What Made Me Choose the Genre Horror?

With the audience sitting at the edge of their seats, tensions are at a all time high. Horror films do something that no other film genre can; make the audience afraid of whats next. What i find interesting about horror films is the way sound and lighting play a critical role in displaying the scene in a film. Horror films are one of the oldest film genres. The thrill of a good horror film sticks with the audience, creating a haunting scar. Some of my most favorite horror films such as, "Get Out", "Jaws", and "It" all shows important factors that make up the horror genre. The the beginning of the film "Get Out" starts out with a man walking alone on the street at night. The scene continues with a car that seems to be following the man. At first glace all seems normal, except the car continues to pace back and forth following the man walking. In the background the music slowly starts to get louder as the car gets closer and closer. At this point i am holding my breath and wondering, "what's next?" This is exactly what horror films are about, the question of,"what will happen next?" Next up, The film, "Jaws" is an excellent example of the way songs move audiences. In the Jaws theme song the classic piece links back to the killer shark. When viewers hear this song they will automatically know the shark is close and someone might get hurt. In the opening of the film it starts with two intoxicated teens going skinny dipping. While in the water the camera shot goes to a worm's-eye view. This makes it seem as if something is lurking under the character. Then the Jaws theme song starts to play; making this scene the start to the infamous movie.  By using popular fears, the movie, "It", focuses on the theme of clowns. Through the commonly referred to event called the clown epidemic, The makers of this movie used the common fear at that time to create a horror movie. I find this so interesting due to the fact that movie makers must really understand the target audience and create a movie that will leave viewers speechless. In the 2017 version of this movie the scene starts of with a young boy playing in the rain, this eventually leads to the boy encountering the clown named Pennywise in the sewer system. The idea of having the clown in the darkness of the sewer creates tension. The mood become even more intense with the background music getting louder and louder and the mysterious clown temps the young boy. As viewers we atomically know that something is about to happen. However the movie plays off of the young boy being naive, this makes the viewer not want to watch but at the same time, unable to look away. Because of the way horror films mentally capture the audience, my group and i are interested in learning more about the genre.