12 ICONS OF HORROR

RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS

Religion is a significant theme in sub genres of horror. Movies such as, The Exorcist, Insidious, Drag me to Hell, The Conjuring and Sinister all have symbols of religion that appear frequently in them. For example; crucifixes, churches, priests or an item of religious clothing.

LIGHT

Light in the horror genre represents hope or escape. At times it may even symbolise death. An example is sunlight, which makes people feel at ease and at peace. Sunlight is usually seen at the beginning of horror films to show the audience that the characters so far have no problems or are in any danger. Although, this analysis can be sometimes wrong. For example, if the movies antagonist decides to attack the characters in daylight. This is seen in the Night of the Living Dead, as they are attacked by a zombie at the graveyard in daylight.

Night of the Living Dead - Graveyard Scene

WEAPONS

Weapons in horror movies usually have phallic symbolism. These weapons are mainly used by men to kill women. During the movie, the female protagonist will defeat the antagonist using the phallic object. When the women outsmarts the man with the weapons, it is a representation of a man being castrated and losing his dignity and power. In A Nightmare on Elm Street, the glove of knives are is a phallic object used by Freddy Krueger to penetrate the girl.

MIRRORS

Mirrors reflect the multitude of emotions,qualities or fears of a character. Broken or shattered mirrors can represent shattered lives, or a shattered mental state.

MASKS

Masks are used to disguise evil, and/or represent the evil in mankind. Usually only the eyes move, giving the mask life and makes it even more frightening.

DOLLS

Dolls represent childhood and innocence since they are the toys of children. But they often have unnatural qualities for example, a stiff smile or an unnatural face and big unblinking eyes. This can be seen in the movie Child's Play with the doll Chucky or Jigsaw from Saw.

COLOURS

Colours usually hold connotations of good and evil in a film. Red has connotations of blood, danger or lust whilst black has connotations of death and danger. Blue would mean; faith, spirituality and peace. A common shade in horror movies, especially slasher and splatter films, is white which signifies; purity, peace and innocence.

SYMBOLS OF DEATH

 Death is represented through props and motifs. For example: graveyards, gravestones, coffins or dead animals. For example in the film Psycho taxidermy birds are a physical representation of one of the characters trying to keep the spirit of his mother alive after death.

DOORS & WINDOWS

Windows symbolise being isolated from the outside world. Doors represent being trapped, or freedom, depending on the scenario. In Night of the Living Dead zombies are able to come through doors and cracks within them. In the Women in Black, the woman is seen looking out the window at Arthur to a world she can never step foot it.

TUNNELS & CORRIDORS 

Tunnels and corridors are yonic symbols. They symbolise the vagina. They are usually used as metaphor for child birth. Similar to how female the genitalia brings life, corridors and tunnels are supposed to be  like passages to freedom and survival, but in horror movies they are usually passages to death.

KEYS & LOCKS

Keys and locks represent secrets. In the film, Skeleton Key, the nurse has a key for all rooms except one. When she does enter the one room it reveals secret and things that were once unknown to her thus leading to her death.

Skeleton Key Trailer