“There’s Something Wrong with This Place”: Spatial Tension in British Horror Cinema

All narratives occur within spaces and places, and yet space remains a marginalised aspect of narrative analysis. Through the use of vague statements concerning space, the concept is reduced to being merely the site of narrative events. And yet more than any other cinematic form, the horror genre utilises space to generate its affects. The genre generates fear and horror through the representation of various tensions, and these include spatial tensions. Space is often an antagonistic device, exerting an influence upon both narrative and characterisation inasmuch as tension is generated through the effect that space has upon the individual. Spaces can code a film as belonging to the genre through their associations with particular emotions; the old dark house; the graveyard. Other tensions are elicited where individuals or groups compete to express meaning onto space. Particular cultural practices are intertwined with spaces in ways that imbue those spaces with a sense of foreboding and danger. Spaces can be used to reflect the psychological state of narrative actors, through aesthetics that are angular and disturbing. Whilst spatial theory is a well-established component of both human geography and philosophy, it is yet to be applied to horror studies through a sustained analysis. This thesis addresses that lack, and is concerned not only with events that occur within particular spaces, but why they occur within those spaces. Through doing so, my intention is to imbue films from within the horror genre with an additional layer of analytical interest