A Critical Study of Horror Films - Week 5

This week I am reviewing The Chain Letter

As horrors go to me this is a fall back to the late 80's. The shock and gore style that brought us Friday the 13th and Nighmare on Elm Street. There are so many holes in this movie that you have to not think to much about what is going on. The release of this movie in 2010 was at the height of the Chain Emails that plagued everyone and that is what the directors and writers were depending on for the sucess of this movie. This movie made so little of an impression that I won't be upset if I don't have to watch it again.

A Critical Study of Horror Films - Week 4

This week we looked at the use of Mise-En-Scene. Each movie style uses Mise-En-Scene to make aspects of each Genre stand out. As a Horror movie is developing the different parts of Mise-En-Scene play a major role. The use of props and settings build the location, driving up the sense of apprehension for the audience. Costuming, hair and make-up define the characters so that we as the viewers know who is the victim and who is the villain/monster.  Facial Expressions & Body Language - This aspect of Mise-En-Scene brings out the responses to a scene and often mirrors the reactions and feelings that as an audience we feel.  Without the right lighting and color a horror goes from being terrifying to just gore and shock. The lighting makes the scenes stand out by giving the impression of a hidden threat. Positioning of characters/objects within the frame - This is an aspect that is as varied in the sun genres of the horror Genre as it is when comparing Horror to comedy or even a romance. It all depends on the sub-genre that you are seeing. The positioning of the villain or the lack of the villain in the shot along with symbolic items varies.

Darkness Falls

Darkeness Falls is a prime movie to see the use of Mise-En_Scene when the discussion of lighting and coloring is the topic This movie plays on the boogy man or in this case the Boogie woman in the dark. The movie has the storyline of a wrong done an the vengence that is saught by the villan. The lighting in this movie is defining for all the scenes. You know when there is about the be a scary moment based on the lighting. Although there are a lot of the remaining aspects of Mise-En-Scene used this movie could have been even more scary if they had been used more.

A Critical Study of Horror Films - Evil Dead II

Study of Evil Dead II

Unless you have seen the original Evil Dead there are several scenes in the movie that will make no sense.

However for Horror sequels this is one of the best.

This is a Horror that falls across two Sub Genres and is often misundertood.

Sub-Genre 1 -Horror Comedy
There is a lot of symbolism in this movie that you really don't catch in the 1st or second watching. A parody follow up to Evil Dead, Evil Dead II takes the action and graphic content and pokes fun at several 1970's and 1980's films.
Showing a constant stream of blood and violence the director still manages to hide symbolisym throughout the whole movie. The struggle between good and evil is the main topic. The curiosity that always seems to cause something bad to happen, every horror has it. The vomit scene plays back to the exorcist movies. The "SlapStick" Fight between Ash and his hand. 
The use of Camera angles gave unusual visuals to scenes. The angles of many shots gave the perspective of the attacker and not just the victom. This format made scenes go from scarey to comical and then back to scarey. Lighting efects used to make sudden action and added to camera shots.

Sub-Genre - Slasher
Adding to the theme of demons and possession from Evil Dead, the Director ramps up the gore in this sequel. With the combination of an ax, a shotgun and a chainssaw the main character Ash defends himself and attachs an demonic attach. Killing and slashing his way through attackers / victims.

A Critical Study of Horror Films - Week 3

Playing a lot of catch up and staying on track is a little hard.
This weeks reading is

Read in Doc Sharing the following:

Camera Shots and Movement

Read in Webliography

7 Shots Horror Film Makers Should Never be Allowed to Use Again

Top 10 Hand Held Horrors

and to watching

Summer's Moon.
 

This movie shows a lot of reasons why a movie goes straight to DVD. The story line does have the twists needed to keep a steady flow, but is still fairly predictable.
The movie is also known under the name Summer's Blood and was released in 2009.
After watching this the Sub-Genera could fall into the slasher and also the Pshyco thriller area. There are a lot of traits that lead you to the Psycho thriller vibe. The play on roles, the rise of the expectation as Summer hunts for her lost father only to have the brick wall of a realization that her Father is so far gone that he is the last person she should have been looking for. The Graphic scenes lean toward the Slasher sub Genera and tend to detract from the movie more than support the overall story. In the end the impression is left that really Summer fits right into the family.

A Critical Study of Horror Films - Week 2

This weeks assignment was to watch a trailer from the 1920's and 1930's
I chose
The Mummy, the Boris Karloff Movie (1932).

http://youtu.be/1i6xNScZRP4

The movie itself is in black and white and shows a the use of lighting and short shots that help the draw the intended audience into the movie. The Movie trailer hits on a lot of the points for the time that where needed to draw in the audience.

The Reading this week was focused on the Sub Generas of horror.

Ghost andParanormal

Natural Horror

Slasher Horror

Splatter and Torture Horror

Found Footage Horrors

Science Fiction Horrors

Comedy Horrors

Haunted House Horror

Monster Horrors to include Warewolves, Vampires andZombies

Creature Features

Pshyco Horror

Possession and Cult/ Deamonic Horror

Canibalism

Witches and Warlocks

And last but not least

B Movie Horrors

We also looked at the first of the Historical Eras of horror - Universal from 1900s to the 1930s. There are some horrors that actually pre-date this era from the late 1890's but are often lumped into the universal era.

This week I watched the 1^st Horror Feature Film The Student of Prague (1913) - 1st Horror Feature Film - Edgar Allan Poe - Paul Wegener | Devil Deal.

This movie touched on the long standing horror topic of how far would you go to get what you desire. Although this is not listed as one of the Sub-Generes I think it should. There are a lot of movies that fall in the Paranormal, Ghost and Pshyco horrors and Cult horrors that could easily be bulked into what might be called the Deal Horrors.

A Critical Study of Horror Films - Week 1

Codes and Conventions of Horror Films

The codes and conventions of the Film industry dictate the style of a movie. From Comedy to Mystery and Si-fi to Drama they all have different styles that label them. The Horror film style is defined by a unique set of codes and conventions. Although they share several similarities with other styles those designated as Horror are often symbolic and invoke a sense of apprehension and fear.

Weapons both physical and physiological. The settings, often closed in an confining, that give a feeling of no escape. The characters, not always people the horror character picks at the ingrained fears we all have. The sights, blood and gore and often images we are not supposed to be fascinated with. The Sounds, used to build up a scene, making you feel like something is about to happen and setting the stage for shock. The costumes, this aspect can be the most telling about the film and can make all the difference in the believability of the Horror. Finally the lighting, transitioning from bright to dark and foreboding, like the sounds set the moods and build-up.

 

History of the Horror Genre

The History Genre study has started us out with the pre 1920’s with the discussion of the fascination with the with mid 19^th century novelists like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, Robert Louis Stevenson and of course, Edgar Allan Poe. Then the silent movie era of the 1920’s and the 1930’s. We watched the movie: The Cabinet of Dr. Cagliari

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrg73BUxJLI

The film is a Black and White silent movie. I imagine that at it’s debut it was amazing. Looking at the movie for the creativity and lighting, the style is very similar to a lot of the movie of the time. The jumpiness of the scenes leaves you felling like you missed something. The characters are simple and shallow. If it wasn’t for the twist at the end there is very little about the movie that would make it memorable.