Audience research in horror

In a movie that is classified as a 15 there is no theme prohibited so horror movies can be made for 15 year olds as long as the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

15 classified films can involve the following:Strong violence, Strong language for example frequent use of the word f**k, portrayals of sexual activity, strong verbal references to sex, sexual nudity, brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence, discriminatory language and behaviour towards race and sexuality and drug taking is also allowed in a 15 classified movie.

In many horror films are rated at 15 there can strong threat and menace (s long as it is not sadistic or sexualized), although the strongest gory images are likely to be unacceptable.

At age rating fifteen drug taking may be shown, but not to encourage the misuse of drugs and the misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances. Such as the misuse of aerosols or solvents, is unlikely to be acceptable at 15.

Dangerous behavior that is self inflicted should not be dwelled upon so that teenagers are not influenced to mimic the same behavior for example self harm and suicide should not be dwelled upon.

In a film that is age rated 18 there is no theme prohibited just like movies age rated 15 although adults are allowed to pick their own entertainment within the law so it is possible some themes may be offensive to even adult viewers.

18 works are for adults and may contain strong issues such as:Very strong violence, frequent strong language for example f**k and/or very strong language for example c**t, strong portrayals of sexual activity, scenes of sexual violence, strong horror, strong blood and gore, real sex (in some circumstances) and discriminatory language and behavior towards race and sexuality.

There is no limit on the number of uses of strong language or very strong language which can be passed at 18. Uses can be aggressive, directed, and frequent or accompanied by strong violence. There may also be homophobic or racist or other discriminatory language used in an 18 film the work could also explore themes related to this.

At 18 strong violence is allowed and can be portrayed in a lot of detail. There may even be dwelling on the infliction of pain or injury. Or scenes of strong sadistic or sexual violence. The strongest gory images are also permitted in this category.

Self harm is still a consideration at this age rating as well as very dangerous or criminal behavior such as behavior that would pose credible harm or risk to the viewers may be cut as to make sure it does not influence the audience.

The Skeleton Key (2005)This film that is age rated at 15 earned a worldwide gross of $91,974,818. (£58,211,874.04). It raised $16,057,955 (£10,163,256.36) in its first weekend. It also reached number 2 at the box office and took a total domestic gross of $47,907,715 (£30,321,319.81)

The Eye (2008)This is another film age rated at 15. The Eye opened in second place at the U.S box office with $12.4million (£7,848,096.40). On august the 10th, 2011 the film had a domestic gross of $31,418,697 (£19,885,238.94) with a foreign gross of $25,545,945 (£16,168,309.60) which totaled an international gross of $56,964,642 (£36,053,548.53) in the united kingdom, it grossed $1,398,958 (£885,415.91) in its opening weekend at number 2.

A nightmare on Elm Street (2010)This movie is age rated as an 18 and on its midnight opening took the record for most money earned on a midnight opening which was previously owned by the Friday the 13th remake in (2009) that grossed $1 million (£632,911) whereas a nightmare on Elm Street finished its midnight opening with a total of $32,902,299 (£20,824,226.96). As of July 6th 2010, A nightmare on Elm Street had earned $63,071,122 (£39,918,406.90) in domestic box office making it the second highest grossing film among the recent slasher remakes although it was behind Friday The 13th which earned $65million (£4,113,921.50) the movie A Nightmare On Elm Street since its opening has earned approximately $52,332,285 (£33,121,678.83) in the overseas box office, leaving it with a worldwide total of $115,407,296 (£73,042,547.12). Seven(1995)This is another 18 rated movie on its opening on September 22nd 1995 it was released in 2,411 theatres where it grossed $13.9 million (£879,746.29) and it then went on to gross $100.1million (£633,543.91), in north America and earned $227.1million (£143,734,088.10) in the rest of the world making seven the seventh highest grossing film in 1995.

Judging from these values both ratings appear to have large audiences that are willing to pay to see these movies overall it seems that movies with a rating of 18 appear to earn the most money this could be because the older generations may feel that films that are rated 15 are to childish and might have a lot of stuff missed from the movie such as extreme gore etc. this could result in them watching more movies that are rated 18 because gore isn’t censored in those films.