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Horror Sub-genre Analysis
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- 3. BACKGROUND INFORMATION - SUPERNATURAL •Super natural horrors first came about within the 19th century, and they had a main focus on gothic themes such as vampires. • Although supernatural horrors were around before they properly grabbed the attention of horror audiences they first became popular in the 1960s. One of the first supernatural horrors being ‘13 ghosts’. The film revolved around a young girl which is still a convention of modern supernatural horrors created today.
- 4. THE CONJURING • Theconjuring films (of which there are 2 with a 3rd to be released soon) are all based on real events that actually occurred. • The first conjuring film was released in July 2013 and was based on real events that happened to the Perron family who moved into the Rhode island farmhouse in 1970, they had five daughters and reminded living I that house for 10 years. • The films were based on the case studies from Ed and Lorraine warren, paranormal investigators. There were other well known cases that the two were involved in for example The Enfield Haunting.
- 5. CONVENTIONS THROUGHOUT SUPERNATURAL HORRORS •The theme of a happy family moving into a new house in a new location often features. • Contrapuntal sound in the form of a backing track is very often used in supernatural horrors to give the audience a sense that there demon or paranormal presence. • The youngest child is targeted. • here is an object which acts as a link to the demon or spirit for example in Anabelle there is a doll.
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- 7. BACKGROUND INFORMATION – SLASHER •Slasher is a horror subgenre, slasher films typically include psychopathic stalking and several murders with a bladed tools. • The term slasher is sometimes used generically to describe any horror involving numerous deaths, however horror film experts have devised a list of characteristics that set slasher horrors apart from other horror subgenres to give slasher a definition. • Critics claim that the genre first came about in the 1960s with films such as Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock however most agree that the genre peaked in the 1970s and 80s with someone of the films coming out of America at that time. • Classic slasher films include Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), John carpenter’s Halloween (1978) and Victory Miller and Sean S. Cunningham’s Friday the 13th, to name a few of the films released in the so called slasher golden era.
- 8. TEXAS CHAIN SAWMASSACRE • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (directed by Tobe Hooper) is an American Slasher film released In 1974. It was produced on a small budget of 300,000 and contains what was seen at the time as a relatively unknown cast. • Upon the release of the film in 1974 it caused huge discussion due to the reaction it got for how scary it was, audiences weren't ready for horror this terrifying at the time an consequently it was banned in 7countries and multiple cinemas stopped showing it due to complaints. • Although the initial negative reaction the film grossed over 30 million and is seen as one of the most influential horrors of all time. • The narrative of the film revolves around 2 siblings that travel to Texas with three friends of theirs to visit the grave of their grandfather. However this respectful trip doesn't’t turn out as planned as they are attacked by a family of cannibalistic psychopaths.
- 9. CONVENTIONS THROUGHOUT SLASHER HORRORS •A final girl will feature, the most intelligent girl of her group of friends and often portrayed not to be sexually active amongst her group of sexually active friends. • Killer/ Villain will often have a specific weapon of choice used to brutally murder the victims. • Multiple murders will occur. • Often set in a quiet and peaceful town, help to enforce a sense of fear to the audience as you wouldn't’t usually associate a peaceful town with brutal murders. • Lighting is often dark and killings take place at night.
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- 11. BACKGROUND INFORMATION – SPLATTERHORRORS • A splatter horror, also widely known as a gore film is a subgenre of horror whereby the films contains a specific focus on guts, gore and graphic violence. • Splatter films often include the most modern special affects to display a detailed emphasis on the vulnerability of the human body. • The term splatter horror is seen to be first used by Geroge A. Romero to describe is films Dawn of the Dead released in 1978. • Its not just that fact splatter films include a lot more guts and gore than other horrors, something else that separates a splatter film from other horrors is the killer, in other horror films usually the killer has a motive for killing his victims or at least he has a specific target for the type victim, however in splatter this isn't always the case. • Usually the killer in splatter doesn't’t have a motive for killing their victims other than for the thrill of killing and the satisfaction of the gruesome killing, which of course will be featured in detail within the film.
- 12. HALLOWEEN • Halloween isan American slasher film produced by John Carpenter released in 1978. It is the first film made of the Halloween franchise. • The film revolves around an individual names Michael Myers, who on Halloween night 1963 brutally murders his own sister. Films plot contains the story of what happened when 15 years later, he escaped the mental hospital he was in and returns home to kill again. • In the film Michael stalks a teenagers called Laurie Strode and her group of friends. The character Laurie Strode is seen as one of the most influential horror film characters of all time as she is commonly viewed as the very first ‘final girl’.
- 13. CONVENTIONS THROUGHOUT SPLATTER HORRORS •Always feature a large amount if guts and gore, gruesome shots and terrifying killings. • Killer doesn't always have a motive or reason for killing the individuals that he choses, other than the fact they were in the wrong place at he wrong time, or their easy targets. • Narrative isn't important, films are made to entertain the viewer by shocking them with horrific moving images and murder scenes. • Other horror films create fear within the viewers by exploring topics such as the unknown, the supernatural and suspense, however the fear the viewers experience while watching a splatter is due to the physical destruction of the body and the pain accompanying it.
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- 15. BACKGROUND INFORMATION – PSYCHOLOGICALHORRORS • The horror subgenre of Psychological Horror incorporates fear into the films of its title by playing/teasing the mental, emotional and psychological states of the viewers to scare the audience. • The fear factory doesn't’t necessarily come from a great big scary villain with a weapon and a mask, but relies on a more intelligent way of scaring the audience psychologically by thrilling a mystery filled and narrative and characters with unstable, unreliable, or disturbed psychological states. • Psychological horror tends to attempt to create fear and discomfort by using relevant universal psychological fears of society and exposing the darker parts of human thought that most people ignore or deny, this helps to make psychological horrors all the more terrifying.
- 16. THE BLAIR WITCHPROJECT • The blare witch project is an American psychological horror film released in1999 directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez. • The film is set in 1994 and revolves around 3 film students that trek into the Black Hills near Burkittsville in order to make a documentary about a legend called the blare witch. • The students disappear and are never found, however the students recorded the hike on video cameras they took with them, and the video cameras that were used by the students are recovered a year later. • The film in which the viewers watch is the recovered footage of the students trip. • The film was produced on a budget of just 60 thousand dollars, which is understandable considering there was great need for expensive camera equipment it top camera men due to the fact that the fil is all shot in first person by the characters.
- 17. CONVENTIONS THROUGHOUT – PSYCHOLOGICALHORRORS • A lot of psychological horrors aim to confuse the audiences by challenging their understanding of the plot, this is often done by forcing the audience to focus on characters within the film are questioning their own view of reality and their own sanctity. • Characters view of their surroundings may become deluded or distorted. • Other horror films may include gruesome shots or murders or may have terrifying scenes of monsters or zombies attacking children, however psychological horrors tend to hid the monsters or zombies and involve situations more grounded in artistic realism.
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- 19. BACKGROUND INFORMATION- SURVIVAL • Anisolated community of people. • Apocalyptic world (deserted, trashed etc) • Abandoned locations • Urban locations (but deserted) • A fight to survive • Zombies • Weapons- shotguns • Viruses
- 20. 28 WEEKS LATER •28 weeks later is sequel to the previous film 28 days later. It is a thrilling survival horror based around a virus that turns the infected members of the population into zombies. • Six months after the original epidemic the virus had managed in infect the entire population of the British isles. However the American army declare that the danger had past and the us soldiers arrive to restore order and begin the reconstruction. Refugees return to British land, but one of them carries a deadly secret, the virus that infected the entire British population is not gone, but infect more dangerous than before. • The plot depicts the attempts of NATO military forces to salvage a safe zone in London after the events in 28 days later. The the repercussions of two young siblings breaking protocol to find their infected mother and the resulting reintroduction of the highly contagious virus to the safe zone.
- 21. CONVENTIONS THROUGHOUT SURVIVAL HORRORS •Scenes showing what the previous world was like before whatever disaster occurs within the film. • Characters become aware to what has happened to the area in the past. • Cliff hangers • Everybody dies • Zombies are killed/cures • Attempts to fight for hide from danger is not enough.
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- 23. OCCULT SUB-GENRE INFORMATION •Horror films that fall into the subgenre of Occult belong to a genre much smaller than the traditional subgenres such as sci-fi, and they all revolve around the idea of practicing sorcery and devil worship. • Many of thee films preset the ideas of rituals and visions of the paranormal, largely to do with sacrificing humans to the devil in many gruesome ways.
- 24. THE WICKER MAN •One of the most well known and often regarded as a classic occult horror films my horror experts is The Wicker Man. The films revolves around a devoted Christian police officer known as Sergeant Howie. • After receiving a letter and photograph of a missing girl from an anonymous source he decided to make his was to Hebrideans, to the island of summerisle. While on the island he became aware of te residents immoral sexual displays and abnormal pagan rituals. Everybody he meets denies the existence of the missing girl. • It is later revealed that the residents needed to sacrifice a human to the devil in order for them to have a successful harvest in the following year. Believing that the missing girl (Rowan Morrison) was going to the the one to be sacrificed, Howie attempts to save her, however only to later discover that he is the human to sacrificed.
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- 26. SCI-FI HORRORS INFORMATION •Films that fall inter the horror subgenre category of sci-fi generally entertain the use of futuristic settings and scientific advances as sources of fear for the characters and therefore the audience. • Sci-fi horrors are often so successful within the horror subgenre due to how scary the can occasionally be. The reason audiences find the so scary is due to the fact that they will be introduced t a new idea or experiment within science that they have never heard of before. Therefore thee is a lack of knowledge within the area and due to the way the film presents the idea it seems realistic and looks as though it could happen in real life. • The film producers can abuse the audiences lack of knowledge around the futuristic science and with a lack of knowledge comes fear.
- 27. ALIEN – KEYCHARACTER AND THEIR ROLES • Ripley - A warrant officer acts as the Hero • Dallas - Captain - Hero • Lambert - Navigator - Hero • Ash - Science Officer - The False (Hero) • Alien - Villain • Three characters in this film act as a hero as they all attempt to stop the threat of the Alien. • A false hero - Ash, is revealed to be an Android. • The Alien acts as the villain as it plans to kill and destroy.
- 28. CONVENTIONS OF SCI-FIHORROS • The film will begin with an equilibrium where everything is peaceful, to gibe the audiences an idea of what the characters life was like prior to the disaster. • There will be a sense of nervousness from at least one character about the experiment or creation. • The experiment or testing has gone wrong and a disease is created or robots begin to revolt. In some cases a scientist may accidently create something evil however in other cases an evil scientist may intentionally do this. Alternatively something in outer space may be discovered. • The dangerous creation or disease will attack or attempt to take over the human race or a certain population. Sometimes there will be a hero that will discover a weakness and destroy the evil source and save the remaining live humans.