FURTHER AUDIENCE RESEARCH

OF A PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR
FILM
MITCH PRICE A2 MEDIA

DISTRIBUTORS
Warner Bros. (first), Sony Pictures (third), Paramount Pictures (forth) and 20th Century Fox (fifth)
are the Top-Grossing Distributors of films from 1995 to 2015. All of the distributing corporations
above are all associated with producing film productions in the genre of horror/psychological.
Lists of admirable films associated with their distributors:
Warner Bros. The Shining (1980), The Exorcist (1973), Sweeney Todd (2007) and Unknown (2011).
Sony Pictures The Grudge (2004), Halloween (1978) and horror-style film targeted at younger viewers,
Monster House (2006).
Paramount Pictures Friday the 13th (1989), Psycho (1960) and Fatal Attraction (1987).
20th Century Fox Alien (1979), What Lies Beneath (2000) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).

GENDER
Theorist Steve Neale (1980) claims that gender are instances of repetition and difference. His theory
also applies to the horror-genre of ideology which audiences expect to see included in a horror film
production. Repetitive techniques used in the horror-genre could be suspense, violence and gore and
portraying some female characters as weak below the male antagonist killer character. This repetition of
portraying some female characters in a negative way has caused complications of the horror-film
industry appearing sexist and showing women as weak, sexualised and male-reliant.
As some female characters in horror-films are portrayed to be sexualised, this typically attracts male
audiences to watch the film.
Male audiences are stereotypically associated with watching films with suspense, adrenaline (also
watching action films), whereas some female audiences prefer genres such as Romance-comedies etc.

AGE

The typical age of a viewer is aged between 18-25. This is due to many factors which may be:
Horror film viewers expecting to see repetition themes such as violence and gore, making the age
certification higher limiting younger viewers to watch the production.
Frightening themes appearing in films may not be suitable for young viewers such as children or older
viewers such as aged 60+.

SEXUALITY
Theorist Steve Neale (1980) also talks about the repetition of some female characters in horror films to
be portrayed as being sexualised making them weaker characters. Because they are in touch with their
sexuality, this somehow makes them ideal to be killed-off during the discourse of the plot. This makes
the female characters in the film who are shown to have sex to look like sluts, whereas the male
characters who are shown to have sex are not sluts nor are usually viciously attacked by the
antagonist.
American horror films, such as the Scream sequel, only show stereotypical heterosexual interaction
between attractive young men and women. Gay or lesbian people are not given significant roles, but
are either the disturbed antagonist or a weak character who is killed off.

Misogyny in horror films is the degrading

representation of women who fight to survive in a
male hierarchical world within the horror genre.
source from Wikipedia.org

ETHNICITY
Ethnicity is not widely explored in the horror and psychological genres of film productions.
From my research on IMDB and GOOGLE, I discovered issues in ethnicity being shown in a wide and
diverse way in the horror-film industry.
In one the psychological-horror film which I have studied, Psycho (1960) only white American characters
feature in the casting of the film, such as the main characters, sheriff, highway patrol officer, protagonists
family and Norman Bates all being of a white ethnicity.
A more recent production which I have studied, Silence of the Lambs (1991), the same racial-hierarchy is
still shown as an issue. All of the characters with high power in the plot, such as Clarice, Hannibal, FBI and
SWAT Instructors and doctors, are also of a white race. Differing racial groups are explored to a minimal
extent, showing black characters as a TV Anchor-man, a police officer and a SWAT shooter. By all of the
main and most important characters being of a white ethnicity, people of a white skin colour are shown as
more intelligent and important during the discourse of the film.