The Appeal of the Horror Genre

Fear is the product of our thoughts, it is temporary, but numerous individuals fail to realize the reality. The movie has the ability to attract audiences of different backgrounds to come together and partake in a visual entertainment of killing spree, keeping one in terror and on the edge of their seats at all times. Moreover, the antago... ... middle of paper ... ...re as it brings back memories from our childhood. King simply claims that horror movies have a “dirty job to do,” the adrenalin rush of the screams and unexpected outcomes. (King, 2007, p. 457) Kings (2007) answer to Di Muzio (2006) on whether it is morally permissible to indulge in gruesome forms of entertainment would be that the perception lies solely to the beholder and their judgment towards the genre.

In the article “We’re All Dirty Harry Now”, Riegler says that “violent movie genres fed on political and social turmoil” (18), using societies fears to their advantage. Basing the horrors in horror movies off current events only frightens the audience more because it makes them feel as if these fears could come to life and attack. In the late 1960’s, Night of the Living Dead was not only terrifying to its viewers because images of the fl... ... middle of paper ... ..."What Popular Films Teach Us About Values: Locked Inside With The Rage Virus." Journal of Popular Film & Television 41.2 (2013): 61-67. Literary Reference 8 Night of the Living Dead.

Would you rather be horrified beyond repair or thrilled to the point of no return? In horror, the main purpose is to invoke fear and dread into the audience in the most unrealistic way. Horror movies involve supernatural entities such as ghosts, vampires, teleportation, and being completely immortal. As thriller films are grounded in realism and involve more suspense, mystery, and a sense of panic. Though both genres will frighten the audience, it will happen in two different ways.

Horror film is a popular genre, but shouldn’t seem to have any real appeal. Horror lures its audience by lingering on the fears of man, manipulating emotions, affecting one’s mind. Those creepy-crawlies on the big screen usually reflect the common fears of the times. These societal fears can be described as the ‘Horrors.’ In the 1960’s, the horror of personality was shown the cult classic Psycho (1960). Norman Bates is the unassuming antagonist, caring for his mother (Derry 164).

How Alfred Hitchcock Makes the Viewing of Psycho a Frightening and Worrying Experience I am currently studying Alfred Hitchcock Psycho. Psycho is such an important film because it redefined the genres of thrillers and established the genre used by many film writers today such as Wes Craven (Scream 1/2/3) of stalk and slash movies, using camera angles and other techniques. Hitchcock creates tension in a variety of ways using specific camera angles and high and low pitched music. Although the film proved a big box office success, only gradually did this macabre experiment in black humour become the object of closer scrutiny and more intense analysis. The consensus today is that Psycho is a classic of cinematic art and admiration worldwide.

Stephen King wrote a very brief essay titled "Why we Crave Horror Movies", in which he explained some of the reasons that people choose to go to horror movies to be entertained. In his essay, King goes on to explain that we as a people need horror movies as a sort of release; to feed the darker elements within all of us without having to sacrifice our humanity (also, civility). King does this by comparing people based on their levels of sanity whereas some societal "eccentricities" are completely acceptable, while some will get you thrown right into the loony bin. It’s summed up pretty well in this quote: "The mythic horror movie, like the sick joke, has a dirty job to do. It deliberately appeals to all that is worst in us.

Stephen King, a very well-known writer and director, has a passionate voice when it comes to anything dealing with horror. In “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” King calls us out for knowing that we love the adrenaline rush and how we are so captivated by horror movies. He explains how we watch horror movies for the level of fun. King proposes that we go to defy ourselves; to see how far it can push us and that is what makes the experience so interesting. We lock our inner psycho from reality and feed it with the demonic, bloody violence found in horror movies.

The scenes create tension and fear for its audience; Branagh has used many techniques to fully express Mary Shelley's thoughts and imagination. The film 'Frankenstein' is truly a film belonging to the genre of horror. And that is how we know that 'Frankenstein' belongs to the horror genre.

In most countries, horror movies are beloved and popular genre for certain group of people who are eager to have different types of feeling and emotion. It usually delivers wired, freaky, uncanny, fearful and uncomfortable feeling to its audiences. There have been thousands ways of expressing fearful emotion to the horror film lovers, however, most horror film have something in common that provokes fearful emotion by using particular context, such as gender discrimination and trauma of wars. Without understanding such a context, foreign horror films are understandable to other nations audiences, which means that the process of feeling threatened and fearful does not need to rely heavily on certain cultural or historical information. In this

In horror movies there is always the antagonist. The evil spirit or monster that is attempting and sometimes succeeding in killing some of the characters off. There is always the good versus evil. There is a difference between how the good versus evil is depicted. American movies focus on the idea that the good and evil fight and that the good should defeat the evil.