Analysis Of ' Blair Witch Project '

The movie industry has been developing fast recent years. Due to the improvement of technology, movies are becoming much more widespread nowadays, and especially for the horror movies. Movie directors are able to pursue as many special effects as they can to create a horror atmosphere, which makes those movie plots more eye-catching for the audiences. Honestly, I am not a fan of horror movies. I am not scared of it, I just feel a little bored about it, and I am also confused why people still want to see those movies if they feel paranoid after watching it. However, after reading two articles in Monsters, I come to realize the meaning of creation of horror movies, which is not only for fun, but also a review of our real life. Those ideas indicated by Chuck Klosterman and Stephen King are kind of similar, yet differently inherent.

For many years the genre of horror has provided entertainment to audiences through horrifying gore, monsters, violence, and the supernatural. The most frightening type of horror is demonic possession, which is why it forms such a fascination. It creates extreme suspense, curiosity, and relevance. Through the formalist and psychoanalytical approach in the film Annabelle directed by John R. Leonetti, the article “The Horrors of Witchcraft and Demonic Possession” by Brian P. Levack, and the short story “Devils Movie”, it is evident as to why individuals are so fascinated with the demonic side of horror. The film Annabelle, which is a movie filled with suspense, is about a demonic entity that takes over the doll Annabelle and later on is a threat

John Carpenter’s 1978 film Halloween epitomizes the slasher films, encompassing the most common themes of this genre, including teenagers making the transition into adulthood by engaging in reckless behavior, a maniac using violence as a teaching tool for the audience, a final survivor girl, and an immortal maniac. (Thesis)

John Carpenter’s Halloween was released in the fall of 1978; little did he know, his independent film would change the face of slasher films as we know it. This film was responsible for ushering in what we recognize today as modern horror. With a budget of just over $300,000, Halloween was shot in 20 days. It went on to become the highest grossing independent film of all time bringing in over $60 million until 1990; however, this film was not an instant success (Halloween UnMasked, 1999). Halloween also brandished a newer type of hero - a heroine. Jamie Lee Curtis has become known as the Scream Queen as a result of this film where she paved the way for other heroines in the slasher genre.

Since it’s infancy at the beginning of the eighteenth century, horror has followed certain conventions that results in an awakening of the senses, evoking intense emotions of fear and terror in the audience. Horror feeds off triggering the primal fears embedded within all of humankind, creating a sense of menace that is the very substance of this genre. Furthermore, the central menace of a piece tends to enlighten the human mind to the world of the paranormal and the enigmatic, dark side of the unknown. The movie “Psycho” directed by Alfred Hitchcock is a perfect example. Infamous for its shower scene, but immortal for its contribution to the horror genre, “Psycho” was filmed with great tact, grace and art in regards to horror conventions.

Many horror films provide their audiences with scares and screams.  Not many viewers follow what kind of model the films follow to appease their viewers.  However, after reading film theorist Carol Clover’s essay, watching one of the films she associates in the novel “Halloween”, and also watching the movie “Nightmare on Elm Street” I say almost every “slasher” or horror film follows a model similar to Clover’s.  The model that is a female is featured as a primary character and that the female tends to always overcome a situation at some point throughout the film to become victorious.

The horror genre has held a prominent position in culture for most of history. Beginning in folklore, used as a device to scare children into good behaviors (e.g. The Grimm Brother’s Fairy Tales), horror has integrated its way into the 21st century through film, and in recent years even video games. Yearly, primarily during the fall when the leaves start to brown and the natural eerie sense of fear fills the air around Halloween, the film industry likes to fill in the holes between its major grossing seasons by filling the audience with fear. However, it was Christmas of 1973 that defined the new age of Horror, when William Friedkin released The Exorcist. According to Julia Heimerdinger of Academia’s online journal, Horror, as a whole, can

“The mythic horror movie, like the sick joke, has a dirty job to do. It deliberately appeals to al that is worst in us” (King 398). Stephen King illustrates that scary movies are there for the sole purpose of people releasing the inner demons, and in a safe way finding an adrenaline rush. Without these horror movies many people would have a difficult time finding new ways to release stress and to escape the realities of the world surrounding them.

What do all horror movies include to make the movie terrifying and dark? How to movie producers know what to incorporate when creating a movie that is meant to frighten the audience? Why are some scary movies so horrifying that people turn away frightened of what is to come? In Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde gothic literature is well consolidated to turn the story into one that is eerie. This type of medieval literature is apparent through the conventions, settings, and the story line.

My own personal opinion was that the “afflicted” girls were just trying to get attention.As it says in the textmost of the people who were accused of being a witch was mostly older wemon who were either outcasted of the village and lived to the east of the village and for the accusers and they are mostly young single girls who lived on the west side firther from the village.A second example from the text is if a witch doesnt admit to being a witch they must be killed but like many things witchcraft wasnt uncommon at the time.I believe that the “afflicted” girls were just acting and thinking it’s funny that peole had to die becasue of them and it would get the girls more attention.One example from the text was one

Horror is designed to scare, cause alarm and dread, while also entertaining the audience at the same time in a cathartic experience (Dirk, 2016). Horror films are meant for a specific type of audience that enjoy scary films. Dirks (Tim, 2016) approach to genre horror, is that films went back as 100 years ago, from the earliest days our vivid imagination in seeing ghosts in the shadows to be connected emotionally of the unknown, and fear things that are improbable. You watch a horror film, it makes you aware of the scary surroundings, the essence of fear itself, without actually being in any sorts of danger. Dirks argues that there is a fun and thrill factor in being frightened, or watching something disturbing. It gives you that feeling of an adrenaline rush, as well as having that feeling someone is actually next to you lurking in the dark (Dirk, 2016).

Movies all have a unique sense of style, which intrigue viewers of all kinds to watch the films. An amazing film to watch if one feels in the mood for something more thrilling is The Craft. The Craft, directed by Andrew Fleming, follows Sarah Bailey (Robin Tunney) in an unforgettable journey where she falls into the group of outcast girls and they perform witch craft while casting various spells cursing those who anger them. The Craft has outstanding qualities which make it a great film because of the genre, character portrayals, and direction, but it fails in the effects. The film is a retrospect revealing another world.

The Blair witch project vs. paranormal is very similar the way. Blair witch was directed by Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick. Paranormal was directed by Oren Peli. Both movies had similar features in them, minimal low budget, hype media, “found footage” which made the similar.

Comedic films and theatrical productions generally focus on the average human. This excludes people with extraordinary amounts of influence or power such as kings, queens or superheroes. Grecian comedy dissects the social or personal aspects of an average human’s life and uncovers their foibles and frailties. A minor weakness will usually lead to the character falling into some form of temptation which stands as the climax of the plot. This minor weakness of the character helps develop the storyline. For example, the play, Lysistrata, centers around the Grecian army and their wives. Aristophanes presents sex as a weakness of men and women in Greece in the play. The temptation for the army wives is to relinquish the sex strike that they

Since its humble beginnings in the later years of the nineteenth century, film has undergone many changes. One thing that has never changed is the filmmaker’s interest in representing society in the present day. For better or worse, film has a habit of showing the world just what it values the most. In recent years, scholars have begun to pay attention to what kinds of ideas films are portraying (Stern, Steven E. and Handel, 284). Alarmingly, viewers, especially young women, are increasingly influenced by the lifestyle choices and attitudes that they learn from watching these films (Steele, 331). An example of this can be seen in a popular trope of the “romantic comedy” genre in this day and age: the powerful man doing something to help, or “save” the less powerful woman, representing a troubling “sexual double standard” (Smith, Stacy L, Pieper, Granados, Choueiti, 783).