Horror, Shock, Suspense. A Typology of Cinematic Fear

Julian Hanich (Berlin)

It may not be overly controversial to claim that the main aesthetic goal of most horror films and thrillers is to elicit fear. But this claim is not yet very specific: Fear at the movies is not a single monolithic emotion, but comes in various forms that can – and should – be distinguished. By drawing on a number of prototypical scenes from mainstream Western horror films and thrillers, I will identify five types of fear in my talk: direct horror, suggested horror, shock, dread and terror. My hope is that this typology provides a more nuanced classification than the one film studies previously gave us at hand. Obviously, the five types of fear that I suggest are not the only ones, but they are arguably most prevalent in mainstream Western horror films and thrillers.

What could be the upshots of this typology for a conference on ghost-movies in Southeast Asian cinema? I see two effects. First, it might help to identify those types of fear even in non-Western films and thus see a shared reliance on standard aesthetic strategies that possibly transcend national and cultural borders. Second, and maybe more importantly, identifying these prototypical types of fear may help to see in what ways Southeast Asian films bring different aesthetic strategies of eliciting fear into play. This is, of course, not to argue that Western mainstream films should be considered the norm from which Southeast Asian films ‘deviate.’ However, to first get a clear view on what is prototypical in mainstream Hollywood and European horror films and thrillers might make it easier to spot what is new and innovative in Southeast Asian cinema.