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).