Psychological horror - Our choice of sub genre

Google definition: Psychologival horror is a sub genre of horror and psychological fiction that relies on mental, emotional and psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle readers, viewers, or players.

Examples of psychological horror

Also: Rosemary’s baby, Jacobs ladder, Saw, Identity, Donnie Darko


Psychological horror is sometimes seen as being scarier than other sub-genres of horror due to the fact it is based on everyday lives, meaning it is much closer to reality which makes the audience cautious because they fear it could happen to them. This is especially seen on psychological horrors which are ‘Based on true events’ which creates an illusion for the audience that there’s a possibility it could happen to them but also intrigues the audience more because it’s based on true events. Makers of true event horrors rely on the audiences mind to create a horror effect.
Psychological horrors reveal the evil behind normality - a convention of this horror is that they usually involve ordinary people who end up exerting the horror onto other characters.

Sound/music in psychological horror: Mostly use contrapuntal sound which is sound that does not match the action on the screen which is effective because the action and sound contradict.