2. 5 RULES TO A PERFECT
SCARY MOVIE
1. Make them jump: catch the audience
unprepared
2. Curiosity kills
3. Scary music: Psychopaths
4. Sex=death
5. Monster never dies
3. MONSTERS
• Monsters of the night
Always play with people
mind. Especially religion
and from the underworld.
• “our fear changes from generation to generation so do
our monsters”
• Monsters almost human but with animal like features.
• Monsters can be good or bad looking.
• Ideal monsters to be attracted between 1935-1950‟s.
4. DRACULA AND ZOMBIE
• The first set of monsters appear on the big screen. (Dracula and
zombies)
• 1922, German film: Nosferatu became the template of modern
scary movie also its linked with the Vampire (Dracula).
• The mixture of human and animal makes it pure scary.
• By isolating the victim from everyone else make things very
easy for the vampire.
• The image of a human mix with animal allow people think of
diseases spreading among Europe. 400,000 German men die
from flu during 1920‟s allow people think the vampire is real.
• The talkie brought sound to films which makes horror films
more scarier than before.
5. • In 1931 the new Dracula created by Universals studio challenged
and terrified the Christianity morality of the Americans by his
sexual appearance and sex. Therefore sex=death is forever
linked with the Dracula.
• After the success of „Dracula‟ Universal studio created more
monsters such as „Werewolves ‟&„The Mummy‟.
• 1960‟s the civil right action of America terrified people because
they didn‟t know what‟s going to happen.
• „Night of the living dead‟ allow the audience to learn just as the
actors learn. As they are trapped in the little house with the TV.
• The zombie films challenge the fear of love when the zombie
child eats her own father and butchers her mother.
6. • „The evil dead‟ created a bucket load in the early 1990‟s. The
film was too much for audiences to handle so it was banned
world wide.
• The evil dead follow the normal living dead monster but they
are more scarier than the normal zombies as the teens die in
different ways and actor being raped by a tree.
• The video nasty – the evil dead.
• The british was offended by the video game so they
introduced a VRA (1984): Video Recording Act
• More controversy as well as bad publicity allowed the
audience to want to watch more of it.
7. HAMMER STUDIO
• Hammer studio, the British film studio had colours in their horror
film, where universals didn‟t.
• In 1971, Hammer studio used colour (red=blood) in the film
„Blood from the Mummy‟s tomb‟.
• Hammer studio used the „Vampire‟ to create more different types
of horror films. Eg: “ Vampire Lovers”
• You can never have too much blood in a film.
8.
9. MAD SCIENTISTS
•
The sci-fi films opened a new galaxy of monsters.
•
People is now afraid of technology, future and science.
•
Mad scientists created monsters from jars.
•
Frankenstein (1931) starts the mad scientist and the march of fear
towards science.
•
This is fighting against god‟s creation and the Dr. Frankenstein
forgets about humanity and belives he is in the role of god. This
became very disturbing for the religious audiences.
•
1970‟s was sexual liberation,
•
people were disgusted by sex and diseases. (The shiver)
•
1980‟s the understanding of DNA, Gens and clons. (The Fly)
•
Fear of your own body turning against you.
10. • Diseases were real fear of people in life and to see it in a large
screen is really scary.
• John Landis “ Your perception of a movie is all to do with who
you are and where you see it and how you see it and who you
see it with.”
• The contrast between a very sad moment just oppose against
resolution and normality. Only to shock the audience with a
3rd scene. ( catching audience off guard).
11.
12. CHILDREN/OCCULT/SATAN
• Something that is evil and its against Christianity and against god.
• Witchcraft: isolated by religion, something that can be used to
anything against the norm should be killed or executed.
• The Exorcist:
• The exorcist made „Satan‟ seems so real.
• Consider its based on a true story of a boy in 1940‟s.
• The use of girls in the film because its virginity and pure.
• Linda Blair: „ its so nerving to see something so pure and change
into something so evil.‟
• The idea of if a child can do this then anyone else could.
13. • The purpose was to scary and attack audience on what we
fundamentally care, so it can shock people.
• The difference between „ The Exorcist‟ and „The Omen‟ is that
the boy in the omen is born as evil so audience show no
sympathy towards him.
• The girl in „The Exorcist‟ is being possessed and have no
choice for what she became later, therefore audience show
sympathy.
14. PSYCHO KILLERS
• People is really scary because people kills people in real life.
• Psycho killers looks just like us and they often to be
charming and they use all those elements to become the
perfect killer.
• Eg: Alfred Hitchcock
• Isolated house
• Charming boy= killer.
• The first psycho film was inspired by Ed Gein.
• The killer never dies. ( A nightmare on Elm street)
15. Teen slashers
• First teen slasher was „Halloween‟.
• There is a fear of sex.
• There is nothing scarier than what you create in your head.
Haunted House:
•
The Shinning: isolated house in the middle of nowhere.
•
One person is always possessed and kills other people.
