Introduction to Horror Films/Stories

Prof. Myrna Monllor

“Where there is no imagination there is no horror.”

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Why We Watch Horror Films

You can deal with existential universal fears through someone else’s experience

You participate emotionally, but not physically

They provide a revealing mirror image of the anxieties of their time

Anxieties of the Times

Plagues/World Wars Consequences of scientific advancements

diversity

Mutations/space travel or invasion

1920’s 1930’s1940’s/1950’s

1990’s

Disintegration of theFamily, sexual revolution

1960’s/1970’s

Punishment for misbehavior/Faithlessness

salvation

1990’s /2000’s

Definition

Stories of terror that involve the fantastic Play on our deepest fears and

concerns Provide a challenge to the viewer

about whether he/she is going to be able to withstand the horror portrayed within the film

Attack or make you question your moral/ethical values

Beginnings

Mythology

Fairy Tales

Mary Shelly’s Frankestein

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Edgar Allan Poe

Mythology

Medusa

The Hydra

The Minotaur

Sirens

Folk and Fairy Tales

ScheherezadeArabian Nights Little Red Riding Hood

Beauty and the Beast/Bluebeard

Film Classics:Hollywood

1931 1941

1931 1931

Film Classics: German Expressionism

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari 1920 Nosferatu 1922

German expressionism greatly influenced the films of the 1920’s through the way it used symbols and set up scenes and frames to suggest a mood.

Characteristics

Tell fantastic stories which are unbelievable or have no probability of happening in the real world

Protagonists are different from others, they are “aliens” or misfits

Protagonists can be predators or victims

Victims or Predators?The Sixth Sense

Freddy KrugerNightmare on Elm Street

Sweeney Todd

Bram Stoker’s Dracula The Exorcist

Victims or Predators?

Rosemary’s Baby

Interview with the Vampire

Bram’s Stoker’s Dracula

Chucky

The Omen

The Ring

Characteristics

They present a surreal world, full of dreams and symbols

Stories are often told through a first-person narrator

Many contemporary films are set in small towns or in places where everyday

situations are happening

They attack people’s religious and moral values

Characteristics

Many are misogynistic

Nightmare on Elm Street

Saw

Hostel

Characteristics

The victims are usually unprepared for what is going to happen to them

The best horror films suggest terror, instead of presenting it on the screen

Gothic horror films

The protagonists are vampires, were-wolves, zombies, invisible men

Common settings are dungeons, castles, laboratories, insane asylums, underworlds

Diaries, letters are used to tell the story (first person narration)

Common images are darkness, paleness (livid colors), the use of white to contrast with the red of blood, the kiss of the vampire, the creation of a humanoid, the physical change of one being into another

In classic films/stories the monster/creature is destroyed at the end

Slashers

A misfit has become a killer

And in the process seems to have limitless ability to be everywhere threatening his/her victims

Victims’ deaths are usually related to sexual activity

The killer will live on for a sequel

Common themes

Sexuality Eternal rest after death/salvation Punishment for sins Nightmares Perceiving someone as different Fear of the unknown Loss of identity/mutation into something

different Scientific advances creating problems

The Final Girl

The Final Girl: A Few Thoughts on Feminism and Horrorhttp://www.horschamp.qc.ca/new_offscreen/final_girl.html

Halloween 1978

We see a deadly sin on every street corner, in every home, and we tolerate it. We tolerate it because it's common, it's trivial. We tolerate it morning, noon, and night. Well, not anymore. I'm setting the example. And what I've done is going to be puzzled over, and studied, and followed... forever. John Doe in Seven

Vincent

PC MAC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxQcBKUPm8o

Bibliography

Horror Film Historyhttp://www.horrorfilmhistory.com/index.php?

pageID=1920s Frankenstein Films.comhttp://www.frankensteinfilms.com Scream and Scream Againhttp://www.offscreen.com/biblio/phile/essays/

return_of_the_repressed/ Why Horror Movies Are Back with a Vengeance

http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=3663 Horrors! From Bug Movies to Bioterrorismhttp://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/popcult/

moviestuff/horrormv.html