Target Audience - Similar Product Reviews

During my target audience research, I was able to view the success of certain horror films that I have analysed.

The Amityville Horror

This film was rated quite poorly by Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb and the Rolling Stone. Most critics commented that the film didn't do so well due to having a male lead, but also the lack of realism for someone to live in a house while knowing it's horrid history. These things aren't everyday occurrences. From this, we decided to have a female lead role as this is typical in a paranormal horror. We've also added to the realism of our main brief by setting it in an area where people commence a daily activity; an elevator.

The Exorcist

'The Exorcist' had a very high rating. The audience favoured the conjuring of spirits within ordinary people, as this was quite fairly new concept that the media was trying to produce at the time of the film's release. It forced the audience to 'confront the reality of human suffering'. This inspired us to look into paranormal activity within history and finalise our choice of subgenre.

Insidious

This film was rated quite highly also. Similar to 'The Exorcist', 'Insidious' was favoured for its normality and its unexpected lead roles. There was a specific expectation that the audience had before watching the film - they could easily determine the basic plot outline of the film as most paranormal horrors are structured in a certain way. Althought there was this expectation, the film still managed to frighten people as they felt terrified learning that an evil spirit can infiltrate a bond as strong as a family's. We have tried to replicate aspects of Insidious in our main brief by having a concealed spirit terrorising an ordinary young male.

SAW III

'Saw III' was fairly successful, however our target audience commented that the film was just too gory for their liking. A critic shared that most of this gore was used to make up for the weakness in the narrative. Because of this we have completely abandoned the making of a gory horror as the mainstream audience are typically focused on paranormal events, in current times.

Scream

Along with the previous products mentioned, 'Scream' was also favourable. Critics spoke about how the film focuses on the knowledge of other films and contains many intertextual references. Our group thought this to be a clever idea and decided to make a reference to the film 'Devil' by setting our main brief in an elevator.