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Horror Genre Research Development
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- 3. WHAT ARE HORRORFILMS? Horror films are made to make us feel uncomfortable, to make us panic and to frighten us. They make us have fears that we didn’t know we were scared of before watching the films. But aswell as scaring us they do make us entertained at the same time when watching it. They involve death and there is usually a main villain.
- 4. SLASHERPsycho-1960 Black Christmas- 1974 TexasChainsaw Massacre- 1974 Halloween-1978 I Spit On Your Grave- 1978 Friday 13th- 1980 Prom Night-1980 My Bloody Valentine-1981 Nightmare on Elm Street- 1984 Scream- 1996 I Know What You Did Last Summer- 1997
- 5. Slasher In slasherfilms, the killer stalks and kills the victims one by one. The killer- Usually male, you don’t know their identity- masked or lighting hides face, same weapon used. Victims normally young, good-looking, being punished for pre-marital sex and drugs. This sub-genre is known for having a final girl, this is a young girl with male characteristics who survives. It has a high level of graphic violence and the characters develop throughout the film, so the audience feel bad for the characters as they get to know them.
- 6. SPLATTER The Hills haveEyes-1977 Evil Dead- 1981 Braindead- 1992 House of 1000 Corpses-2003 Saw- 2004 Devils Rejects- 2005 Wolf Creek- 2005 Hostel-2005 Martyrs-2008 Antichrist-2009 Human Centipede-2010
- 7. Splatter It focuseson blood and graphic violence. They use special effects and they focus on how the human body is vulnerable. In films like Braindead, it has a lot of excessive gore that it turns into a comedy. The term, “Splatter Cinema” describes the dead film franchise- “Dawn of the Dead”, “Day of the Dead”, and “Night of the Living Dead”.
- 8. VAMPIRES/WEREWOLVES Nosferatu-1922 Dracula-1958 Salem's Lot-1979 An AmericanWerewolf in London-1981 Lost Boys-1987 Interview with a Vampire- 1994 From Dusk till Dawn-1996 Blade-1998 Dog Soldiers-2002 Let the Right One In-2008 Daybreakers-2009 Red Riding Hood-2011
- 9. Vampire/Werewolves films Thesefilms usually have young characters so that the film has a wider audience. The most famous vampire film is “Dracula”, and there are over 170 versions. This sub-genre is quite popular from 1922 with “Nosferatu” and the recent Twilight Trilogy.
- 10. PSYCHOLOGICAL/SUPERNATURAL Rosemary's Baby-1968 Exorcist-1973 The Omen-1976 TheShining-1980 Poltergeist-1982 Hell Raiser- 1987 Blair Witch Project-1999 Exorcism of Emily Rose-2005 Drag Me to Hell- 2009 Paranormal Activity- 2009 Insidious-2011 The Devil Inside-2012
- 11. Psychological/Supernatural These caninclude ghosts, demon, witches, poltergeists etc. This is one of the most popular sub-genres because it has realism in the film so the viewers think that what happens in the film could happen to them like Paranormal Activity, thinking that evil forces are in the world and the fear of the unknown. They focus on possession and dark forces.
- 12. ZOMBIE Night of theLiving Dead- 1968 The Crazies-1973 Dawn of the Dead-1978 Evil Dead-1981 Thriller-1983 Day of the Dead-1985 Braindead-1992 28 Days Later-2002 Resident Evil-2002 Shaun of the Dead- 2004 Rec- 2007 Zombieland-2009 The Walking Dead-The TV Series
- 13. Zombie Some zombiefilms can be other genres, “zombie comedy”, sci-fi, thriller, romance. They are portrayed as the representation of social, economical and cultural issues and how they affect the world today.
- 14. MONSTER Frankenstein-1931 King Kong-1938 Godzilla-1954 Jaws-1975 Piranha-1978 Alien-1979 The Thing-1982 TheFly-1986 Tremors-1990 The Faculty-1998 Jeepers Creepers-2001 Cloverfield-2008
- 15. Monster This sub-genreoriginates from Japan and it is the most famous for the films, “Godzilla” and “King Kong”.
- 16. J-HORRORThe Ring-1998 Audition-1999 Battle Royale-2000 Ichithe Killer- 2001 The Eye- 2002 The Grudge- 2002 Dark Water-2002 One Missed Call- 2003
- 17. J-Horror J-Horror filmsare Japanese Horror. They focus on psychological horror and anticipation involving ghosts, poltergeists, possession and exorcism. A convention that J-Horror uses is Yurel. The Yurel are Japanese ghosts that are in the world with emotions that don’t allow them to pass on. The Yurel are females that wear white clothing with long black hair which is the tradition of Japanese women growing their hair and they put their hair up. They only let their hair down in death.
- 18. THRILLER Carrie- 1976 The Shining-1980 Misery- 1990 Silence of the Lambs- 1991 Seven-1995 Funny Games-1997 The Sixth Sense-1999 The Village-2004 Mirrors-2008 The Strangers-2008 Buried- 2010
- 19. Thriller A Thrillercan be mixed with other categories, these are action thriller, romantic thriller, psychological thrillers, sci-fi thrillers etc. A thriller film has anticipation and suspense. The protagonist usually has a problem, an escape, a mission or a mystery. In the film Buried, he is in a coffin underground and his mission is to try and escape. Most thrillers have a plot that has life and death issues and they can involve murder mysteries. A common characteristic is the “who dunnit” or the “will they catch him before he kills more people?”. For example, in the silence of the lambs you don’t know who did it before the very end. But in some thriller films like Jaws you know who is killing the people.
- 20. Iconic Horror Characters Ghostface Scream-Slasher Dracula Vampire Annabelle Psychological/Supern atural Zombie Evil Dead
- 21. Iconic Horror Characters Billythe Puppet Saw- Splatter Frankenstein Monster The Ring J-Horror Johnny The shining Thriller
- 22. Semiotics Phallic Power: Knives- penetration-loss of innocence Fangs represent sexuality- love bites Flesh represents life for zombies to stay alive Body Transformation Puberty- Carrie Childbirth Turning into a werewolf/vampire Yonic: Corridors/Birth/Alien Between death and life Youth &Virginity (Death of Innocence) Teenagers usually killed because they have had sex or taken drugs
- 23. Theory Representation ofthe Final Girl The Final Girl is usually young and they are the survivor. They are usually in the Slasher films. The Final Girl is in the films, Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street. The Final Girl is typically a virgin, doesn’t have drugs, sometimes has a unisex name(Billie, Sidney) and has history with the killer. She has the characteristics of a male with what she wears and how she confronts the killer with a weapon. Feminism: Male Gaze (Mulvey) In horror films, the victims are usually female. They are represented as being vulnerable. The males are represented as being dominant and powerful so they are usually the killer. It is sexual objectification- the males like to watch the females being controlled in the film. In a lot of horror films, especially slashers, they have male directors. So males haven’t been portrayed like the women always do in a sexual way and the males are not controlled by women. But recently, in some films, males have been represented as sexual objects and this is the “Female Gaze”. Sidney in Scream Has a close relationship with the killer.
- 24. Theory Genre Development (Neale) Thereare 4 stages: Experimental (Psycho) - A Blonde sexualised Woman - Phallic weapon-knives - Killer hidden by lighting Classical (Halloween) - Teenager masked - Using hands as a weapon - Person got shot but comes back to life supernatural - Final girl Revisionist (Scream) - Two killers - you question whether the final girl can have sex Parodic (Scary Movie) - Audience need knowledge of conventions of other horror films - intertextual references
- 25. Theory Representation: Zombies,materialism & violence (Kim Paffenroth) Gospel of the Living Dead, American Society shocked with violence and materialism. Zombies represent being lost and losing identity and individuality. They could represent the plague, or a disease. Zombies could mean the symptom of decay of the behaviour of our society. They act without thinking so this could represent how we do things unthinkingly. In horror films, a zombie bites someone, they die and come back as a zombie. So it could mean that when the zombies eat flesh they want to feel human, they want to feel alive.
- 26. Theory Narrative: BinaryOpposition (Levi-Strauss) Hero vs Villain Vampires vs Werewolves Human vs Supernatural The Binary Opposites are the narrative structure. Feminine vs Masculine (Victims vs Killers)
- 27. Theory Narrative: 3Act Structure (Todorov) Conventional Narrative structure pattern: 1. Beginning (Equillibrium) the “once upon a time” moment. This is where the characters are happy. 2. Middle (Disequilibrium) there is a problem with a series of events that disrupts the balance. 3. End (Resolution) The problem is solved overcome Narrative: Character Types (Propp) Character Role Definition Hero Villain The Donor The Helper The Princess The Dispatcher The False Hero Usually male, rescues the damsel in distress Struggles with the hero Gives the hero something to help with quest/mission e.g information, object, to help resolve Helps the hero to restore the equilibrium Threatened by villain, needs to be saved by hero Sends the hero on his/her task Appears to be good, but revealed at the end to be bad.
- 28. SOUND In horrorfilms, they usually have loud noises to build up the suspense and to keep the audience watching so they want to know what happens next. The sounds are used and then there is silence. These sounds help to create jump scares and to scare the audience when they least expect it. Diegetic sounds that are typically used in horror films are the door creaking, foot steps that can get quicker and quicker that makes the audience think that the killer is getting nearer and nearer. Heartbeat sounds and breathing are used too. These sounds are all iconic.
- 29. CAMERA SHOTS Thecamera shots in horror films are usually extreme/close ups, medium close ups, tracking shots and zooming in/out. Tracking Shots are used in horror films because they follow a character to show the audience that something bad might happen to them and this can hide the antagonist from the camera so the audience don’t know when the killer might appear. The close ups are used the most in horror because it shows different emotions and facial expressions of the characters. You can tell whether a character is the victim or the villain and a close up is good to use if a character is screaming or crying because this appears scarier to the audience. Zooming in can show the importance of the shot. If it has been zoomed quickly it can make the audience jump and if the zooming is slow it makes the audience think that something is going to happen.
- 30. LOCATIONS The locationsare usually in the woods, in a haunted house which is mostly used in psychological/supernatural films. However some zombie films can be shown in the daylight in the city as this makes the situations seem more realistic so this shows the audience that the situation could actually happen so this can make the audience scared thinking that this can actually happen to themselves. Another location can be a deserted area where there is nothing around meaning that nothing and no-one is around who can save them.
- 31. LIGHTING In horrorfilms there is usually low key lighting, this is used to make it scarier to the audience as if you was to watch a horror film where a lot of it takes place during the day you wouldn’t be very scared. It can sometimes be dark to hide the identity of someone as they don’t want the audience to see who the killer is.
- 32. PROPS They normallyhave sharp weapons such as knives, axes, chainsaws. There is fake blood being used as this makes it very gory and horrible for the audience to watch. A way that they keep the identity of the killer hidden is by wearing a scary mask. In Zombie films, they usually have guns to shoot the zombies and there is usually blood everywhere as zombie films can be quite gory.
- 33. STOCK SITUATIONS- Setpieces The most common stock situation in a horror film is the antagonist with a weapon chasing after the victim who is hiding and running away. The victim usually trips up so this slows them down and the killer gets closer and closer to the victim so this gets the audiences attention and on the edge of their seat because they think something will happen to the protagonist. In our sub-genre, Zombie, the typical scene is where a zombie appears and they bite someone, they either die or come back as a zombie.
- 34. Stock Characters ofZombie Sub-genre The betrayer- they get bitten by a zombie but they dont tell their friends that they have because they dont want to get shot in the head by them or they are scared of the fact that they will turn into one, so they might hide where they were bitten. The sacrificer- They might have been bitten, injured or they are a slow runner. They tell their friends to leave them. The Expert- they know what to do when killing zombies- they say the zombies need to be shot in the head. The innocent- The betrayer- the pregnant women in Dawn of the Dead gets bitten but her partner doesn’t tell the others because he doesn’t want her or the baby to get killed.
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