Focused Analysis, Characters

the conventional horror films of the twenty first century include either a female protagonist who is originally naive, vulnerable, attractive and usually young. this is a guideline and does not apply for all horror films, the female will usually be a terrified young girl who has or is undergoing a tragedy, however as the film progresses the protagonist will normally become a brave strong willed character possibly forgetting original morals (such as never killing). However even though the minority of horror films have a male protagonist, it happens and if this is the case, you will find that the male is usually originally: again possibly naive, willing to take charge and lead friends or survivors (depending on plot), a lot of films will involve the male character unveiling a guilty secret or an obvious love and will usually end with the happy ending of "the guy gets the girl".

If the film is however supernatural, then despite the sex of the protagonist, nobody will believe them, this creates the aspect of isolation, and builds tension.
a few examples would be:

Nightmare On Elm St. - the protagonist is a happy, content, young girl who doesn't believe in the supernatural horrors of Freddy Kruger until she witnesses herself first hand when she sees him in her dreams, since this is a supernatural horror, nobody believes her and she eventually stops trying to convince people and tries to stop him by herself, showing bravery and giving her a change of attitude.

30 Days Of Night - A more rare film in which the male is a protagonist, throughout the film, the protagonist leads a group of townspeople to safety from a large group of vampires, he is skeptical at first but is brave, because he is a well respected person in the town, the protagonist sacrifices himself to save the survivors and in the end gets the girl but unlike most films, dies a noble death at the end.

The villain however will always remain ominous and mysterious, very rarely showing his face, this leaves the horror to the audiences imagination, usually seen at night as this shows the villain in their element, being able to hide in the shadows therefore making the audience tense as they could strike at any moment. most villains are disguised when seen usually as a normal member of society, which strikes fear as it shows verisimilitude that it could be anywhere, either this or they will wear a mask which is so iconic that the thought is widely understood such as a skull

There is always however an exception, the villain will still only show itself in darkness, however they will be much more willing to show their identity if they are supernatural.

examples would be:

Freddy Kruger - a classic icon in the horror genre, he shows his face as he is supernatural and is scarred, he has no need to hide his identity due to the fact that he is believed to be invincible, he is only seen in dark or night scenes when the victim is asleep.

Ghostface (scream) - another classic icon, identity hidden behind a mask, black robes, only strikes isolated individuals, making being alone so much more frightful, commonly known only by the mask, this shows that the character was successful because the idea has not been forgotten

Saw I - The killer never shows his face but instead uses a puppet which he controls which is now seen as an individual killer as opposed to the person controlling him, this allows the audience to imagine who the killer is and what he looks like as we know almost nothing about him apart from his supposed motive to be helping people