This paper examines the horror film genre, also known as realist horror, while focusing on two specific films, "The Blair Witch Project" and "Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer."
Abstract This paper analyzes the realist horror genre in film. The realist horror genre was spearheaded by Alfred Hitchcock in his 1960 film "Psycho." Horror films proliferated throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s in Hollywood. Most of these films used comedy to portray killings, veering away from realism. The writer of this paper contends that the realist aspect of actual human killers is enough to leave lingering fears long after the viewing has ended. This paper focuses on this particular style of filmmaking, in which the approach is to focus on the killer rather than victim, resulting in terrifying the viewing audience. This well-researched paper notes the similarities and differences in "The Blair Witch Project" and "Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer." This paper describes how both films leave the viewer with a lingering thought and fear of the real world. Specifically, fear of the horrific possibilities. "Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer" is based on real-life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. The movie follows the daily life of Henry, beginning with aftermath shots of freshly murdered victims juxtaposed with images of Henry. This illustrates to the audience that Henry is indeed a bona-fide serial killer. "The Blair Witch Project" is a far cry from the typical slasher film. It uses an entirely different approach to realist horror. The film is shown as a documentary and the actors are not actors at all, but real victims captured on video.
From the Paper "The presentation style changes only during the murder scenes. The pictures are graphic and almost too gory to be real. One woman is seen with a bottle shoved into her throat and the electronics salesman's head goes through a television picture tube - just before the television is plugged in - electrocuting him. Background electric guitar is also present mostly during the build up to a murder. It is not overdone and avoids appearing out of place. Rather, it helps the viewer realize something important in happening. Overall the film does achieve a realism most slasher films cannot approach. This purposeful use of a home-movie style subtly reminds the viewer that the onscreen events are based in truth. Blair Witch takes the realist style one step further by using the camera as a prop in the film. The viewer is constantly reminded that an off-screen character is behind the lens."
Abstract Many horror movies musical techniques are discussed in this paper. The writer shows how this music effects the audience's viewing experience and builds up hype and expectations. Different styles are discussed - creepy, tense, supernatural, fear etc.
From the Paper "To fully utilize sound in a film it must be more than just neat sound effects added in as an after thought. The first crews to utilize this new mind set was the ever famous team of Ben Burtt and Walter Murch in Star Wars and then again in Apocalypse Now. They realized that the sound shaped the picture as much as the picture shaped the sound. The result was a powerful effect that forever changed the way sound is used in a film (Thom, 1999). It takes more than loud, high fidelity, and well executed sound effects to make a great movie. The soundtrack must be integrated into the entire film as a whole. It should enhance and change as the mood changes. In this way the soundtrack becomes a valuable part of the team (Thom, 1999). Many directors overlook the potential that sound has in storytelling and often do not consider it in relation to the other elements of the film. This philosophy embraces the idea that good sound embraces and is considered by the other crafts, as well. It is not just a product of the other crafts."
Abstract This paper examines Lovecraft's writings and compares them to Poe's. The writer shows how Poe was the first true writer of horror stories but how Lovecraft based his genre on Poe and adapted it in a way he thought his readers would respond. The paper mentions several of their works and compares and contrasts them.
From the Paper "Horror writers use several tactics to prey on the human psyche and produce what the readers want, fear. Readers of horror writing want to feel their skin crawl and feel a building sense of tension. Horror writing has undergone several steps in evolution from its beginnings. The first true horror writer to prey on the depths of the human unconscious was Edgar Allen Poe. H.P Lovecraft used the style of Poe, however added another step to scare his readers. Modern writers have built further on Lovecraft to produce the modern horror genre. It is the use the element of the unknown, introduced by Lovecraft that has led to the development of the modern horror genre."
Abstract This paper provides an insight into horror films, from the classics such as "Psycho" to the psychological thrill of "The Silence of the Lambs". It examines the history of the horror film from the first film directed by Georges Melies in 1896 and its development through the period of silent and black-and-white movies to the technological effects of the 21st century. It also attempts to analyze their attraction for people and how the fear and loathing, as well as the almost guilty enjoyment experienced in a movie theater filled with gore lovers, are human psychological needs.
Outline
The Classics
The Psychological Need
The History of the Horror Film
Conclusion
From the Paper ""Psycho" is seen by many horror fans as the ultimate horror film. Hitchcock plays with the idea of identity and involvement. The viewer is expected to feel drawn into the world of Norman Bates. The suggestion is also that the viewer's identity is not as important as his or her emotional involvement in the plot. The film universalizes the idea of monstrosity in each individual. It mirrors the audience's wickedness and guilt back at the audience by means of the ordinary and unassuming Norman. The implication is that everybody has a dark side. The monster therefore appears to have moved closer and closer with the development of the horror film. And now it is inside. Or now its existence is recognized. The monster is no longer something that looks hideous. Instead he or she is as human-looking as everyone else."
Tags: psych, vampires, dracula, frankenstein, stephen, king
Abstract How protagonists face death & horror in three stories. Examines Edgar Allan Poe's THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, H. P. Lovecroft's THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE, Stephen King's THE RAFT. Poe's use of atmosphere to creat a sense of horror. Lovecroft's use of color as a character to build the tone of horror. King's use of gore in telling his story.
From the Paper "All fiction is fantasy and takes place in the realm of the imagination. Fantasy and Science Fiction, however, as genres of fiction, contain themes about quests that take the reader farther abroad in the realm of imagination as the protagonist travels through fear and impending death to the goal of his/her quest. In Dark Fantasy (also known as Horror), a sub-genre of Fantasy and Science Fiction, the quest is about the confrontation of the protagonist with fear and death (Roberts, 2001, p. 31). The protagonist does not always survive this crisis. This paper will explore how Edgar Allan Poe, Howard Phillips (H. P.) Lovecraft and Stephen King describe the quest of the protagonist through death and horror in their short stories "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Colour Out of Space," and "The Raft."
Poe uses atmosphere, rather than gore, to create a visceral..."
Abstract This paper reviews the book 'Hearths of Darkness: The Family in the American Horror Film' by Tony Williams.
According to the paper, Williams opens the book with "For most people, 'family' is a code word that expresses their hopes for a long-term loving and committed relationship. It is this that people yearn for, and this yearning represents a positive and hopeful fact" (Williams 14-15). The paper discusses how the primary theme of Williams' book is that it is precisely this idealization of the family that the American horror film genre deliberately subverts through its representation of the family as being at least complicit, if not directly the ultimate source, of much of the violence and horror within our culture.
Abstract This paper examines the genre of horror movies with focus on the movie "The Exorcist". The author provides detailed analysis o the film, its events and characters and explains how and why this film falls into the category of horror genre films arousing images and superstitions and reflecting thoughts from our psyches and our personal and social world.
From the Paper "Horror is genre that can be defined under certain character types and story elements. The horror movies can be supernatural, biological or psychological. It can take place almost anywhere. The horror film becomes a reflection of the fears of the audience who cannot face the reality or fears that they have in their life. In the horror films they see a method to face their fears. It is a function by which reality is transformed into fantasy and faced with bravado. The horror genre projects images of our superstitions as the points of focus: our own psyches, science and technology, pain, death, the dead and all forms of hostile forces which may at any moment intrude upon our patched up social and personal worlds. Thus, they are most feared and most appreciated. The Exorcist was one such movie."
Abstract Examines the reasons why horror and vampire stories and films are popular and the visual artistry necessary for outstanding horror films, such as "Dead of the Night" and "Nosferatu."
From the Paper "In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad's protagonist's final words are "Oh, the horror! The horror!" This sums up the public's fascination with horror movies. However, "horror was . . .an established literary genre long before Edison turned..."
This paper examines plot and character development as well as the creative process involved in various horror films and focuses on how 'slasher' films have changed from the 1970s to the present.
Abstract The writer of this paper evaluates the horror film industry and discusses how story plots and characters are created. This paper alludes to the constantly advancing and improving computer generated visual effects that are practically a requirement in these types of films. This paper also examines how issues of sexuality and morality are incorporated into these types of movies and how the horror film genre has drastically changed from the 1970s to the present. Several films discussed in this paper include: "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Leatherface" and "Friday the 13th."
From the Paper "The horror films of the past were simpler, had a single-minded direction and probably did not have today's pressure to make a lot of money. Many of these films were original in thought, contained a creative element lost in much of today's horror. Today, the pressure is to show a lot of blood and gore, the more explicit, the better. There often appear the same themes and character roles over and over again.
In the past the "monster" is seen in numerous scenes by the film's characters without it being at that point a threat to the character."
Abstract This paper explains that traditional Christian morals play a large part in the modern horror film genre with religious iconography almost equally represented as a righteous force. The unspoken rule of horror films, the paper points out, is that the most morally virtuous character usually survives in the film the longest. Slasher films, such as "The Exorcist", "Dracula" and "A Nightmare On Elm Street", the paper states, grew out of stories from the Bible and classics, such as Dante's Inferno.
From the Paper "What really is the vampire but a representation of our societies repressed sexual desires, what are zombies but the upper class fear of the scourge of the underclass? When questions of morality are boxed into a context as black and white as evil vs. good, a very dangerous delineation can occur. The power of moral ideology being dispensed on the big screen to audiences across the globe cannot be ignored. Such simplicity in story content acts as an excellent vehicle for the proliferation of these messages to the middle class, non-cultured Americans."
Abstract This paper shows how Edgar Allan Poe in "The Tell Tale Heart" creates an exquisite horror story built around the central symbol of the Tell Tale Heart of the title. This symbol reverberates with underlying symbols of madness and fear and interacts with the image of the vulture eye that must be murdered. The writer explains how the narrator's mind is controlled by fear, and this fear has lead to insanity. When the story starts the narrator has already scared himself out of his wits and at the end he finds exactly what his unbalanced mind is looking for, the absolute in mortal terror.
From the Paper "This eye become a symbol, or perhaps even a pun, for the I, or mad self of the narrator. It is an eye with a film over it, an unseeing eye, perhaps the eye of the murderer himself, just as the heartbeat is his own heartbeat. He cannot see into himself. He is so insane that he believes his plan is wise. ?Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers, of my sagacity.? His mind is so twisted he believes that in bringing fear to the old man he will be able to kill his own fear. He will not kill the old man while the eye is closed. It has to be open. It has to know fear as he kills it. The murderer doesn?t understand his own motivation, which is to feed his own fear, as a vulture feeds, unendingly, seeking one carrion corpse after another. Poe works the image so that narrator merges with the eye and the vulture as he destroys himself and the eye (I). "
Abstract This paper compares the horror novels of Edgar Allen Poe and Thomas Harris's "Silence of the Lambs". It describes the iconic character of evil Hannibal Lecter and the great success of this character, which seems to live beyond the confounds of the written word. The author examines Poe's classic poem "The Raven" and its chilling and ambiguous reality. The paper also explores the life of Poe.
From the Paper "Poe has delved into the human spirit at a time when the idea of the unconscious mind had probably either not evolved, or had just been described and was not commonly known. In his stories of horror, Poe explored in depth the human psyche. Poe was a critic of rationalism but at the same time he was a master in the art of constructing, logically, the irrational "rationale" for crime committed by his characters. Poe lived a difficult and rather impoverished life, and was himself often given to alcoholism in his private life and the narrator's fears and contradictions that the author describes are something he might have experienced himself."
Abstract This paper examines how most fairy tales told to young children follow a similar story line and how not all of the traditional tales have an aura of joy encircling the fair heroine. It discusses how Charles Perrault's ?"Bluebeard" is the stuff of nightmares and looks at two modern horror films, "The Cell" and "From Hell", that use traits from the story. It shows how themes include serial killings, a psychotic killer, secretive places of torment, and a final victim that arranges her own escape.
From the Paper "Another recent film that also uses traits from Perrault's "Bluebeard" is the 2001 release, ?From Hell.? Set in London during the Victorian age, the plot centers on a detective trying to solve the serial murders of the infamous Jack the Ripper. A group of female friends, cleverly called ?the unfortunates,? are being murdered one by one, and each time the killer takes one of her internal organs with him. At first, police don?t think much of one of the town's prostitutes getting murdered, but when each girl in this group of friends becomes a victim and the officials find their corpses with body parts missing, detectives look for a motive. They point out that this killing ?is methodical. The butchering is irrational, yet meticulous and deliberate, altogether a different breed of killer.? "
Abstract The paper examines how sex and scopophilia have played a major role in making the horror genre successful, incorporating also the elements of montage and sound. The primary film discussed in the paper is "Silence of the Lambs", but "Psycho" and "The Birds" are used as well.
From the Paper "With sex as an added element the suspense is increased. If one scene is of a sexual nature it takes our minds off the horror, therefore when the horror comes back we are surprised, therefore increasing the suspense and horror of the film. This is not the only example of the combination. There are many others that we may refer to demonstrate this point. The film Silence of the Lambs proves that scopophilia of women blends with the elements of the horror genre, while making sure to hold the traditional elements strong throughout the movie."
