This film incorporates the worlds of both the living and the dead to create an entertaining plot filled with suspense. The Others opens on a scene of a woman screaming, who is later found out to be the mother of two children, Anne and Nicholas, who have a sun allergy. Since her husband has gone off to war, the mother gets quite stressed over the amount of work she has to do around the house to keep her children safe. Her servants all mysteriously disappeared the night before, but luckily three housekeepers arrive just in time to give her a hand. Doesn’t that seem like a coincidence? First, according to Bruce Kawin, a good horror movie must have a set of values at stake (Casciato). In The Others, the mother is a devout Christian and raises her children to be the same. As the movie progresses, Anne and Nicholas confess to their nanny Mrs. Mills that they don’t believe everything the bible says. In addition, strange things begin to happen in the house. Anne tells her mother that there are other people in the house, and eventually her mother believes her. As ghosts are not a part of the Christian belief, it is obvious that the entire family is now questioning their beliefs. …show more content…
Usually, some sort of spectacle is made that terrifies the characters as well as the audience (Casciato). Also, the most horrifying part of a horror movie tends to be the monster. In the beginning, the audience believes that the intruders in the house are the monsters. However, at the end of the movie the audience learns that the mother, Grace, attempted to murder her children and committed suicide; which makes them the monsters. This is brought up when the children are captured by the intruders and the mother is forced to save them. There is a circle of the intruders holding hands at a table with an old lady at the head. The old lady begins to scream “You’re dead!” to the family over and over again. That of course, is the moment of
“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is a mystery that offers great suspense and interest. This is because of the irony that Poe creates and the setting that makes a dangerous mood and foreshadows the victim’s death. In the beginning of the story, the narrator meets a man named Fortunato at an Italian carnival with the intentions for murdering him in the foreseeable future. The narrator talks with Fortunato saying, “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met,” (1). These first words spoken by the narrator show verbal irony because the narrator is not really saying that they met luckily. In fact, as I stated before, the narrator was planning this encounter, with the plan ending with Fortunato’s death. This proves to be suspenseful for the reader because they want to discover Fortunato’s actual fate while wishing they could tell Fortunato of the
In Alfred Hitchcock’s famous “slasher” movie, Psycho, the audience is introduced to Norman Bates. Like many ot...
Suspense embodied this film and luckily during the late 1960's Hollywood was at a time where filmmakers were able to push the limits. Many religious groups were outraged with the movie but if it weren't for the work of Polanski in Rosemary's Baby, classic horror films, such as The Exorcist, and other suspense films would cease to exist.
The idea of possession can frighten many people. What horror movie producers and directors that go into this field are counting on is that they can use it to frighten their viewers. The Exorcist and The Exorcist Beginning both are centered on the act of exorcism. Both demoniacs in the films are women though their fates are polar opposites. The exorcisms are also shown in different lights. This is done through special effects as well as lighting and music. The first film in the series stays with a cut and dry method of keeping mainly to the exorcism itself; however, its prequel focuses more on fancy special effects and stimulating music. The newest addition to The Exorcist series also adds in the usual Hollywood love story present in most films in our time. Prequels tend to also serve the purpose of story building, regardless of how new it is. In this case it has the duty of creating and explaining the character of Merrin. The success of both The Exorcist and The Exorcist Beginning was not only due to the story line, but also the mystery of it as well as its acceptance in society and the church. The exorcism itself, such as the effects and the overall focus on it were portrayed differently within The Exorcist and The Exorcist Beginning in accordance with the view from society in general and their expectations on how a movie should be done.
One aspect of American horror movies is the fact that everything is rationalized in the movies. There is a need in American culture to explain why things happen. This is also shown in the endings. Conflicts are always resolved at the end of movies and everything is explained because as the audience, we want to know that the conflict is over and we want all the unexplained details to be explained. The antagonists of horror movies are usually malicious monsters that are there to cause havoc. They may or may not have a grudge against a specific
Obviously casting Jamie Lee Curtis, a scream queen whose mother (Janet Leigh from Psycho) is the original scream queen, is a nod toward the audience. Additionally with a character named Loomis, after a character in the classic Psycho(1960) and showing clips of horror movies like Howard Hawks' The Thing (1951), Carpenter has created a world that exists primarily in the realm of reality. This world is realistic enough so that the audience can relate and associate with the characters, but also has enough of the self-referentialism to always keep the audience aware that they are watching a movie, not an accurate of representation of
"Horror Movies 2013." movieweb.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec 2013. .Noton, Adriana. "A Brief History Of Horror Movies." Ezine Articles. Spark Net, 10 Aug. 2010. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. .
Early in the film , a psychologist is called in to treat the troubled child :and she calmed the mother with a statement to the effect that, “ These things come and go but they are unexplainable”. This juncture of the film is a starting point for one of the central themes of the film which is : how a fragile family unit is besieged by unusual forces both natural and supernatural which breaks and possesses and unites with the morally challenged father while the mother and the child through their innocence, love, and honesty triumph over these forces.
“‘I don’t do it!’ I sobbed in despair; ‘I don’t save or shield them! It’s far worse than I dreamed—they’re lost!”’ (James 56). The governess says this after witnessing both Miss Jessel and Quint, she believes that the ghosts are out to get the children and that it is already too late to save them. In the movie, The Others, the supernatural are simply just living life as if they were still alive, they do not cause harm to real humans since they can rarely on occasion see them. In the movie, the main characters are all dead, but they still do their everyday lifestyle, however, it does affect the humans that are alive. For instance, when the mother, Grace, would close the curtains then they will be remained closed for the humans to see. Also vice-versa, if a human would open the door then the door would remain open for the ghost to see. For example, in the film The Others, directed by Alejandro Amenábar, Grace states, “No door is to be opened without the previous one being closed first (2001)”. Garce blames the help for the problem when in reality it was none of them, when in reality it was the humans. The supernatural in the
The terror can be expressed in many ways in the movie, for example, it can be just the thought if something chasing the actor to the phone just ringing. In the movie The Purge
Soon after, the Monster discovers the De Lacey family and starts to learn the language, emotions, and many other human traits. For example, when the Monster watches Mr. De Lacey comforting Agatha by hugging, playing the guitar, and telling stories, the creature expresses his feeling as a mixture of pain and pleasure such as he never experienced before. He also learns that the family is poor, and instantly quits stealing food from them. So the Monster starts to have an ability to think reasonably and sympathize with people.
Horror films are designed to frighten the audience and engage them in their worst fears, while captivating and entertaining at the same time. Horror films often center on the darker side of life, on what is forbidden and strange. These films play with society’s fears, its nightmare’s and vulnerability, the terror of the unknown, the fear of death, the loss of identity, and the fear of sexuality. Horror films are generally set in spooky old mansions, fog-ridden areas, or dark locales with unknown human, supernatural or grotesque creatures lurking about. These creatures can range from vampires, madmen, devils, unfriendly ghosts, monsters, mad scientists, demons, zombies, evil spirits, satanic villains, the possessed, werewolves and freaks to the unseen and even the mere presence of evil.
The Narrator’s family treats her like a monster by resenting and neglecting her, faking her death, and locking her in her room all day. The Narrator’s family resents her, proof of this is found when the Narrator states “[My mother] came and went as quickly as she could.
Most of the film the wooden doll is seen as the antagonist, but in the end there is actual human being living behind the walls that is the real antagonist (The Boy). The antagonist is an absolute must in any horror film because without it there is nothing to provide a horrifying experience for the protagonist. The antagonist is the reason any horror film is horrifying. Without an antagonist most horror films would lose a great portion of the plot, if not all of it, because the protagonist would have nothing to be scared of. The whole film would turn into a person or a group walking around possibly crying or screaming for no reason.
Some of these qualities of the movie are quite charming; like the period hairstyles, or the style of the roleplaying and standards by Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston to play the Perron parents. Other claims of truthiness, though, are way less enjoyable. There are, of course, actual photos and the newspaper clippings that play over the end credits. And then, at the other side of the film, before we even get to our so called haunted house, we have scenes of the Warren’s (ghost hunters or demonic explorers) working other cases, and answering questions to interested humans in lecture halls to answer their ...