The document discusses film theorist Robin Wood's argument that horror films typically involve normality being threatened by a monster. The monster represents society's changing fears, while normality usually involves heterosexual couples or families protected by institutions. It then asks how the monsters in Dracula, The Descent, and Eden Lake reflect changing British fears and how the theories of "Final Girl", "Monstrous Feminine", and others can be applied to Eden Lake.

1. Eden Lake

2.  Film theorist Robin Wood argues that the basic
formula of the horror film is:
 “normality is threatened by the monster.”
 normality meaning conformity to the dominant
social norms
 “normality in horror films is in general boringly
consistent: the heterosexual monogamous couple,
the family, and the social institutions (police, church,
armed forces) that protect them”
 “The monster is of course much more protean,
changing from period to period as society’s basic
fears clothe themselves in fashionable or
immediately accessible garments”

3.  Dracula
 The Descent
 Eden Lake
 How have these
monsters changed to
reflect British fears?

5.  How doesThe Guardian
state this film relates to
Britain?

6.  How you can apply the theories we have
already learnt to this film?
 Final GirlTheory?
 Monstrous Feminine?
 Modern Primitive?
 Three Stage Narrative?
 Genre Reflects Society?
 Binary Oppositions?

7.  In what ways can the films you have studied
for this topic be said to be ‘British’?