Supernatural horror film

Derry wrote, "Into the supernatural group one could fit all the monsters and horrors that are somehow involved with religions and ritual," highlighting witchcraft, Egyptology and reincarnation, and zombies.

[9] Sue Matheson wrote of Rosemary's Baby, "[It] popularized depictions of witchcraft, demonic activity, and the Devil on screen and generated a wave of supernatural horror movies.

Literature was used as source material like with the earliest films, with the written works of Stephen King being adapted into Carrie (1976) and The Shining (1980).

The genre also incorporated real historical events, as seen in The Devil's Backbone (2001), Los Silencios (2018), and La Llorona (2019), which draw on the Spanish Civil War, Colombian armed conflict, and Guatemalan genocide, respectively.

Films like Host (2020) reflected contemporary fears, with The Others (2001) and Insidious (2010) revisiting haunted house narratives, and The Conjuring (2013) grounding its story in real-life paranormal investigations.

The films employed various techniques, such as jump-scares, tension-building, and emotive performances, to examine deep-rooted fears and societal issues.

[17] Joe Tompkins wrote that following the 1950s, many "Gothic and supernatural horror movies utilize dissonance, atonality, and unusual configurations of instruments to signify all sorts of anomalous, paranormal activity".

He wrote that Black Sunday (1960) and The Haunting (1963) "make use of atonal clusters, which operate in sharp contrast to tonal music and thus provide antagonistic symbols for supernatural evil and good (respectively)".

He also highlighted that The Amityville Horror (1979) and Poltergeist (1982) "employ various thematic materials ranging from soft-sounding lullabies to atonal outbursts".