2. Horror Films and Emotional
Response
• Learning Objectives:
– To introduce the concept of spectatorship
– To begin to consider macro aspects (narrative
and genre) in relation to horror films
4. What is Spectacle?
• Why do you tend to go to the cinema?
• Think of 1 or 2 films you have recently
seen:
– Did they live up to your expectations?
– How and why (not)?
5. I Know What You Did Last
Summer
• Sub genre not clear from opening (horror genre is)
• Music – dark/complex
• Blond pretty “perfect” girl
• Jock
• Hidden id of victim (killer?)
• Tattoo – a clue later in film to his id
• Killer coming back to life – is he human?
• Far-fetched but has to be believable
• Middle class wealthy kids
• Rejected outcast kid – he has a motive
• What would you do in the same situation? Morally ambiguous situation. Whose side
is the spectator on?
• Low key lighting
• Isolated, small town, beach, school prom – tragedy juxtaposed with a supposedly
joyous moment
• We can be scared of something we are expecting but we all reacted differently to the
film
6. 28 Days Later
• Zombie, dystopian sci-fi, horror
• Only towards the end of the clip that the genre is clear
• Isolation (common theme in horror films) – of main
character, of setting, of music (moments of silence)
• See from his perspective
• Music building to crescendo
• Sense of imminent danger/threat
• Lighting – contrast of low and high key, use of red
7. Brainstorm
• Why do you watch horror movies?
– E.g. For a “masochistic” pleasure, like a rollercoaster
ride or eating a vindaloo curry!
– Any other reasons?
– A sense of escape/fantasy
– Because they are often simple in narrative and
characterisation
– Because they are often formulaic and we as audiences
don’t always want to be challenged
– Because they remind us of our childhood in a
psychoanalytical way!
8. “The horror film has consistently been one
of the most popular and, at the same time,
the most disreputable of genres”
“The chief route to cultural legitimation [of
horror films]…has been through popular
anthropological or Freudian reference,
which assumes inside us a constant, ever-
present yearning for the fantastic, for the
darkly mysterious, for the choked terror of
the dark”
9. Horror sub-genres
• Brainstorm horror sub-genres and films
you would associate with them:
– Slasher/stalker
– Zombie
– Psychological thriller
– Demonic possession/supernatural
– Monster
10. Psycho
• Directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1960
• What does the title bring to mind?
• What emotions does it create in you?
• Do you expect the film to be “old
fashioned”?
11. Psycho
• What the following extract and answer these
questions:
1. What is your emotional reaction to it?
a) Were you shocked by the scene or not?
2. What horror sub-genre do you think it falls into?
3. How does it compare to modern-day horror that you
have seen?
13. The Shower Scene
• There were 78 separate camera set-ups needed
for this 45 second scene and it took 7 days to
film!
• There were censorship reasons which made the
quick-fire cutting of the scene necessary, but
Hitchcock’s main concern was to disturb the
audience and to suggest terrible violence and
bloodshed without actually showing very much.
14. Narrative expectations in Horror
• Read the Horror Movie Survival Guide
• Are any of the situations described familiar
(even if you cannot associate them with a
film or other type of story)?
• “Predictable pleasures”
• Expectations have changed over the years
24. Homework
• Read “The Monster with a Thousand
Faces” and “Feminist Horror Film Theory”
• Watch a horror film and consider its
representation of males and females in
relation to this article – take notes (approx.
200-300 words) so you can discuss them
in class
25. Freud and Psychoanalysis
• Freud is best known for his theories of the
unconscious mind and the defense
mechanism of repression and for creating
the clinical practice of psychoanalysis for
treating psychopathology
