Early And Later Horror Films Research Paper

Creepy settings, monsters, victims, murders, weapons,eerie vibes, and creepy music are what define the horror movie genre. Two films that belong to this category are Frankenstein directed by James Whale 1931 and Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock 1960. They both properly represent the horror genre because they follow it’s characteristics. These two movies compare and contrast in their settings, characters, plot, iconography, mood, and cinematic style.

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.

Further, King goes on to state that when we watch a horror movie, “we are daring the nightmare,” meaning we are almost begging to be scared. King also states there are multiple reasons for this, but one of the main points is “to show that we can, that we are not afraid.” He then appeals to the audience experiences by making his paper more relatable and comical when he compares horror movies to roller coasters. King states, they are both usually liked by the young, but once their age reaches to the forties or fifties, “one’s appetite for double twists or 360-degree loops may be considerably depleted.” Additionally, King uses his clever collage of comparisons to explain one of the horror genre’s many intentions are to show us right from wrong. Which might also provide some of us with “psychic relief,” throwing ourselves in a place where intensive questioning is unnecessary, giving people a small break from their complicated daily life.

The woman who takes her top off first always dies first. This trope of horror films, started around the time of the Friday the 13th series, has become ingrained in our conscious so much that it has become almost a ritual for movie-goers to expect it. Before that, a popular trope was the mad scientist, playing God. Horror has always been built on tropes and archetypes, a storytelling ritual performed both by creators and their audience. The origins of the horror film genre can be traced back to the early 19th century, to literary pieces such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein (Belton 280). The Bride of Frankenstein and The Cabin in the Woods serve as an interesting contrast between classic and contemporary horror, highlighting not only how the genre has changed, but also how much of their deeper meanings have remained the same.

Although King’s essay was written in a different period of time, his analysis of why horror movies are popular is still accurate today. People from all generations and culture continue to

James Whale’s ‘Frankenstein’ (1931) was one of the biggest horror hits of the 30’s despite it starting off and a small movie idea based on the 1818 book by Mary Shelly. This could have been because of the newly introduced use of sound, ultimately turning it into a cultural phenomenon that changed the way all audiences saw horror movies from then onwards. (McCormick, 2011).

A fair claim can be made on human nature that humans tend to crave the unknown, even if they are afraid of it. People still watch to the end of horror movies even though they know they will regret it shortly after. Often times these films or even TV shows leave a lasting impact on a person emotionally, an impact that can stay with someone way after the two hour movie is complete. Us as humans like to believe that we are stronger than the film and it is simply just acting but often times that is not the case. In films similar to Nightmare on Elm Street, Child’s Play, Cabin in the Wood, and The Exorcist, the audience is suppose to receive a reaction that is almost suppose to haunt them. It is no surprise that horror movies are not meant to watch alone because it can and will patronize a person. Viewer’s discretion is often advised and should be taken into consideration before pressing play on any frightful motion picture. A person can be truly be effected by a movie to the point of insanity and great fear.

These two films are by far noted as Horror legacies that have influenced not only the cinematic realm of existence, but also culture as a whole that clearly visualizes

It is a mind boggling phenomenon that a lot of people are fond of horror movies. To determine the inherent mechanism, Stephen King, the leading role in the field of modern horror fiction, indited this article "Why we crave horror movies?" He analyzes with artful inditing skills from psychological perspective the possible reasons driving people to optically canvass horror movies. In this article, Stephen King provides several explications to why people like horror movies. The simple and conspicuous reasons include that people want to show that they are valiant or they assure themselves that they are absolutely dull compared with the deviant ones in horror movies. A more paramount and implicit reason, according to King, is that people go to have fun because

Horror films have been around long since the 1890s, slowly gaining the following we now see today. The horror genre has continued to gain popularity with each passing year. Yet, comparing the films of today to those of the past, we can see a large number of differences that continue to evolve. Although there are examples of the horror genre found many years prior, director Alfred Hitchcock, also known as “The Master of Suspense”, highlighted many of the common horror formulas that are still prevalent within the genre today. Arguably one of, if not the most well-known Hitchcock film, Psycho (1960), captured the very essence of the horror genre, and grabbed audiences by their throats. From the characters to the music, each element of the film

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).

The audience becomes immersed and experiences what the character is as well. One genre of film that audiences seem to put themselves in the position of the character is horror. Cynthia M. King and Nora Hourani (2007) state, “acts of mayhem and horror may create sensory delight, aesthetic enjoyment of destruction, novelty, fascination at the violation of social norms and/or thrills that appeal to sensation seekers… Other theorists suggest that vicariously sharing the horror experienced by film characters allows viewers to cathartically purge or validate their own fear” (474). People have different motivations for why they watch horror films. Due to this, the endings of horror films have an influence on the film enjoyment among the viewers (King and Hourani, 477). They identify two watcher types of horror films. Thrill-watchers enjoy being scared by horror via their empathy for the protagonist, while gore-watchers enjoy the destructiveness of horror (King and Hourani, 477). Thrill-watchers seem to be emotionally involved and like the feeling of excitement or terror while watching horror films. Gore-watchers like watching horror films because of the vicious, graphic acts and the blood, torture, and death that is being shown. Horror movies usually attract an audience because of the plot and the villain that is being present, but horror films mostly need special effects

The horror movies of the past ten years of so have tended to be more violently graphic and visceral - a reflection of modern times, perhaps. Think of the blood and gore, of the violent deaths at regular intervals in such movies as the Friday the Thirteenth series, I Know

Why is it that some people enjoy a scary movie and others think that they are too scary or gruesome? Horror movies have been around since the 1960s. Some of those movies actually come from a story that was made up to scare little kids. People would make up a scary story and the parent’s would tell their children the stories to keep them from doing something they didn’t want them to do, but not all of the stories are made up. Some of these stories actually are based off of a true story or something that happened in real life and the characters were changed so that they wouldn’t reveal identities of the people involved.