The Effect of Cinematography in Horror Films

         The Effect Of Cinematography in Horror Films

By Ellie Rosch

        The effect cinematography can have on horror movies is very important. I enjoy a lot of movies, and cinematography plays a big part in my enjoyment of different movies. Think about an action movie where someone is jumping from one building to another and when they’re in the air it cuts to 20 different angles of that jump. That is to build up suspense because you can manipulate the angles to make the audience think they’ll fall and not make the jump, only to give the watchers a sigh of relief when they actually do. These tactics create extreme reactions in the audience, stimulating emotions, and horror movies are a prime example of movies that would want to convey that.

The first movie’s cinematography I want to talk about is American Psycho. American Psycho, in my opinion, is one of the best examples of using cinematography to convey emotions to the audience, mainly because it broke most of the “rules'' that were often used in horror movies before it came out. As you would expect in a horror movie, there’s a killer and when we see that first kill take place, it’s not a dark and broody scene like the first kill normally is. Instead, it’s in very bright light and could be compared to what you would normally see in a musical theater. Part of this is because the cinematographer wanted to add the comedic and insane feel of the movie, but as the movie continues and more kills take place, the killing scenes get darker and darker, representing the main character’s spiral into insanity. The way this movie plays with lighting is definitely one of the reasons that this movie is so good as it is. It properly conveys the spiral into insanity and ends the movie with the audience feeling some sort of unease.

I can’t talk about great horror movie cinematography without touching on The Shining. While American Psycho was a great example of using lighting, The Shining is supreme in its use of wide-angle shots and distorting perspective that really brings the unease and fear into shots of seemingly mundane scenes. There’s rarely a time watching this movie where you will feel at ease or safe looking at scenes that don’t even have anything dangerous in them. Part of this is because the cinematographers, John Alcott and Martin Kenzie, understood perspective so well. When characters are feeling scared, the camera angle will be above them, conveying the audience that they’re small and vulnerable, while dangerous characters will be seen from lower angles, showing that they are more powerful. Also, using the emptiness of space in backgrounds builds tension and an overarching feeling of dread; That is all used until the climax of the film. There’s a reason The Shining is such an iconic horror film and still referenced today despite its age, and the cinematographers diffidently have something to do with that.

The final movie I want to talk about is so good that it started its own horror genre. This would be the Blair Witch Project which created the found footage horror movies. Basically, when you watch a movie you are spectating other people’s lives, but in a found footage movie, it’s as it says. You are watching a film that has seemingly been recorded on a phone or some type of electronic, and you piece together the story from there. It’s not professional looking, for example some scary noise would be made and the actors are all scared and start running, but you can’t see what scared them because it was off screen. You wouldn’t even be able to see the actors running because the camera is shaking. It’s a very hard technique to pull off but the Blair Witch Project did an exceptional job. While technically this film technique had been used before in a movie called Cannibal Holocaust in 1980, it was not popular and the Blair Witch Project seemingly revived it. The found footage technique is the best way to get the audience feeling immersed in the horror film world. Part of this is because it just makes the whole movie feel that much more realistic, which is a huge part in conveying to the audience these heightened emotions of fear and unease. 

All in all, cinematography has a huge impact on every movie, but especially horror films. It can be used to create fear, but more importantly it creates a feeling of unease and immersion in the movie. These were just three of the most popular examples of cinematography in scary movies, but there are plenty of other great examples. All three of these movies convey strong emotions that make these movies that much better.