When I was young, and knew little about how the world worked, I was frightened by the ideas of monsters in my closet or dolls that come to life while you are asleep. Now that I am older, I have more experience living on Earth, and I know what to expect from it. Likewise, horror genre has grown to create an alternate reality in which one can not assume that what we come to expect of the real world applies in a fictional one: “[The horror genre] must posit an unnatural threat that is outside the realm of normalcy, reality, or history…[with] sympathetic and vulnerable potential victims”(Sipos).As society has grown to expect certain things from a horror film over the years, the horror genre has evolved to counteract that growth in order to provide the audience with the one thing that remains constant in the horror genre, the feeling of fear. The feeling of fear is the one aspect of the genre that defines a horror film: “horror is one of the rare genres that are defined not primarily by period or formal idiosyncrasies, but by the effect they produce in the audience...They all aim at the bodily response of their audience” (Hantke). Throughout the history of the horror genre, parts of the mythology, conventions, and iconography, of the genre that were used to produce the desired response of an audience have changed drastically along with the various cultural changes that occurred during the genre’s history as evidenced by the contrasting and comparable aspects of the horror films,
These have been adapted from the early twentieth century, and have developed a whole series of genre conventions into a familiar variety of scary settings, iconography, and stereotyped characterisation. Audiences have a clear understanding of this, and they use it to
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 arguments presented in this book are clear and organized in a logical manner. Among the different writers whose works are featured in the book, they offer different examples to explore the genre of horror films from different perspectives. The writers also attempt to explain the how modern day horror film are related to certain themes of blood and gore, and the relationships between pornography and horror film among other things.
Wes Craven’s horror movie “Scream”, inspired the gruesome murder of Gina Castillo. Castillo’s sixteen year old son and his fifteen year old cousin killed Gina Castillo. Why would anyone wish to watch the petrifying film, “Scream”? What would trigger a person to take inspiration from the horror movie, “Scream”. Stephen King describes horror as a piece of the human condition. Author of several horror novels, Stephen King wrote an essay titled “Why We Crave Horror.” In this paper he thoroughly explains why the human species craves horror and how it makes humans feel. In this essay, Stephen King precisely claims that humans desire, horror because horror pushes them to face their fears, renew their feelings of normality, and to expose
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.
Everyone loves to watch a good horror film. Whether the effects in the movie are really gory or extremely unsettling, these nail-biting experiences are what give the audience a thrill as they try to peel their eyes away from the screen. The concept of these movies is to give the viewers a good scare, one that will have them glancing over their shoulders or double checking if their doors are locked at night for the next week. This genre has been around since the late nineteenth century, but horror movies did not gain much popularity until the 1930s. Modern day horror films have evolved from its beginnings, but the elements in a horror movie are consistent regardless of time.
People nowadays love being scared in any way, shape or form. Wether it would be ranged from going to an amusement park to a haunted house. In the article King states, “When we pay our four or five bucks and seat ourselves at tenth-row center in a theater showing a horror movie, we are daring the nightmare. To show that we can, that we are not afraid, that we can ride this roller coaster”. In the article King compares horror films to roller coasters, to show that they are similar. They both have their element of surprise, you never know what is coming till it happens. Everyone loves the adrenaline rush they get when they get scared. It leaves them wanting more of what they are getting. Today the most popular type of films are horror, there is always that hype over the new horror film that will be coming out. No matter what the circumstances are, these things are done to
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.
When you think of fear, what do you think of? Do you think of something you are absolutely terrified of and do not want to think about or something else. Fear is programmed in your brain as something you want to stay away from for safety. Like when we touched a hot pan and burned ourselves now we will not do that again for fear of being burned. Mr.King states three claims that we go to horror movies to have fun and that we go to feel normal and the last one That we go to face our fears but is that really true?
Horror movies allow us the experience of intense emotional excitement from the unacceptable actions and their consequences in the films.
When you think of fear, what do you think of? Have you ever been absolutely terrified by something that you become petrified. Your brain is programed to protect you from all threats to your body this protection is known as fear. When we touched a hot pan along with burning ourselves now we will not do that repeatedly for fear of being burned. Mr. King states, three claims that we go to horror movies to have fun also we go to feel normal then at last, we go to face our fears but is that genuinely true?
If there's one sub-genre of hip-hop that I'm not privy too, then it would definitely be horrorcore. Horrorcore, formed in the early 90s, saw rappers bring up horror-themed subject matter in their rhymes, often discussing topics such as serial killing and satan worship. I often find horrorcore rappers to be gimmicky, and reliant on cheap shocks rather than lyrical prowess (Insane Clown Posse has become a definitive act for the genre for these reasons). That said though, the genre certainly has an important place in hip-hop history, and in many ways bridges the gap between late 80s gangsta rap, with hardcore artists of the late 90s. With the success of gangsta rappers like N.W.A. and The Geto Boys, combined with the fact
Imagine the world without fear, where everyone wouldn't be scared of anything, but without fear, you won’t be able to think twice about your decision and you can meet get yourself killed. Fear is always with you can't get rid of it even if you tried fear is a type of nerve and it needs to be exercised. If the horror movie would occur, then you would know what to do in that situation. The horror genre is right for young readers because it's fictional, and was basically young adults were 12-13 years old.
him or her involved in the film - how often have you been watching a
A sixteen-year-old boy sits on the couch and watches a horror movie. Suddenly, a scene where a man stabs a woman emerges on the television screen. The boy is not distressed by this scene because he is used to witnessing a great deal of violence before. He just learned a new idea and increased his criminal expertise. As a result, horror movies inspire copycat crimes. Copycat crimes are defined as those that are “inspired, motivated or modeled after acts that have occurred before in the media” (“Understanding”). The crimes themselves either mirror the inspiring acts or are simply based upon them. Violence and criminal behavior shown in horror movies affect people psychologically and physically. Watching violence in the media desensitizes people to the world around them and enables them to become more familiar with violence and crime. One may conclude that horror movies do not affect them because they watch horror for fun, however, people are unconsciously affected by watching horror movies. Although most people believe horror movies do not impact them, horror movies inspire people to commit copycat crimes in real life because the violence portrayed in the media psychologically damages people and makes them more aware of violence.