Horror Genres and Sub-Genres

Horror Genres and Sub-Genres

(see the original article on my website)

Wherever you look in the web, there is no clear horror genres classification. After working for a couple of years on my website, I decided to try to compile something that looks like a detailed classification of horror genres and sub-genres, in the hope to bring something interesting to the field, or at least food for discussion.
I articulated my classification around 4 main horror genres:  Killers; Monsters; Paranormal and Psychological horror, to which I added 2 sub-genres that are so popular that they can be considered as proper genres: Zombies, and Gore/Splatter. All this makes 6 main horror genres and lots of subgenres…
Below the chart I provide a few examples for each sub-genres.

 

Slasher/Killer

Probably the most famous of the horror style. This genre describes films that feature one or many killer(s), natural or supernatural, usually psychopath(s), which for some reasons decimates people. The genre usually mixes thriller, crime and psychological horror genre.

Classic Slasher:

• Halloween (1978)
• Friday the 13^th (1980)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
• Scream (1996)

Crime & Giallo

• The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963)
• The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)
• Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972)
• Deep Red (1975)

Bumpkin & RedNeck

• Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
• Hills Have Eyes (1977)
• Wrong Turn (2003)
• Wolf Creek (2005)

Home invasion & Survival

• Them (2006)
• Inside (2007)
• The Strangers (2008)
• You're Next (2013)

Monsters/Creatures

Existing from the early 1910’s with the first versions of Frankenstein or King Kong, the monster genre is “the” classic of horror. It is also the more diverse and widespread horror genre, so let’s look directly at its large sub-genres compilation.

Classic Monsters/Mythological Monsters:

• Frankenstein (1931)
• The Mummy (1932)
• Leprechaun (1993)
• Troll Hunter (2010)

Neo-Monsters

• Pumpkinhead (1988)
• Tremors (1990)
• Feast (2005)
• The Host (2006)

Small Creatures

• Gremlins (1984)
• Ghoulies (1985)
• Critters (1986)
• Trolls (1986)

Sci-fi monsters & Aliens

• Them! (1954)
• Alien (1979)
• The Thing (1982)
• The Fly (1986)

Giant Monster genre

• King Kong (1933)
• Godzilla (1954)
• Attack of the 50 feet woman (1958)
• Cloverfield (2008)

Nature & Animal genre:

• The Birds (1963)
• Jaws (1975)
• Piranha (1978)
• Cujo (1983)

Werewolf

• The WolfMan (1941)
• The Howling (1981)
• An American Werewolf (1981)
• Dog Soldiers (2002)

Vampire

• Nosferatu (1922)
• Dracula (1931)
• Fright Night (1985)
• 30 Days of Night (2007)

Zombie & Virus 

Zombie’s films could be part of the monster genre, but the sub-genre has been so exploited that it probably deserves its own horror genre. Technically zombies are undead human that wakes up from their grave for whatever reason: nuclear, apocalypse, witchcraft, etc. But recently, new movies that features zombie-like virus and infection have started to come out. Whether these films are zombie’s film is quite a topic of discussion, so while people decide, I have decided to put them in a separate sub-genre.

Zombie

• Night of the Living Dead (1968)
• Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974)
• Dawn of the Dead (1978)
• Zombie (1979)

Virus

• Shivers (1975)
• Resident Evil (2002)
• 28 Weeks Later (2007)
• Pontypool (2008)

Paranormal

The paranormal and the fear of the unknown is also a great classic of the horror genre. Gathering everything from ghost to demons and even witches, it is usually the part of horror cinema that gets the scariest.

Ghost & Spirits

• Poltergeist (1982)
• The Frighteners (1996)
• Ju-On (2002)
• Mama (2013)

 Haunted House

• House on Haunted Hill (1959)
• The Haunting (1963)
• The Amitville Horror (1979)
• 1408 (2007)

Possession

• The Exorcist (1973)
• The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
• The Rite (2011)
• Possession (2012)

Devil & Demon & Hell

• The Beyond (1981)
• Demons (1985)
• Prince of Darkness (1987)
• Devil (2010)

 

Witches & Occult

• Black Sunday (1960)
• Suspiria (1977)
• The Blair Witch Project (1999)
• Lord of Salem (2012)

Supernatural Power

• Carrie (1976)
• Scanners (1981)
• Firestarter (1984)
• Dark Touch (2014)

Psychological Horror & Thriller

Psychological Horror & Thriller is the part of horror that is usually the most subtle since it does not rely on paranormal or multitude of kills to bring the scare. It usually features the work of humans, either that have become crazy or that are stranded in exceptional situations. Often linked with the thriller genre, these films build most of their horror around psychological tension.

Madness & Paranoia

• Psycho (1960)
• May (2002)
• A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
• The Ward (2010)

Fanatism

• The Wicker Man (1973)
• Frailty (2001)
• Red State (2011)
• The Sacrament (2014)

Phobia & Isolation

• Frozen (2010)
• 247°F (2011)
• The Descent (2005)
• Buried (2010)

Splatter & Exploitation & Gore

This genre is linked to pretty much all the genre mentioned above and vice-versa, most horror genre features some amount of gore in it. The special horror genre described here, however, is designed for films that especially emphasize on showing the horrible, the bloody and the gross.

Splatter

• Blood Feast (1963)
• The Last House on the Left (1972)
• I Spit on Your Grave (1978)
• Battle Royale (2000)

 

Torture

• Guinea Pig I & II (1985)
• Saw (2004)
• Hostel (2005)
• Martyrs (2008)  

Extreme

• Salo (1976)
• Nekromantik (1987)
• Dead Girl (2008)
• A Serbian Film (2010)

 

Cannibal

• Man From Deep River (1972)
• Last Cannibal World (1977)
• Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
• Cannibal Ferox (1981)