Common Elements In Horror Film

Turning on the T.V. today it is common to see movie previews and promotions, and often it appears that these movies are utilizing the same theme repeatedly. While this might be true, each movie uses these common elements to accomplish different things. Horror movies often utilize tropes, which is a common theme found throughout numerous horror movies. Certain tropes are used more often than others, and a common one used is the vengeful spirit. This trope is used in a multitude of different ways; to terrorize a young family, to teach a teen a lesson, or just for plain entertainment. Often viewers dismiss the use of theme as a or an attempt to use tropes to generate content in a lazy way of making money, though sometimes this trope is being used

The film follows a family who is haunted by the spirits of a mother and son who were murdered by their husband/father in a jealous rage. The father committed the heinous crime after erroneously concluding his wife was cheating on him with her professor. He then went on to kill his son and family pet, whom both of which witnessed the murder. The tortured spirits then went on to seek revenge on an unwitting family and anyone else who interacts with the cursed house (The Grudge). The Grudge perfectly displays the common vengeful spirit theme, which is clearly evident in the name of the film. In the movie, a curse in born out of the death someone that died due to extreme rage or sorrow. This curse manifests in the area where said person died, then any person who comes into contact with the curse dies and then the curse is passed to the next person. This chain reaction can also be seen in It Follows, this endless chain of horror is a common occurrence in films that follow a vengeful spirt. While it can be assumed that the spirts in The Grudge are more connected to the house than the people, there are still some obvious reasons as to why this family was chosen to move into the house. Jennifer, the wife, is resentful and unhappy with her life and family. One could possibly relate these feelings of ill will back to the title of the movie, The Grudge, as she could hold a grudge against her husband, Matthew, for moving her to Japan. Not only does the reader see dishonesty in the relationships of the family who is tortured by the spirts, but the spirits themselves had plenty of experience with broken marriages. In fact, this is what caused their deaths to begin with as the husband killed his family due to the knowledge that his wife had fallen in love with someone else (The