This on the surface might seem like an easy question. “What is a horror movie” and I am here to tell you… it’s not. Sure, there are definitions out there from reputable sources. However, upon reading them I find them lacking - they always assert that the movie must be scary or repulsive (or at least intended to have been).
But let’s backtrack and look at what a genre is, after all, horror is simply a genre of film.
"Let’s start with some basic terms and guidelines. How do we define genre, and how does it specifically pertain to film? By definition, genre theory is simply the categorization of different structural elements and patterns which can be found in collections of stories. And as these elements begin to carry inherent and recognizable information, a genre emerges. These genre elements usually include:
Story-arcs and narratives
A standard protagonist and other characters
Stock settings and locations
Familiar scenes and events
The general storytelling style, plot points, and various tropes"
or from Wiki
A film genre is a stylistic or thematic category for motion pictures based on similarities either in the narrative elements, aesthetic approach, or the emotional response to the film. Film genres are usually delineated by "conventions, iconography, settings, narratives, characters and actors.” One can also classify films by the tone, theme/topic, mood, format, target audience, or budget. These characteristics are most evident in genre films, which are "commercial feature films [that], through repetition and variation, tell familiar stories with familiar characters and familiar situations" in a given genre. A film's genre will influence the use of filmmaking styles and techniques (lighting, framing, score)."
Genre is basically similarities in the look, sound, and plot of movies. Patterns… it’s patterns.
Horror, Western, Thriller, Comedy, Romance, Action, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Drama, Noir, Musical, ect.
So let's look at horror definitions that I think are closer to what horror is...
"a film in which very frightening or unnatural things happen, for example dead people coming to life and people being murdered" - Cambridge (link)
"A large and heterogeneous group of films that, via the representation of disturbing and dark subject matter, seek to elicit responses of fear, terror, disgust, shock, suspense, and, of course, horror from their viewers. Horror is a protean genre, spawning numerous subgenres and hybrid variants: gothic horror, supernatural horror, monster movies, psychological horror, splatter films, slasher films, body horror, comedy horror, and postmodern horror." - Dartmouth (link)
See! trying to define 'horror film' is difficult. This is what I came up with.
To me, horror movies do not need to be scary, nor does the intention of the movie need to be to scare or repulse the audience... which is what most people tend to use as the definition. This removes SO many movies that are clearly horror movies from the genre. Therefore that definition is glaringly incomplete.
So a horror movie is basically something that when you see it, you know it. There is something about the mood/atmosphere/aesthetic, which in film is created by lighting, sound, pacing, score. You can look at a movie and know it’s a horror movie based on this. Also, the plot centers on a macabre subject matter - natural or supernatural - which is a threat...
It really comes down to what Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said about porn, it holds the same for horror: "I know it when I see it."
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