Conventions of the Horror/Thriller genre.

      The horror genre is commonly paired with the thriller genre, the thriller genre tends to be the more psychological side of a frightening subject and horror genre tends to be the more physical gory side. Both genre's have a target audience of older teens and young adults and most films have a certificate of '15' or '18'. The thriller genre has become more popular in the last decade or so after being adapted into television series' such as 'Prime suspect' and 'Silent witness' (exploring sub genre's within the thriller genre e.g. crime thriller, action thriller and so on).
     The Horror film series 'Saw' improved the popularity of the genre hugely due to its massive success. The franchise was produced by twisted pictures and has gone down in history as being one of the most successful horror series' ever. The central plot was continued throughout the series but the circumstances and settings changed which helped keep the idea fresh. 
Looking specifically at the horror film genre we can identify these common conventions:

• A suspect/villain and victim character.
• Some kind of scary solitary location.
• A sense of vulnerability shown by the victim normally although sometimes shown from the villain.
• Lots of special effects and make-up used to emphasise frightening moments.
• A detachment from the victim's character shown so there isn't too much emotional involvement.
• A twist in the main plot towards the end to add suspense.
• There is often a main riff in the film music that appears when the villain is near to add to the tension.
• Action scenes/conflict of some kind.
• Some have a real psychological element.