Phsycological Horror conventions

Having chose  phscological horror as our sub Genre i decided to look into this horror in more depth so we know exactly what it consists of.

This type of horror relies on audience as a main contributing factor, as it is all about their minds that create the scariest part. Phsycological horror has been votes one of the scariest genre's of horror.

Conventions of this sub genre:
No physical weapons
Flashbacks
Normal characters and killers
Based on true stories or factual events.
Big houses, Woodland Locations, warehouses, schools and hospitals.  
The use of children as killers is also common
Female targets
contrapuntal sound

In  physiological horror, we normally see the main target being women. We see this in the conjuring and poltergeist as we see young, female children either possessed or as the killers.

we also hear quite a lot of diegetic sound and whispers, the sound is typically contrapuntal, meaning it doesn't match the action on screen.
We also see throughout theses movies, it exposes the evil that hides through normality, unlike in a slasher film e.g Saw - we have a clear killer ( jigsaw), whereas in  physiological horror, it is normally a story which we see unfold and the evil take over a characters body - which then condemns them to move forward.

Again in this genre, we rely on the characters emotional instability to build tension for us as an audience.

an Example would be the opening scene in Jaws:

we don't see our source of danger, we hear screaming, chaotic movements, we hear dissonant tones and sharp notes. This shows us our source of danger, but our minds are left to wander and create the things that happen. Simply because we can't see it until later on in the film. But the main hook of this genre is the fear of the unknown and thats why audiences love being scared.

Linking back to how this genre is aimed at woman, slashers are more aimed at men as it involves physical weapons, blood, creepy killers. All which they can relate too, as men are stereotypically into guns, and action in films.
However in Physiological horror, it's aimed at woman, because of the children, maternal insticts are there and woman are drawn to children as they feel the need to protect them. Again they are normally based on true stories, women tend to over think and let their minds wander, as they are typically more vulnerable to seeing events that could actually take place in real life.