The Horror Genre Film Analysis

Genre theory is the study of films so that they may be put into the correct categories or genres. This helps allow the audience understand the type of film they will be watching before they watch it. Any film made will fall under one or more genre with some being broken down into sub-genres. There are several major genres such as, romantic comedy, mysteries, documentaries, fantasy, musicals, gangster films, and my favorite horror. The horror genre can be broken into many subgenres which can include the ghost story, vampire film, monster movie, the slasher-thriller, and zombie picture. (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014) In this paper I will focus on the horror genre, specifically the gory horror film, Saw and how it helped change the shape the boundaries of the horror genre. Tim Dirks describes horror films as unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, to cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden worst fears that center on the dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming events. I think that the movie Saw, which was released in 2004 written by Leigh Whannell and James Wan, directed by James Wan, and stars Cary Elwes (Dr. Lawrence Gordon), Leigh Whannell (Adam Faulkner), Danny Glover (Detective David Tapp) and Tobin Bell as the Jigsaw killer. The Jigsaw is mysterious man who after a failed suicide attempt gained a new respect for life and has learned to not take it for granted. The …show more content…
The major fear that this film evokes is the fear of death and dismemberment, it takes things outside of the box and turns it into a real life situation. There are no vampires, or monsters to deal with, instead it focuses on fear itself and puts people into situations in which they would commit the ultimate horrors to save themselves. The more literal realistic nature of this film is what makes it more frightening than other horror films in