Supernatural horror film

Supernatural horror film is a film genre that combines aspects of horror film and supernatural film. Supernatural occurrences in such films often include ghosts and demons, and many supernatural horror films have elements of religion. Common themes in the genre are the afterlife, the Devil, and demonic possession. Not all supernatural horror films focus on religion and can have "more vivid and gruesome violence".[1]

Comparisons

For such films and other media, critics distinguish supernatural horror from psychological horror. Mathias Clasen writes in Why Horror Seduces, "Supernatural horror involves some kind of suspension or breach of physical law, usually embodied in or caused by some kind of supernatural agency such as an uncanny monster or a ghost... psychological horror, on the other hand, does not involve violations of physical law, but features naturalistic (if often implausible) menaces and scenarios."[2] Paul Meehan also distinguishes supernatural horror films from psychological horror, "The threat to societal order comes from something preternatural or anomalous: a haunted house, a curse, or a monster like a vampire or a werewolf."[3]

Charles Derry, writing in Dark Dreams 2.0, contrasted supernatural horror and pseudoscientific horror as "two basic methods of explaining things away" in horror stories. Derry wrote, "Into the supernatural group one could fit all the monsters and horrors that are somehow involved with religions and ritual," highlighting witchcraft, Egyptology and reincarnation, and zombies.[4]

History

Supernatural horror became prevalent in the 1920s and the early 1930s with German expressionist films; Paul Meehan said the style created "a nightmarish netherworld of supernatural fear". The genre became more commercially popular in the 1930s with Universal Studios producing Universal Monsters films, and the films "were set in a mythical Transylvania or other Eastern European locale, in an unreal fantasy world far divorced from everyday". Meehan said, "This served to make the creatures of the night that populated these films into harmless chimeras comfortably ensconced in the faraway past." In the early 1940s, supernatural horror films had more contemporary settings, but the genre was ultimately superseded by psychological horror films. By the end of World War II, the supernatural horror genre "met its demise", being overshadowed by the atrocities of the war. By the 1950s, science fiction horror films had replaced supernatural horror films, and psychological horror films also became more popular in the same decade, ultimately eclipsing supernatural horror.[3] The few supernatural horror films that were produced in the 1950s were often set in haunted houses, a continuation of haunted-house films prevalent in the 1940s.[4]

Box office

The highest-grossing supernatural horror film, adjusted for inflation, is The Exorcist (1973). It has an unadjusted gross of over $441 million with the original release and 2000 re-release combined;[5] the adjusted gross in 2018 is over $956 million.[6]

In 2013, Variety's Andrew Stewart said supernatural horror films grossed more at the box office than other horror sub-genres. Stewart said, "Generally speaking, playability for that subset of horror films—meaning slasher and torture porn pics—is far less reliable... That's why filmmakers, who are looking to cash in on the often lucrative business of making low-budget horror movies, should skip the slasher genre and stick to good ole’ fashioned spectral storytelling."[7]

Top-grossing films in the United States

Box Office Mojo lists the following, not adjusted for inflation, as the ten top-grossing supernatural horror films in the United States:[8]

  1. It (2017)
  2. The Sixth Sense (1999)
  3. The Exorcist (1973)
  4. A Quiet Place (2018)
  5. What Lies Beneath (2000)
  6. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
  7. The Conjuring (2013)
  8. The Ring (2002)
  9. The Grudge (2004)
  10. The Nun (2018)

References

  1. ↑ Buffam, Noelle (March 26, 2011). "Supernatural-Horror". scriptlab.com. The Script Lab. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
  2. ↑ Clasen, Mathias (2017). Why Horror Seduces. Oxford University Press. pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-0-19-066651-4.
  3. 1 2 Meehan, Paul (2010). Horror Noir: Where Cinema’s Dark Sisters Meet. McFarland. pp. 4–6. ISBN 978-0-7864-6219-3.
  4. 1 2 Derry, Charles (2009). Dark Dreams 2.0: A Psychological History of the Modern Horror Film from the 1950s to the 21st Century. McFarland. pp. 23–29. ISBN 978-0-7864-3397-1.
  5. ↑ Mendelson, Scott (September 22, 2017). "Box Office: 'It' Is Now The Highest-Grossing R-Rated Horror Movie Ever". Forbes. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  6. ↑ "The Exorcist Movies at the Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  7. ↑ Stewart, Andrew (September 16, 2013). "Five Examples of Why You Should Stick to the Supernatural When Making a Horror Movie". Variety. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Horror - Supernatural". boxofficemojo.com. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved November 19, 2017.

Bibliography

  • Cherry, Brigid (2009). Horror. Routledge Film Guidebooks. Routledge. pp. 7, 48, 154, 194–197.
  • Dyson, Jeremy (1997). Bright Darkness: The Lost Art of the Supernatural Horror Film. Cassell. ISBN 978-0-304-70037-0.
  • Silver, Alain; Ursini, James (2004). "Filmography". More Things Than Are Dreamt Of: Masterpieces of Supernatural Horror. Limelight Editions. pp. 169–206.
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