LYDIA TWIMASI’S

What is a Horror?• Horror films are movies that

venture to bring out the emotions of fear, horror and

terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve

themes of death, the supernatural or mental

illness. Many horror movies also include a central villain.

• Early horror movies are largely based on classic

literature of the gothic/horror genre, such as Dracula,

Frankenstein, The Phantom of the Opera and Dr. Jekyll and

Mr. Hyde.

1890’s-1920’s • The firsts depictions of paranormal events appear in

several of the silent shorts films created in the late 1890s, the most notable being his 1896 Le Manoir du diable (aka "The House of the Devil.") It was credited as The early 20th century brought more highlights for the horror genre including the first

monster to appear in a full-length horror film, Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre-Dame being

the first horror film.

1930’s-1940’s It was in the early 1930s that, particularly Universal

Pictures Co. Inc., made popular the idea of horror film bringing to the screen a series of flourishing

Gothic features including Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931), some of which fused with

science fiction films with Gothic horror, such as The Invisible Man (1933)., director of Dracula, also made the extremely cont22roversial Freaks based on a

band of circus freaks.

History of Horror...

History…1950s-1960s

• With advances in technology that occurred in the 1950s, the tone of horror films shifted from the gothic toward concerns that some saw as being

more relevant to the late-Century audience. • The horror film was seen to fall into three sub-

genres: the horror of personality ,armageddon or demonic film. Eg. Invasion of the Body Snatchers

(1956) & The Mummy (1960)

1970s-1980s • critical and popular success of Rosemary's Baby

(1968),, led to the release of more films relating to witchcraft or mystical themes in the 1970s, such as

The Exorcist (1973) and a array of other horror films in which the Devil represented the

supernatural evil, often by impregnating women or possessing children.

History…• 1900’s

In the first half of the 1990s, the genre continued many of the themes from the 1980s. Sequels from the Child's Play

and Leprechaun series enjoyed some commercial success. The slasher films A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and Halloween all saw sequels in the

1990s, most of which met with varied amounts of success at the box office,

2000’s• The start of the 2000s saw a quiet period for the genre.

The re-release of a restored version of The Exorcist in September 2000 was successful despite the film having

been available on home video for years. permit films such as Freddy vs. Jason also made a stand in theatres

• . Final Destination (2000) marked a successful revival of clever, teen-centred horror and produced three sequels.

As well as the "Jeepers Creepers"

History of Horror continued…

Criticism• ‘Horror films have been dismissed as violent,

low budget and exploitation films’ -Mike Eliot• Nonetheless, all the major studios and many

respected directors, have made forays into the genre. Serious critics have analysed horror films through the prisms of genre theory and the auteur theory. Some horror films incorporate elements of other genres such as science fiction, fantasy, black comedy, and thrillers.

Early On Horror Movies

Contemporary Horror Movies

Movies … compared and contrasted

• Michael Myers, the main antagonist and slasher of the Halloween series, bears many similarities to Jason Voorhees, the main antagonist and slasher of the Friday the 13th series. They both wear a mask .

They both go around killing their victims using either .

their main weapon, their bare hands, or any type of weapon or other way of

killing they can find .They are both extremely hard to kill,

withstanding being stabbed, shot, getting set on fire, etc.

Throughout the film neither Michael nor Jason speak .

Both Jason and Michael are very tall and inhumanly strong.

They both generally kill within a particular area .

Neither are undead but have still returned many times.

Movies … compared and contrasted

× Jason's main weapon is a machete, while Michael's main weapon is a kitchen knife.

× Jason kills anyone who breaks specific rules set in by his mother or himself and kills anyone who gets in his way, while Michael's goal is to kill anyone in his family, and kills anyone else he sees.

× Jason ignores any kind of animal, such as cats and dogs, while Michael kills dogs.

× Jason's masks hide hideous deformities, while there has never been any evidence that Michael looks anything but perfectly

normal .

× Michael has never fought another slasher villain; Jason fought a character.

× Jason is Enraged on a path of revenge, while Michael is afflicted with the Curse of Thorn

Shared marketing conventions/Repetoire of

elements

Iconography Title of film

is in a ‘gothic’ text

Red ‘daunting’

colours

Main image is imposed

at the centre of

the poster

High angles/low

Master shots

Narrow lit : key light is to

the side of subject and

beyond

Frontally lit Broad Lit

Technical aspects :

Mise-en-scene • Villans• Blood/fangs/• Church• Haunted house• Ghouls/ghosts• Knife• Gun• Saw• Masks

sound

• Thunder

• Orchestral violins if scene is

emotionally upsetting

e.g.: a death

occurring

• High pitched

screeches

• Load crashes to frighten

audience

Highest grossing films

• The Exorcist - $727%2B million ($232%2B million 1973).

• Jaws - $842%2B million ($260%2B million in 1975).

• The Rocky Horror Picture Show - $362%2B million ($112%2B million in 1975).