Now I have chosen my genre, I have done some research in to the conventions of horror movies. Here is a small extract from wikipedia which I have read and highlighted explaining the horror genre:
Horror films are unsettling movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, disgust and horror from viewers. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres. Horrors also frequently overlap with the thriller genre.
Horror films deal with the viewer's nightmares, hidden worst fears, revulsions and terror of the unknown. Although a good deal of it is about the supernatural, if some films contain a plot about morbidity, serial killers, a disease/virus outbreak and surrealism, they may be termed "horror."
Plots written within the horror genre often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event, or personage, commonly of supernatural origin, into the everyday world. Themes or elements often prevalent in typical horror films include ghosts, torture, gore, werewolves, ancient curses, satanism, demons, vicious animals, vampires, cannibals, haunted houses, zombies and masked serial killers. Conversely, stories of the supernatural are not necessarily always a horror movie as well.
What is considered to be a horror film has varied from decade to decade. Films that were once called horror, would now be categorised as thrillers (The Silence of the Lambs, Jaws, Psycho and Se7en). These days, the term "horror" is applied to films which display more explicit gore, jump scenes/scares or supernatural content (Wes Craven's New Nightmare, A Tale of Two Sisters, Saw films, The Strangers, The Ring, Session 9).
Early horror movies are largely based on classic literature of the gothic/horror genre, such as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Phantom of the Opera, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. More recent horror films continue to exploit the monsters of literature.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film
I also found these presentations to be useful and helped me to establish the key aspects of my chosen genre:
http://www.slideshare.net/lclarkhfc/an-introduction-to-horror-films
www.teachnet-uk.org.uk/2006%20projects/med-horror_films/studying%20horror%20films.ppt
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