Research: Conventions in horror films

Conventions is the way you expect something to be. Many of the same media follow the same protocol, making them very predictable.

One of the conventions in horror films is the idea that if the victim is running away from the villain then the victim will trip over. This will then give the villain time to catch up with the victim and therefore kill them/take them, if he doesn't catch up with the victim there and then, the gap between the victim and villain will shorten making the chances of the villain catching up with the victim highly likely. This method is used commonly, as usually the audience has become to like the victim and therefore doesn't want the villain to kill the victim. When they are running it makes the audience feel like the victim doesn't have a chance of surviving, therefore making the audience feel on edge. 

Another convention of a horror film is the idea that one person out of the group of victims goes to investigate a strange noise which has occurred and they have all heard. The person who goes to investigate is most probably a member of the group who hasn't got a main part except for this scene and isn't very liked by the audience members or very known. They are also expected to go by themselves as the chances that they're about to be murdered is most probable. This makes the threat very real to the other members of the group and to the members of the audience. It also shows what may happen to the other members of the group as murderers usually use the same/similar method for all of their victims. It is usually the introduction to the murderer and their methods and this gets the story going.

Additionally, a secluded location is a also a convention of horror films, this tells the audience that there is no help nearby and therefore implying that theres even more danger than they already perceived. This is used in a lot of horror movies as it builds up a tense atmosphere as you know no one is surrounding them except the villain. It also allows the directors to create jump scares by using wild animals, a phone ringing or a tree banging on something to create noise. The audience have a prominent feeling there is danger even though it has been established there is no one anywhere around them.