The horror film has the honor of being one of the few genres aside from the Christmas film to own an entire month out of the year. The moment it becomes October, in the United States especially, the haunting themes of Halloween begin to take over. Anyone can guarantee that if an individual goes out of their house during the October month, they will come into direct contact with pumpkin spice flavored items from coffee to Oreos, Halloween candy in all shapes and forms, and the horror movie. Whether it is the film that started it all, The Haunted Castle, released in 1896 and directed by Georges Méliès or to the recent string of repetitive horror of the Paranormal Activity or Insidious franchises, the horror film is a long-lasting genre with one …show more content…
The film follows a group of friends who fall victim to a family of cannibals while on their way to visit an old homestead. Although it was marketed as a true story to attract a wider audience and as a subtle commentary on the era's political climate, its plot is entirely fictional; however, the character of Leatherface and minor plot details were inspired by the crimes of real-life murderer Ed Gein, similar to Psycho’s Norman Bates and Silence of the Lamb’s Buffalo Bill. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is without a doubt a horror movie. It features a group of friends traveling through the Texas state to a homestead belonging to the family of one of the group. Along the way, they pick up a hitchhiker who proves to be more than they bargained for, so they ditch him. The group separates at the homestead and two lovers plan to go to a waterhole, but find it dried up. The two characters then hear a generator running in the distance and follow the sound to a house where they intend to ask for gas as their vehicle is running low on fuel. It is here that Leatherface makes his first appearance, bashing one of the character’s head in with a hammer, and kidnapping the other. Soon enough, final girl Sally, portrayed by Marilyn Burns, is the last one standing and she is held at the mercy of an entire family of psychotic cannibals with Leatherface serving as the muscle-bound slave of
Adam Hochschild's "King Leopold's Ghost" is a lost historical account starting in the late 19th century continuing into the 20th century of the enslavement of an entire country. The book tells the story of King Leopold and his selfish attempt to essentially make Belgium bigger starting with the Congo. This was all done under an elaborate "philanthropic" public relations curtain deceiving many countries along with the United States (the first to sign on in Leopold's claim of the Congo). There were many characters in the book ones that aided in the enslavement of the Congo and others that help bring light to the situation but the most important ones I thought were: King Leopold, a cold calculating, selfish leader, as a child he was crazy about geography and as an adult wasn't satisfied with his small kingdom of Belgium setting his sites on the Congo to expand. Hochschild compares Leopold to a director in a play he even says how brilliant he is in orchestrating the capture of the Congo. Another important character is King Leopold's, as Hochschild puts it, "Stagehand" Henry Morton Stanley. He was a surprisingly cruel person killing many natives of the Congo in his sophomore voyage through the interior of Africa (The first was to find Livingston). Leopold used Stanley to discuss treaties with African leaders granting Leopold control over the Congo. Some of the natives he talked to weren't even in the position to sign the treaties or they didn't know what they were signing.
Australia has the terrible condition of having an essentially pointless and prefabricated idea of “Aussiness” that really has no relation to our real culture or the way in which we really see ourselves. We, however subscribe to these stereotypes when trying to find some expression of our Australian identity. The feature film, The Castle, deals with issues about Australian identity in the 1990’s. The film uses techniques like camera shots, language and the use of narration to develop conflict between a decent, old fashioned suburban family, the Kerrigans and an unscrupulous corporation called Airlink. Feature films like The Castle are cultural products because they use attitudes, values and stereotypes about what it means to be Australian.
The Castle, directed by Rob Sitch, is an Australian comedy, which delves into the lives of a stereotypical Australian family, the Kerrigans. The film touchs on issues close to home in a humourous way. The audience is introduced to the classic Aussie family, narrated in the viewpoint of the youngest of the Kerrigans, Dale.
Scream 4 utilizes today’s millennial culture of technology, Youtube, and blogs to once again reinvent the slasher genre. Scream 4 combines just the right amount of comedy within the story to still stay true to the genre and pokes fun at the previous three films and the genre as a whole. Although there is nothing significantly new with regards to the story of Scream 4, the mystery of who is under the mask was well done and keeps the viewer guessing. The identity of the masked killer is a surprising one and makes an interesting comment on fame in modern
The Haunting of Hill House is a novel about Dr. Montague who was a man intrigued by the supernatural and decided to study hill house. He rents the house and brings along some assistants, one of them being Eleanor. Reflecting on the Haunting of Hill House, I realize that Eleanor going to Hill House means she has “come home” and this brings out amongst other feelings, the feeling of absolute happiness. So as much as Hill House resembles the supernatural for everyone else, it is in fact an insight into Eleanor’s ultimate reality.
Suspense is a 1913 film that portrays the story of a tramp intruding into a family’s home, where a mother takes care of her child while her husband is away. The plot is a common one that had been used previous times before the film’s release, such as in The Lonely Villa (1909). However, through taking advantage of the single frame shot, the filmmakers were able to create a masterful aesthetic of two separate stories that turn a basic plot into a complex story. The film created an inventive way of illustrating stories within cinema by allowing the audience the chance to consume more narrative in less time within just one take.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre was the first movie to use Ed Gein’s man-eating behavior. “The events of that day were to lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (CITE). The movie is about five friends. The main characters, Sally and Franklin, want to visit their grandfather’s graveyard because there were reports about grave robbing on the news. After seeing the tombstone, the five friends decided to go visit grandpa’s house as well. On their way, they met a hitchhiker and they offer him a ride. They threw him out after he slashed the arm of Franklin in the car, which creep them all out. Afterwards, the group realizes that they need gas. So they stop to refuel, but the man at
The Tower of London is one of the most famous historical buildings in the world. Constructed by William the Conqueror in 1078, this grim, grey, and awe-inspiring tower, is the most haunted building in England. Perhaps the most well known ghostly residents of the Tower of London are the spirits of Anne Boleyn, Sir Walter Raleigh, The Princes in the Tower and among others.
Film scholars around the world agree that all genres of film are part of the “genre cycle”. This cycle contains four different stages that a specific genre goes through. These stages are: primitive, classic, revisionist, and parody. Each stage that the genre goes through brings something different to that genre’s meaning and what the audience expects. I believe that looking at the horror genre will be the most beneficial since it has clearly gone through each stage.
The story is set in a tiny town called Whodunit Hill where twelve-year-old dyslexic MADISON MISCHIEF a detective at the Deadwood Detective Agency and her associate’s tinkerer and inventor SETH HOLLOWAY, and the brain TWIST TWISTLETON are introduced to their new case a seemingly haunted house.
Finally, horror became ‘Slasher.’ The 1970’s became obsessed with realistic news stories and characters and films became more stylize and followed similar storyline conventions. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Halloween (1978) and Night Mare On Elm Street (1984) where full of psycho villains, teens in danger and the sole survivor leading to plenty of sequels. The only other horror genre or thriller genre focused on suspense, movie...
Was Eleanor mentally healthy or unhealthy? In the book The Haunting of Hill House, written by Shirley Jackson, the main character was Eleanor Vance. She was a 32-year-old woman that showed signs that she was mentally unhealthy. After receiving an invitation to stay at Hill House from Dr. Montague, a stranger to Eleanor and the rest of the invited guests, she made the carefree decision to accept the invitation to the comfortable country home (2). She felt as though Hill House was her calling, even though she had never laid eyes on the property and had no knowledge of what to expect. There was no way to know if the doctor could have been a psychopath that wanted Eleanor for some crazed morbid “experiment,” yet she had
Modern day horror films are very different from the first horror films which date back to the late nineteenth century, but the goal of shocking the audience is still the same. Over the course of its existence, the horror industry has had to innovate new ways to keep its viewers on the edge of their seats. Horror films are frightening films created solely to ignite anxiety and panic within the viewers. Dread and alarm summon deep fears by captivating the audience with a shocking, terrifying, and unpredictable finale that leaves the viewer stunned. (Horror Films)
Horror movies have been part of mainstream cinema since the early 1930s when films such as Dracula and Frankenstein were created. As the horror genre evolved, so did the stories in the films. Friday the 13th (Marcus Nipsel, 2009) is a very good example of this evolution. Even though it is a remake, Friday the 13th changed the way horror movies were seen by the audience. The ideas and theory behind this slasher sub-genre of horror films can be summed up in a book. Carol Clover, an American professor of film studies, wrote a book in 1992 entitled Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film in which she described the horror film genre. In a chapter entitled “Her Body, Himself”, Clover describes how weapons play a very important role in horror movies as well as explaining her Final Girl theory. Her book’s ideas changed not only academic notions but also popular beliefs on horror films. The 2009 remake of Friday the 13th implies that Carol Clover’s ideas about 80s slasher films, including male tormentors, the importance of weapons, and the Final Girl, have stayed the same through the years.
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. Whether the horror thrills or the thriller horrifies, a scare is always incorporated.