society accepting teenagers as immature adolescence. Films such as 'Final Destination' helped towards this craze.