2. Why Do We Like Horror Films? By Malcolm Turvey
• Malcolm Turvey who is a director of film & media studies explains in his theory the attraction of the a dark
side of the media and the increased fear of the unknown, he explains the attraction of certain parts of the
genre such as the Laurie Strode from the series Halloween and George A Romero’s Night of the living dead,
these two films and characters are two of the most well known and influential pieces of the horror genre to
have ever been created, the question he goes on to explain is a wide spread one due to the varying nature of
which a human experiences genuine fear this of course ranges between different people that are viewing
the certain content that has been created such as George A Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead being one of
the very first on screen appearance of zombies before this point they had not made a big screen debut and
were brought to the screens of many by an incredible film that has still stood the test of time. Halloween is a
little bit different the film series itself was not a debut of a serial killer or anything close to that, the big
screen debut of Michael Myers was met by such acclaim was due to the incredible score by John Carpenter it
also introduced the much used premise of the killers in films of the horror genre being silent rather than
erratic something that when Halloween first released was different to classics such as Texas Chainsaw
Massacre and Wrong Turn, The Pure silence from Michael was that similar to a living ghost.
3. Why People Enjoy Horror – George A Romero
• “ The Beast Within” Theory is the one most often referenced when talking about the appeal of the horror
genre this can also be put down to the fear of the unknown theory as well. The beast within was a theory
generated at the very start of Sci-Fi and Horrors birth into the film industry the which as self explanatory as
the title itself the theory explains the overall fear and lust to find out what a human is truly capable of we
see this in Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the appeal of Leatherface and the Sawyers Family
the reality is that this family could never exist but the Fear Theory or “The Beast Within” Theory provide the
mind with the stimulated thought that maybe the family could exist and maybe there is someone out there
living like this, and this is the thing that either turns people away from horror or reels them into it. The Beast
within theory does not attribute for all the appeal of the genre however, the other appeal is of course the
protagonists of these stories whether fact or fiction these pieces mostly have a good guy and a bad guy. For
example the media depiction of Ted Bundy in “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile” is seen to be a
sad tale of how a man slipped into madness and did despicable things when in actuality the psychology of
Ted Bundy has been a scientific mystery for years his mental state was always questioned and never was
affirmed the media created this persona to get clicks on the series.
4. How Horror Films Can Tackle Social Issues? By Jordan Peele
• Jordan Peele the director of both Box office hits “Get Out” & “Us” provided the horror scene with
a breath of fresh air. The film tackles social issues such as racial discrimination specifically in
Peele’s Home country of the USA the in depth nature of his directing allows the film to explore
the theme of racial discrimination on a much smaller scale the encapsulation of the audience due
to the horror aspect of the films means the social issues are under a microscope as the viewers
are paying much more attention to the film in comparison to if the film was a Sci-Fi or a Comedy.
The nature of the film creating the atmosphere that it does allows for the viewers to enter into
this experience.
• The social issues in both of Peele's big screen films are ones that are tackled well in depth and has
made film reviewers rewatch both films over and over again to try and understand the thinking
that goes into the films creation. “Get Out” was a huge box office hit after Jordan Peele and
Michael Keys fame in comedy, the surprise of Peele’s success in horror was a huge shock but also
a refreshing one giving a breath of fresh air to the Horror genre.
5. Jump Scares, Lots Of Jump Scares.
• The overuse of jump scares in the horror genre is something that has been complained about
since the beginning of time, the use of the startle response has been scrutinised in a certain few
films that had nothing else about them, the recent “Leatherface” remake was a good instance of
this with the film not stimulating a psychological response just a startle response multiple times
making the viewer more uninterested than enthralled. The overuse of horror themes such as
violence & blood have also been very fairly criticised over the years films such as the Saw
Franchise have been criticised for the overuse of this for years. Films use of this have been victim
to varying levels of success films such as Wrong Turn have been a massive successor off the back
of its overuse of gags and excessively theatrical reactions to things such as blood and violence.
Films that have fallen victims of this are ones such as “Leatherface” where aside from the jump
scares the brute violence was not enough to put movie critics in their good books and the movie
was simply another remake.
6. Halloween(2018) By David Gordon Green
• Halloween (2018) was expected to be another film of a once great film franchise that fell after
multiple failures from Halloween 3 onwards due to the massively flawed films afterwards. The
2018 version of Halloween is a continuation of the Halloween 3 timeline in which none of the
strange happenings from the other timelines interferes.
• David Gordon Green was given the reins to the franchise’s essential revival with a sequel to his
2018 version already in the works. The return of Jamie Lee Curtis to the franchise after multiple
films in which she reprised her role, made a huge difference to the films marketing campaign and
success due to this fact.
• The audience response to the film was overwhelmingly positive now a far few people did voice
there distaste to yet another Halloween timeline due to the extremely inconsistent cinematic
releases previously coming under the franchises banner
7. Trick ‘r’ Treat(2007) By Michael Doherty
• Michael Doherty’s Trick ‘r’ Treat became a cult followed film within multiple years of its releases
discarded at box office as a basic horror flick that didn't’t have a lot of potential it became a
massively followed film with many fans seeking a sequel or just anything theatrical from the
studio and the same storyline but since 2007 the trick ‘r’ Treat universe has been extremely quiet
the film gathered a following similar to that of The Nightmare Before Christmas where it is a
standalone film and has had no sequels or prequels but still remains loyally followed and enjoyed
universally.
• The films basis is that of three Halloween tales that eventually collide into the film that you watch
as this town is shown to be much more than originally thought the main character a sack boy
called Sam has become an iconic horror character even though he has only appeared in this one
film. Matt Doherty and his team created this on a shoestring budget and the film repaid him more
than he could have ever imagined multiple cost cutting methods led to the film looking a little
grainier but that gave it its unique look and feel.
8. Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark By Guillermo Del Toro
• Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark was directed by legendary director Guillermo Del Toro the incredible
director of Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, Pacific Rim, Mama and The Shape Of Water the latter of which he won
two Oscars for, He was the ideal option for this films translation to the big screen the original storybooks by
the same name have got some incredible artwork in that translated incredible into the big screen due to
Guillermo and his costume designer making childhood nightmares from adults who had put the morbid
stories to the back of their mind reborn into reality. The Pale Lady in this film was a costume that Guillermo
had specifically pointed to to try and create a fear for his audience the suit and costume were impeccable
and looked even scarier than the original disturbing artwork.
• Guillermo’s take on the story was individual and true to his directing style done excellently the unfortunate
thing for this film however was that a lot of the budget which was around $26m was used up on costume
and set design which in the end didn't’t come out as well as Del Toro wanted he admitted there were certain
scenes where he felt let down by his own decisions as the film box office at around $106m the film was
ofcourse worth it in the end but Del Toro still admitted he felt grievance.
9. Get Out(2017) By Jordan Peele
• Get Out was Jordan Peele’s directing debut having previously starred in his and Michael Key’s web series
performing comedy sketches for their audience on YouTube, They also got a deal with Comedy Central and
all their sketches are available to watch on the streaming service as well as on Comedy centrals YouTube
channel. Due to the nature of where in the entertainment industry Jordan came from the film critics were
ready to slate the film with it being a full original by Peele himself horror critics were microscopically ready
to critique the film, however to a lot of critics and fans alike surprise Peele’s film was a huge success with a
budget of just $4.5m the film smashed box office coming in at around $255.4m the film firstly allowed Peele
to create his second masterpiece in ”Us” and secondly highlighted issues that Peele was not able to
communicate in his comedic sketches with close friend Michael Key the film highlighted various horror
themes such as “The Sunken Place” and that of Abduction and Kidnapping, the film also tackled various
racial issues with certain things in the filming making viewers want to rewatch and rewind the film to figure
out all the nods Peele put into his film. The only issue with Peele’s Get Out is self-admittedly Peele wanted to
keep the film as close to something in the realms of reality as possible, however this was not possible
towards the end of the film some critics knocked the film for this factor but the film is supposed to be a
piece of fantasy so many let him get away with this fact.
10. Leatherface(2017) By Alex Bustillo
• The 2017 reboot of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a failure put very simply the film stretched the realm
of reality for the franchise and made the film seem a distant memory of the original franchise which whilst
being a reboot was not the studios aim as the aim of the studio was in fact to recreate the same vibe of the
original film and a couple of its sequels but the film majorly failed to capture this effect, this was maybe due
to the inexperience on the directors team to reboot a franchise of such magnitude. With the films failure to
critics the film barely topped $950,000 upon release which is a tremendous failure, its fate was sealed when
both Lionsgate and Millennium Films were fired from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise and it looks like
for the first time in a long time there is no future for this fantastic franchise that after the overwhelming
success of Texas Chainsaw 3D looks like it could have been the final hurray for the franchise itself.
• The successes of the film were as previously mentioned few and far between however some positives were
the fresh breath of seeing the character of Leatherface not being the crazed mass murderer we see in the
other films that appear In the franchise.
11. Night Of The Living Dead By George A Romero
• This film was the birth of the zombies genre as we know it and the man who created it was the
grandad of horror in George A Romero the film was a huge success not just for its individuality but
for the factor of the on screen debut of zombies a massive contributor to how we watch horror
films now and how they are created since 1968 horror films have literally been templated on the
basis of this film, the film box officed around $20m which In 1968 was a huge amount the film
also solidified George A Romero as an icon in the world of horror which was seen by the outpour
of love he received at his untimely death in July 2017
• The film to modern audiences still holds up quite well but looks slightly ”cheesy” in the long run
of things this is how old horror films look as mentioned in my theory analysis horror is person
specific and anything can spook absolutely anyone the exposure this generation has had to horror
films has allowed us to view content such as Night Of The Living Dead as slightly ”cheesy” and not
the masterpiece it was back when it released.
12. Annabelle(2014)
• The highly acclaimed prequel to the massively successful Conjuring(2013) and the second instalment in the
conjuring franchise itself based off very loosely true events the film is based around the infamous Annabelle
doll tat belongs to Ed and Lorraine Warren who do not show u in this film however become a main stay of
the franchises future releases. The film was created on a tighter budget than the Conjuring by quite the
distance with the film costing around $6.5m to create in comparison to James Wan’s previous Conjuring
Instalment.
• In the film it is very easy to tell that this film is unsurprisingly directed by James Wan with his impeccable
ability to combine music and action in his films (a technique we see a lot more of in Annabelle: Creation) the
film was such a huge success that Wan went onto direct multiple more films in the franchise especially on
the budget that he created the piece with it was an incredible achievement for both him and the studio.
13. Bibliography
• Malcolm Turvey, 2017
• George Romero, 2009
• Jordan Peele, 2019
• ”The Beast within Theory”, 2016
• ”The Startle Theory”, 2011
