HORROR IN MEDIA
A Creative Research Project
For the Creative research Module on the GDPM course I have chosen to take a wide focus view on the horror genre in media.
As a fan of horror since youth I have found that in the last decade or so horror; for me at lest, has become stale. Part of my intention with this project is to fathom whether horror in modern media has has itself become stale or if it is myself who has become desensitized. The research I will do here will focus on horror as fiction.. I will not be researching real world horror such as murder, war, disease or famine.
I have stated previously that I do not find the horror in horror media anymore but there are one or two instances that have 'gave me the creeps' and I will be analyzing why and how they worked for me. At this point I have no set end product in mind but I will be using this research to produce something.
Pitch presentation
This is my pitch for the project presented to the class, and Tutors William Huber, David Lyons, Brian Robinson in a PechaKucha presentation style on 22 September 2014.
Slide 1
My research Project on horror I hope to cast a wide net over the subject then gradually reel it in to see what rises from the depths
Slide 2
Horror has been my go to genre for movies, writing and games. From an early age I was raised on Hammer horror and the Universal Monster movies with a dash of Texas chainsaws, otherworldly threats and Native American burial sites.
Slide 3
For this project I will be researching horror in various mediums. Movies, literature, art and games. Using a mix of first hand experience, published papers and analysis on the subject, interviews and questionnaires and folklore.
Slide 4
I have already started to try to get a feel for what people find scary in horror media. I have sat with friends and family asking "what was the scariest movie/book/game you experienced?" and "what was it about it that was so scary?"
Slide 5
I'd like to ask now for help from your good selves, especially from those not raised in Scotland. I am looking for scary stories and urban legends that may be specific to where you are from.. I may also approach you and ask you to fill out a quick questionnaire in white space. Any help would be appreciated.
Slide 6
To begin, I have tried to categorize 3 main types regardless of media and just based on initial thoughts.
Body horror- Mutation Threat to self. Characters
Environment horror- Settings, music, architecture, history.
Social Horror- Apocalypse, alien invasion, zombies etc...
Slide 7
I am trying to make this project as organic a process as possible. As the project develops, some lines of inquiry may be dropped or redefined, some may lead in completely different and unexpected directions.
Slide 8
I will state here this is a research into horror in media and not anything else. I will not be holding seances, turning tables or questioning Ouija boards. If you are a member of a coven, a secret black magician, a my little pony fan or closet serial killer, I don't want to know.
Slide 9
So the idea here is to take this wide subject and assumed catigorys and break them down look at the pieces and break them down again. Take those elements and others I discover and build something horrible.
Slide 10
Last thing to say, at the moment the final product is a nebulous mass locked somewhere in this jumble of uncertainty potential and fear. Not in conscious thought but in the spaces between. That is to say, I have no idea, i'll get back to you on that one.
Presentation Feedback
David Lyons
An early question I might ask myself if I was doing this is 'Why?'. Why the interest, why the pursuit, why are you doing it?
I don't have that fascination with horror, It sounds like you might. There is something in asking 'Why do you have that fascination?' What it is you find interesting and how that may apply to you as a creative person.
William Huber
Im really interested in what you just pointed out that in a sense we just have horror ironically now. that the tropes are so reproduced that images are so broadcast and instantly available to us that we can go to You Tube and jump to the scariest bit in the film. What that does and how you began the presentation talking about the nostalgia of these older films and an asthetic fear that you cant get anymore. That story is, to me, really interesting. I wonder if there is something you can do with that.
Brian Robinson
My perception of horror is psychological horror, it might not be something that interests you but for me the idea of after the trauma of the first world war for example the idea of externalizing that through monsters and fantasy.
Where to begin...
'The Philosophy of Horror or Paradoxes of the Heart'
by Noel Carroll
I have been able to get a copy of the book 'The Philosophy of Horror or Paradoxes of the Heart' written by Noel Carroll. I had heard this book referenced a few times but had never read it myself. I am not the fastest of readers so may not read it all. I hope this will bring some new angles in my research.
Looking at the more classic art from the likes of Hieronymus Bosch and John Henry Fuseli
'Revelations' from the Bible, Victorian horror of the 19th Century, the weird fiction of HP Lovecraft in the 20s, Stephen King in the late 20th Century and horror books today.
Film
From early cinema with 'Nosferatu' through Universals rogues gallery of Monsters to 'Hammer' horror, 'Splatter' movies to the post modern angle of Scream.
Games
I hope to cover early horror games, survival horror and where the horror genre is today.
I hope to collect some stories from fellow students and older family members that pertain more to a sort of oral tradition of horror.
I will look at what is called 'creepypasta' on the internet. This seems to be a sort of collection of crowed sourced media and websites and has had at least one star emerge in the shape of 'Slender man'.
RESEARCH
Horror
pronounced hor-or
[Middle English horrour, from Old French Horreur, from Latin horror, from horrere, to tremble.]
1.
a. an intense, painful feeling of repugnance and fear
b. A state or condition marked by this feeling: stood in horror looking at the scene.
2.
An intense dislike or abhorrence: had a horror of being forced to play charades at the party.
3.
A cause of horror. "The creature that had seemed a horror in its box was, up close, a figure of sorrow"(Paul Theroux)
4.
A genre of fiction or other artistic work envoking suspence and horror, especialy through depiction of grousome or supernatural elements.
5.
Informal One that is unplesent, ugly or disagreeable. That hat is a horror
6.
horrors informal Intense nervous depression or anxiety. Often used with the
Source
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/horror
The Origins of Horror
The general accepted start of horror as an art form is the 18th century with the spread of the Gothic genre there are 4 basic defined types of Gothic
Historical - Set in the past with no supernatural elements
Natural - Has a supernatural event but then has non supernatural explanation
Supernatural - elements of horror and the supernatural events and explanations
Equivocal - Shows supernatural elements but with an unreliable narrator.
Today, horror does not really fit snugly into these categories and many movies or stories draw from more than one.
The Horror Critique
Horror, The Film Reader
By Mark Jancovich
First Published 2002 by Routledge
The American Nightmare
horror in the 70's
By Robin Wood
http://www.blue-sunshine.com/tl_files/images/Week1-Wood-AmericanNightmare.pdf
During my research on horror theory I have come across the film critic Robin Wood. Woods analysis of horror movies tries to get at the very heart of the horror movie watching experience.
His statement "Normality is threatened by the monster." pretty well sums up the basis of horror as well as other genres of movies. The word 'monster' could easily be replaced by terrorist, neighbors, criminals, family or any other 'other' a and be true most genres.
One thing that has come up while researching and talking with people about the subject, it was even raised in the feedback after my presentation was why have a fascination about it. Taking movies as a whole as fantasy and escapism and questioning how anyone can enjoy these horror is answered by Wood.
Wood said dreams are"the embodiment of repressed desires, tensions,fears that our conscious mind rejects."(Wood30 souece below) rather than escapism horror offers us a chance to explore and critique the world by examining the repressions on it and ourselves. he also states "the true subject of the horror genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civilization represses or oppresses."(Wood 28). In horror, the 'monster' or the other players can be the 'Other'.
. Wood says "Otherness represents that which bourgeois ideology cannot recognise or accept, but must deal with"(Wood 27). He lists 2 ways 1) rejecting or annihilating it and 2) Rendering it safe by assimilating it.
In the theory of the 'Other' the 'Other' serves as an example of what not to be; one of 'them'.Over time what 'other' is, is based on cultural norms of the time. The monster can be a analogue of fears or problems at the time. Strangers, foreigners, homosexuals, women, the poor, the rich, war, nuclear power have all spawned movie monsters at one time or another and all dealt with the issues of the time.
Why Horror?
By Noel Carroll
Source for connivance
http://www.blue-sunshine.com/tl_files/images/Week6-Carroll-WhyHorror.pdf
Noel Carroll is an American philosopher known for contemporary philosophy of art and especially his work in the philosophy of film. He critiques horror from a cognitive perspective, interested more in how the cognitive mind makes us interested in this genre. He asks "Why Horror?"
Carroll suggests we need to understand why we like these movies to understand what the horror actually means. To him, "what attracts us to this sort of horror—which seems to me the most pervasive7—the whole structure and staging of curiosity in the narrative, in the virtue of the experience of the extended play of fascination it affords" (Carroll 41). More simply, facination of horror is the human curiosity in the situation itself.
Unlike Wood above, Carrol sys that horror is not about conscious or unconscious or repression but how the 'monsters' " violate our classifiicationry scheme" (Carrol 36). This makes the monster fascinating and disgusting all at the same time but because the monster is not directly coming at us the safety of that position piques our curiosity.
Key to the genre is an emotional responce, ideally the viewer should be having the same reponces as the characters The cognitive factor that Carroll talks about is the knowledge that backs the fear. Without the mental understanding of 'if this monster was real and it was coming after me it would kill me' there is no feeling/emotion therefore no effect.
The Horror in Frame
In this section I am looking at Horror in classic paintings.
The idea of this section is to study how horror can be expressed in a single image, some concepts in other media horror is thought to need build up and suspense to create a feeling of foreboding or tension. Obviously in a painting, an elaborate back story to let the viewer empathize with the victim and allow them to feel something in the events that are happening is not really an option. A painting is usually a snap shot in time so all information needs to be conveyed very precisely.
In saying that some classic images are based on bible story or Greek mythology so the viewer may know the story and now have the image to put it in context.
The Changeling(1780)
Henry Fuseli
A mother discovering her baby has been stolen by a witch and replaced with something monstrous.One of the deepest seated fears of parents, that of not being able to protect there child. The theme of monstrous or swapped children can be found in work like
Omen
Rossmerys baby
The Midwitch Cookoos
Silent Hill
The Nightmare(1781)
Henry Fuseli
This strange picture is apparently a representation of a type of sleep paralysis, a state between sleep and wakefulness where the body is still paralised as in sleep but the mind is awake. This condition can be accompanied by the feeling of a malevolent presence in the room.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis
An Incubus leaving two sleeping women(1793)
Henry Fuseli
All animals are at their most vulnerable when they sleep. These images play on that fear of night visitors and vulnerability. With the nightmare seems also to be a fantastical image of the 'sleep paralysis'
Night-Hag Visiting Lapland Witches(1796)
Henry Fuseli
Saturn Devouring One Of His Children(1819-1823)
Francisco Goya
This image is taken from the Greek origin story of the god Zeus. His father ate his children as he knew one day, one of them would usurp him as he did his father.
Hieronymous Bosh
Mutants, Demons, torture, Bosh has everything..
Comments
My favorite of of this selection of artists is Bosh. The works are epic in scale with so much detail. Obviously religiously themed, the horror, the satire and even the comedy in some of the detail is great. The mashing of humanoid and animal to convey the horrors of hell make some great and unique characters.
The question of what type of horror this is remains. Would we class this a jump scare or is there mental build up and reveal as your eye catches an image then you inspect it closer to actually process it?
The idea of this section is to study how horror can be expressed in a single image, some concepts in other media horror is thought to need build up and suspense to create a feeling of foreboding or tension. Obviously in a painting, an elaborate back story to let the viewer empathize with the victim and allow them to feel something in the events that are happening is not really an option. A painting is usually a snap shot in time so all information needs to be conveyed very precisely.
In saying that some classic images are based on bible story or Greek mythology so the viewer may know the story and now have the image to put it in context.
The Changeling(1780)
Henry Fuseli
A mother discovering her baby has been stolen by a witch and replaced with something monstrous.One of the deepest seated fears of parents, that of not being able to protect there child. The theme of monstrous or swapped children can be found in work like
Omen
Rossmerys baby
The Midwitch Cookoos
Silent Hill
The Nightmare(1781)
Henry Fuseli
This strange picture is apparently a representation of a type of sleep paralysis, a state between sleep and wakefulness where the body is still paralised as in sleep but the mind is awake. This condition can be accompanied by the feeling of a malevolent presence in the room.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis
An Incubus leaving two sleeping women(1793)
Henry Fuseli
All animals are at their most vulnerable when they sleep. These images play on that fear of night visitors and vulnerability. With the nightmare seems also to be a fantastical image of the 'sleep paralysis'
Night-Hag Visiting Lapland Witches(1796)
Henry Fuseli
Saturn Devouring One Of His Children(1819-1823)
Francisco Goya
This image is taken from the Greek origin story of the god Zeus. His father ate his children as he knew one day, one of them would usurp him as he did his father.
Hieronymous Bosh
Mutants, Demons, torture, Bosh has everything..
Comments
My favorite of of this selection of artists is Bosh. The works are epic in scale with so much detail. Obviously religiously themed, the horror, the satire and even the comedy in some of the detail is great. The mashing of humanoid and animal to convey the horrors of hell make some great and unique characters.
The question of what type of horror this is remains. Would we class this a jump scare or is there mental build up and reveal as your eye catches an image then you inspect it closer to actually process it?
The Horror in Ink
A selection of horror themed classical poetry and some classic Horror novels. I have purposefully sought out older examples as I suspect part of the problem with modern horror is that it takes it influence from writers of the 1970's onward like Stephen King.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1739-1832)
Faust
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/faustidx.html
A man sells his soul to the devil
Samuel Taylor Coldridge (1772-1834)
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMezoGXOhlk
An old sailor stops a man on the way ot a wedding and tells him a tail of the sea.
Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849)
The Raven
http://www.heise.de/ix/raven/Literature/Lore/TheRaven.html
One desparate mans encounter with a raven.
Robert Browning (1812-1889)
Childe Ronald to the dark tower came
http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/browning/section8.rhtml
The sights and sounds of a young mans journey to the dark tower
Fitz James Obrien (1828-1862)
What was it?
http://blog.oup.com/authors/fitz-james-obrien/
Robert Burns (1759-1796)
Tam o' Shanter
http://www.robertburns.org.uk/Assets/Poems_Songs/tamoshanter.htm
A slightly humorous tale of a man who stays too late and gets too drunk at an inn. This quickly turns for the worse when he stops near an old ruin.
Poetry
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1739-1832)
Faust
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/faustidx.html
A man sells his soul to the devil
Samuel Taylor Coldridge (1772-1834)
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMezoGXOhlk
An old sailor stops a man on the way ot a wedding and tells him a tail of the sea.
Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849)
The Raven
http://www.heise.de/ix/raven/Literature/Lore/TheRaven.html
One desparate mans encounter with a raven.
Robert Browning (1812-1889)
Childe Ronald to the dark tower came
http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/browning/section8.rhtml
The sights and sounds of a young mans journey to the dark tower
Fitz James Obrien (1828-1862)
What was it?
http://blog.oup.com/authors/fitz-james-obrien/
Robert Burns (1759-1796)
Tam o' Shanter
http://www.robertburns.org.uk/Assets/Poems_Songs/tamoshanter.htm
A slightly humorous tale of a man who stays too late and gets too drunk at an inn. This quickly turns for the worse when he stops near an old ruin.
Short Story
Ambrose Beirce
Most works can be found here
Ambrose Beirce
Whisperer in the Darkness
At the Mountains of Madness
The Call of Cthulhu
All By H.P.Lovecraft
All By H.P.Lovecraft
Most works can be found here
http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/
The Collected works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 1
All By Ambrose Bierce
Kindle e-book,
Can be found here
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13541/13541-h/13541-h.htm
Dracula
By Bram Stoker
Kindle e-book. Voltage Spike
Can be found here
http://literature.org/authors/stoker-bram/dracula/
Can be found here
http://literature.org/authors/stoker-bram/dracula/
Comments
I have really enjoyed researching this part. Some I had already read but finding the poetry and some of the imaginary and descriptions has really caught my attention. I think the language really brings the subject to life; even though some of it I needed to look up the meaning of, and adds to the overall effect.
I do feel that modern horror written and film gets its influence from a smaller pool than is available, I think it really worth while to go further back to read the writings that influenced them or even the work that influence them.
The Horror in Lights
As part of my research I have chosen a few movies that have stood out to me over the years. Although I have seen them previously I will re watch them to try and figure out what it was that made them stand out.
Generally accepted, the first horror movie was Le Manoir du Diable in 1896 but horror movies did not really begin untill the 1920. In Germany, the expressionist movement experimented with horror and films like Nosferatu(1922) were produced.
In America In the1930s Universal and RKO begin to make gothic style horror movies like Dracula and Frankenstein.
The British Company Hammer among others begin to produce horror with their own spins on the horror genre in the 1960s.
In the 1950's/60's the Horror diversifies away from its gothic roots with the concept of the end of the world and demonic or religious based horror. In the 1960 the emergance what we now know a horror movies with Hitchcock's Psycho(1960) and Romero's Night of the Living Dead(1968) and others. Movies at the time began to get more bloody and more disturbing and would keep on this track for the next 15 -20 years.
Warning
I have included scenes from the movies found on You Tube, viewer discretion advised.
Le Manoir du Diable(1896)
(The House of the Devil or
The Haunted Castle)
Writer: Georges Mellies
Director: Georges Mellies
Full Movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw8bzC33CGY
Considered one of the first horror movies this silent film shows many of the early special effects Mellies is famed for.
The devil disguised as a bat flies into a castle, conjuring imps and a woman from a pot he begins to terrorize a guard with spirits and apparitions. The guard eventually chases him back with a crucifix..
Themes
Temptation
Black magic
The Exorcist(1973)
Writer:: William Peter Blatty
Director:William Friedkin
Warner Bros
Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iS59iV2Ffs
The daughter of an actress is possessed by a malevolent entity. The loss of innocence in the 12 year old is harrowing, the vile verbal abuse, and acts, and contortions that the spirit makes the the girl do is shocking. The movie builds to a battle of good verses evil when a priest and his assistant try to perform an exorcism.
Themes
Possession
Good vs Evil
Loss of innocence
Loss of faith
Parents losing of control of their children
The 'spider walk' The possessed child Regan walks bent over backwards down the stairs
Poltergeist activity and blasphemous sexual self mutilation.
The exorsism battles
Compilation of scenes sourced from You Tube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAVcYYTVJTY
The Haunting (1963)
Writer: Shirley Jackson
Director: Robert Wise
Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeAzGxWlEcg
A paranormal investigator and his invited guests to stay at a reportedly haunted house. Famed for its brilliant use of sound and camera work this movie shows no monster or ghosts. The only effects in the movie were a door that bent and buckled as if something was trying to get in and a spiral staircase that shook and rattled. The cause of the phenomena is attributed to one of the guests who has psychic abilities, These ability's and the fact that she has a lot of psychological problems due to her upbringing cause the assaults blamed on the house.
Themes
Haunted House
Mental health
Psychic ability
Scenes
The breathing door
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQxyaI74v7U
Holding hands
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sog3etUwtSk
Poltergeist (1982)
Writer: Steven Speilberg, Michael Grais
Director: Tobe Hooper
Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hQkBLrd1rE
A young family move to a new house to find they are not the only ones present in the house. In this movie the molevolent spirit seems to be coming through the TV and attracted to the youngest daughter.The family are soon under full assault from the spirits leading to some horrible scenes involving a tree and another with a murderous clown. The daughter is eventualy kidnapped by one particularly nasty spirit and must be rescued from the spirit realm.
Themes
Malevolent spirits
Possession of inanimate objects
Child under threat
Scenes
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Writers: Kim Henkle, Tobe Hooper
Director: Tobe Hooper
Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs3981DoINw
A trip to grandfathers house sees 5 friends hunted by a chainsaw wielding maniac and his cannibalistic family.The teeans are systematically hunted and killed with only one survivor. After the horrific events of the most horrific parody of a family dinner This movie was billed as being based on true events and was banned in Britain for years as a 'Video Nasty' due to the gore and brutal nature of the murders.
Themes
Serial killers
Cannibalism
Inbreeding
Scenes
Family dinner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mqOjE9xJ7I
No escape
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMbkeQpFW4k
Alien (1979)
Writers: Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett
Director: Ridley Scott
Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjLamj-b0I8
The crew of a spacecraft is awakened by a distress beacon, investigating the cry from help brings a murderous alien being aboard their ship. The alien cannot be killed as it has acid blood that will burn straight through the ship, the crew would not be equipped to do anything anyway.The basic structure is part haunted house in space part slasher movie but the art style sets it apart and brings new horror to the table. The alien ship and alien itself is designed by the artist HR Giger. Gigers work is very sexually suggestive and this carries over to the design of the monster. One of the crew is impregnated by the alien then goes through a horrific birthing.
Themes
Killer aliens
Alien technology
Isolation
Rape
Normal day gone bad
Scenes
Alien birth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRX2ntm2rXQ
Alien ship
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDRLtgr2T9E
Saw (2004)
Writers: Leigh Whannell, James Wan
Director: James Wan
Lions Gate Films
Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCZp5v8V-94
Compilation of scary scenes from movies found on You Tube
Channel: Z0MBIEBRY36
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awI5OZowRmQ
The Horror in Code
This section was to look into horror games but as my project has evolved I have let this section slide as most are influenced from writings and movies anyway. I do not think this will bring much more insight for the project.
Resident Evil Series
Silent Hill series
Outlast
The Evil Within
Resident Evil Series
Silent Hill series
Outlast
The Evil Within
P.T.
The Horror that Spreads
Urban Legends
Urban legends would be scary stories told around campfires or or other sutile settings. Usually they have a moral or lesson and act a cautionary tales but not always.
Tuna and Sweetcorn
One I can remember doing the rounds at my high school was One I do not really want to go into great detail about as it was very sexual explicit. Basically,it involved a girl and her boyfriend who did a bit sexual experimentation with a bowl of tuna and sweet corn. The story ended with the girl having stomach pains and finding maggots coming out of her nether regions.
Zack Morris
A weird one was that the guy who played Zack Morris in the TV series 'Saved by the Bell' had died. In later years this was found out to be completely false but I also found out that the story had done the rounds in other schools as well. It was the age before internet so there was no way anyone could easily check the story.
The Horror in Web Form
Introducing 'CreepyPasta'
'Creepypasta' is basically the internet age version of 'Urban Legends', tales, myths and in some cases videos of unexplained or horrific situations. Urban legends would be scary stories told around campfires or or other sutile settings. Usually they have a moral or lesson and act a cautionary tales but not always.
In general, the 'crreepypasta' has lost this cautionary tale angle in favor of of just trying to freak people out.
SCP Foundation
Launched on the internet in 2008, the SCP (Secure, Contain, Protect) Foundation is a popular creative fiction writing website. This kind of material is known on the internet as 'creepypasta'.
http://www.scp-wiki.net/
The premise is that the SCP Foundation is a secret organisation working for world governments to study and contain entities, locations and objects that defy natural law.
Random You Tube videos
This is a collection of videos found on You Tube of reported horrors caught on camera. Some are from programs and some are weird videos uploaded by users. No matter if they are real or faked they are still a good source of insparation.
Title: The scariest Videos on the Internet
Channel: SFM - scary content
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcseQc-4UgY
Title: Top 10 Scariest Creepypastas
Channel: WatchMojo.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fey4kU8Ldho
Title: The 10 Freekiest Creepypastas Ever Told
Channel: Mathew Santoro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOnB2fWQz0w
Second Presentation
These are the slides I will be presenting.I have included pictures between the info slides.When I am presenting these pictures will only quickly flash on the screen I do not think it will have any effect but the idea is that these images are quite iconic and sequentially show the monsters or killers getting closer and closer. Is I have said I do not believe it will even be noticed but I believe it is a cool concept.
The Horror Critique
Horror, The Film Reader
By Mark Jancovich
First Published 2002 by Routledge
The American Nightmare
horror in the 70's
By Robin Wood
http://www.blue-sunshine.com/tl_files/images/Week1-Wood-AmericanNightmare.pdf
During my research on horror theory I have come across the film critic Robin Wood. Woods analysis of horror movies tries to get at the very heart of the horror movie watching experience.
His statement "Normality is threatened by the monster." pretty well sums up the basis of horror as well as other genres of movies. The word 'monster' could easily be replaced by terrorist, neighbors, criminals, family or any other 'other' a and be true most genres.
One thing that has come up while researching and talking with people about the subject, it was even raised in the feedback after my presentation was why have a fascination about it. Taking movies as a whole as fantasy and escapism and questioning how anyone can enjoy these horror is answered by Wood.
Wood said dreams are"the embodiment of repressed desires, tensions,fears that our conscious mind rejects."(Wood30 source below) rather than escapism horror offers us a chance to explore and critique the world by examining the repressions on it and ourselves. he also states "the true subject of the horror genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civilization represses or oppresses."(Wood 28). In horror, the 'monster' or the other players can be the 'Other'.
. Wood says "Otherness represents that which bourgeois ideology cannot recognise or accept, but must deal with"(Wood 27). He lists 2 ways 1) rejecting or annihilating it and 2) Rendering it safe by assimilating it.
In the theory of the 'Other' the 'Other' serves as an example of what not to be; one of 'them'.Over time what 'other' is, is based on cultural norms of the time. The monster can be a analogue of fears or problems at the time. Strangers, foreigners, homosexuals, women, the poor, the rich, war, nuclear power have all spawned movie monsters at one time or another and all dealt with the issues of the time.
Why Horror?
By Noel Carroll
Source for connivance
http://www.blue-sunshine.com/tl_files/images/Week6-Carroll-WhyHorror.pdf
Noel Carroll is an American philosopher known for contemporary philosophy of art and especially his work in the philosophy of film. He critiques horror from a cognitive perspective, interested more in how the cognitive mind makes us interested in this genre. He asks "Why Horror?"
Carroll suggests we need to understand why we like these movies to understand what the horror actually means. To him, "what attracts us to this sort of horror—which seems to me the most pervasive7—the whole structure and staging of curiosity in the narrative, in the virtue of the experience of the extended play of fascination it affords" (Carroll 41). More simply, fascination of horror is the human curiosity in the situation itself.
Unlike Wood above, Carrol sys that horror is not about conscious or unconscious or repression but how the 'monsters' " violate our classifiicationry scheme" (Carrol 36). This makes the monster fascinating and disgusting all at the same time but because the monster is not directly coming at us the safety of that position piques our curiosity.
Key to the genre is an emotional responce, ideally the viewer should be having the same responses as the characters The cognitive factor that Carroll talks about is the knowledge that backs the fear. Without the mental understanding of 'if this monster was real and it was coming after me it would kill me' there is no feeling/emotion therefore no effect.
Horror Questionnaire
I have made a questionnaire asking several question an horror. I will distribute this to family, friends and work collegues to try and get an idea of what other people find scary. This questionnaire is completely anonymous but I have asked gender and age.
Sample.
Gender:
Age:
What is the most recently released scary
movie you have watched?
What or who is the scariest movie villain?
What is scarier to you, Ghosts, Monsters or
Psychos?
Have you ever read a book that has scared
you? What was it?
Have you ever played a game that scared
you? What was it?
The Results
1.
Gender: Male
Age: 35
1. Would you class yourself as a fan of
horror?
Yes
2. What is the most recently released scary
movie you have watched? Did it scare you?
Paranormal Activity 4
No
3. What was the first scary movie you
experienced? What about it scared you?
Nightmare on Elm Street
Nursery rhyme. Freddy himself and him coming in dreams
4. What is the scariest movie you have
watched? What about it scared you?
The Exorcist
Religious themes. Unbeatable Evil
5. What or who is the scariest movie villain?
Kane (from Poltergeist 2)
6. What is scarier to you, Ghosts, Monsters or
Psychos?
Ghosts
7. Have you ever read a book that has scared
you? What was it?
The Pariah
8. Have you ever played a game that scared
you? What was it?
Silent Hill
2.
Gender: Male
Age: 25
1. Would you class yourself as a fan of
horror?
Not really
2. What is the most recently released scary
movie you have watched? Did it scare you?
The Babadook
No
3. What was the first scary movie you
experienced? What about it scared you?
Alien
Monster killing people
4. What is the scariest movie you have
watched? What about it scared you?
28 Days later
Running Zombies
5. What or who is the scariest movie villain?
Lice (From Cloverfield)
6. What is scarier to you, Ghosts, Monsters or
Psychos?
Monsters
7. Have you ever read a book that has scared
you? What was it?
No
8. Have you ever played a game that scared
you? What was it?
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
3.
Gender: Female
Age: 29
1. Would you class yourself as a fan of
horror?
Horror games but not horror movies or books
2. What is the most recently released scary
movie you have watched? Did it scare you?
Silent hill Revelation
No
3. What was the first scary movie you
experienced? Did it scare you?
Dawn of the Dead
No
4. What is the scariest movie you have
watched?
Sinister
Atmosphere
5. What or who is the scariest movie villain?
Pennywise the clown
6. What is scarier to you, Ghosts, Monsters or
Psychos?
Psychos
More real world
7. Have you ever read a book that has scared
you? What was it?
The Relic
The monster itself.
8. Have you ever played a game that scared
you? What was it?
Silent Hill 2
4.
Gender: Male
Age: 30
1. Would you class yourself as a fan of
horror?
Yes
2. What is the most recently released scary
movie you have watched? Did it scare you?
Silent Hill revelations
No
3. What was the first scary movie you
experienced? Did it scare you?
Ghoulies 2
No
4. What is the scariest movie you have
watched?
Poltergeist 3
Setting and baddie coming through reflective surfaces
5. What or who is the scariest movie villain?
The Thing
It can be anyone and you wouldn’t know.
6. What is scarier to you, Ghosts, Monsters or
Psychos?
Ghosts
Ghosts are unstoppable. The rest can be stopped.
7. Have you ever read a book that has scared
you? What was it?
The outsider by HP Lovecraft
Build up and the unknown
8. Have you ever played a game that scared
you? What was it?
Project Zero
5.
Gender: male
Age: 67
1. Would you class yourself as a fan of
horror?
Yes
2. What is the most recently released scary
movie you have watched? Did it scare you?
World War Z
Jump scares
3. What was the first scary movie you
experienced? Did it scare you?
Universals The Mummy
Yes
4. What is the scariest movie you have
watched?
Paranormal activity
5. What or who is the scariest movie villain?
Dracula
Can turn into a bat
6. What is scarier to you, Ghosts, Monsters or
Psychos?
Psychos
Unpredictability, should be able to reason with them but
cant.
7. Have you ever read a book that has scared
you? What was it?
World War Z
Could not finish it.
8. Have you ever played a game that scared
you? What was it?
Ouija board
6.
Gender: male
Age: 17
1. Would you class yourself as a fan of
horror?
2. What is the most recently released scary
movie you have watched? Did it scare you?
3. What was the first scary movie you
experienced? What about it scared you?
4. What is the scariest movie you have
watched? What about it scared you?
5. What or who is the scariest movie villain?
6. What is scarier to you, Ghosts, Monsters or
Psychos?
7. Have you ever read a book that has scared
you? What was it?
8. Have you ever played a game that scared
you? What was it?
7
Gender: male
1. Would you class yourself as a fan of
horror?
2. What is the most recently released scary
movie you have watched? Did it scare you?
3. What was the first scary movie you
experienced? What about it scared you?
4. What is the scariest movie you have
watched? What about it scared you?
5. What or who is the scariest movie villain?
6. What is scarier to you, Ghosts, Monsters or
Psychos?
7. Have you ever read a book that has scared
you? What was it?
8. Have you ever played a game that scared
you? What was it?
8
Gender: Male
1. Would you class yourself as a fan of
horror?
No
2. What is the most recently released scary
movie you have watched? Did it scare you?
Cant Remember
3. What was the first scary movie you
experienced?
The Hills Have Eyes
4. What is the scariest movie you have
watched?
Frankenstein’s Army
5. What or who is the scariest movie villain?
Jigsaw
6. What is scarier to you, Ghosts, Monsters or
Psychos?
Psychos
7. Have you ever read a book that has scared
you? What was it?
No
8. Have you ever played a game that scared
you? What was it?
No
9
Gender: Female
1. Would you class yourself as a fan of
horror?
Yes
2. What is the most recently released scary
movie you have watched? Did it scare you?
Paranormal Activity 4
3. What was the first scary movie you
experienced? What about it scared you?
A Nightmare on Elm Street
4. What is the scariest movie you have
watched?
A Nightmare on Elm Street
5. What or who is the scariest movie villain?
Freddy Kruger
6. What is scarier to you, Ghosts, Monsters or
Psychos?
Psychos
7. Have you ever read a book that has scared
you? What was it?
No
8. Have you ever played a game that scared
you? What was it?
No
10
Gender: Male
1. Would you class yourself as a fan of
horror?
Yes
2. What is the most recently released scary
movie you have watched? Did it scare you?
Mama
3. What was the first scary movie you
experienced? What about it scared you?
The Ring
4. What is the scariest movie you have
watched?
The Ring
5. What or who is the scariest movie villain?
Girl from the ring (Samara)
6. What is scarier to you, Ghosts, Monsters or
Psychos?
Psychos
7. Have you ever read a book that has scared
you? What was it?
No
8. Have you ever played a game that scared
you? What was it?
No
11
Gender: Female
1. Would you class yourself as a fan of
horror?
No
2. What is the most recently released scary
movie you have watched? Did it scare you?
The Strangers
3. What was the first scary movie you
experienced? What about it scared you?
The Nightmare on Elm Street
4. What is the scariest movie you have
watched?
The Strangers
5. What or who is the scariest movie villain?
Psychos in masks
6. What is scarier to you, Ghosts, Monsters or
Psychos?
Psychos
7. Have you ever read a book that has scared
you? What was it?
Yes. Stephen King’s Desperation and Richard Bachman’s The
Regulator.
8. Have you ever played a game that scared
you? What was it?
Project Zero
8
Gender: Male
Age: 33
1. Would you class yourself as a fan of
horror?
No
2. What is the most recently released scary
movie you have watched? Did it scare you?
Cant Remember
3. What was the first scary movie you
experienced?
The Hills Have Eyes
4. What is the scariest movie you have
watched?
Frankenstein’s Army
5. What or who is the scariest movie villain?
Jigsaw
6. What is scarier to you, Ghosts, Monsters or
Psychos?
Psychos
7. Have you ever read a book that has scared
you? What was it?
No
8. Have you ever played a game that scared
you? What was it?
No
9
Gender: Female
Age: 39
1. Would you class yourself as a fan of
horror?
Yes
2. What is the most recently released scary
movie you have watched? Did it scare you?
Paranormal Activity 4
A little scary
3. What was the first scary movie you
experienced? What about it scared you?
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Freddy
4. What is the scariest movie you have
watched?
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Had problems sleeping, Freddy gets you in your dreams
5. What or who is the scariest movie villain?
Freddy Kruger
6. What is scarier to you, Ghosts, Monsters or
Psychos?
Psychos
7. Have you ever read a book that has scared
you? What was it?
No
8. Have you ever played a game that scared
you? What was it?
No
10
Gender: Male
Age: 32
1. Would you class yourself as a fan of
horror?
Yes
2. What is the most recently released scary
movie you have watched? Did it scare you?
Mama
Yes
3. What was the first scary movie you
experienced? What about it scared you?
The Ring
Baddie crawling out of TV and the way she moved
4. What is the scariest movie you have
watched?
The Ring
Baddie crawling out of TV and the way she moved
5. What or who is the scariest movie villain?
Girl from the ring (Samara)
6. What is scarier to you, Ghosts, Monsters or
Psychos?
Psychos
7. Have you ever read a book that has scared
you? What was it?
No
8. Have you ever played a game that scared
you? What was it?
No
11
Gender: Female
Age: 36
1. Would you class yourself as a fan of
horror?
No
2. What is the most recently released scary
movie you have watched? Did it scare you?
The Strangers
Yes
3. What was the first scary movie you
experienced? What about it scared you?
The Nightmare on Elm Street
Girl being stabbed in bed while sleeping
4. What is the scariest movie you have
watched?
The Strangers
Everything. The people turning up outside with masks and terrorize the couple for no reason
5. What or who is the scariest movie villain?
Psychos in masks
6. What is scarier to you, Ghosts, Monsters or
Psychos?
Psychos
7. Have you ever read a book that has scared
you? What was it?
Yes. Stephen King’s Desperation and Richard Bachman’s The
Regulator.
8. Have you ever played a game that scared
you? What was it?
Project Zero
Comments
It turns out speaking to people about about horror movies and such is trickier than it would first appear. The first hurdle is trying to get honest answers, I'm not saying that people were being disingenuous but memory and time and attitude changes everything. Sequels change basic ideas of the original characters and situations, adding bits, taking bits away, changing tone. Technology too kills most of the horrible situations mobile phones the wort offender.
Few people could name the first horror movie that scared them or the last. In further conversation though they could name scenes from movies or characters from other genres that had the same effect. The 'Child Catcher' from 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' (1968), the 'Skeksis' from 'The Dark Crystal' (1982) or the wolf from 'The Neverending Story' (1884) for instance.
I think this line of research has come to an end. In future if I ever came back to this I think I would drop the idea of sticking with the horror genre exclusively and and ask about scary scenes or characters from any source. I believe that would give a more honest representation of what people found scary.
Break through?
After talking with people and then going over Noel Carroll's philosophy on horror, I think the problem with modern horror or at least the viewing experience of myself and others is the characters.
According to Carroll horror needs the emotion and the cognitive knowledge to work. Maybe because the tropes of horror characters have not changed for over 20 years
Most horror movies rely on stupid people making stupid decisions, this automatically puts a distance between the viewer and the characters situation. The cognitive mind looking in in the situation from the safety of of the other side of the screen is constantly analyzing whats going on. 'If that was me i would have did...' and 'Why the hell did she run into there?'. Its like someone watching a football match and shouting at the screen 'You should have crossed it' or 'He should have took the shot'.
Relying on these old tropes are the problem, It might be a bit naive to say people nowadays are smarter or more antithetical but in this age of instant information and everyone on the internet being the smartest people they know, having opinions on everything and being skeptical of everything. Maybe its time for new horror characters that do not trip over twigs, go out alone in the dark or turn lights on when wandering through the house at night.
After talking with people and then going over Noel Carroll's philosophy on horror, I think the problem with modern horror or at least the viewing experience of myself and others is the characters.
According to Carroll horror needs the emotion and the cognitive knowledge to work. Maybe because the tropes of horror characters have not changed for over 20 years
Most horror movies rely on stupid people making stupid decisions, this automatically puts a distance between the viewer and the characters situation. The cognitive mind looking in in the situation from the safety of of the other side of the screen is constantly analyzing whats going on. 'If that was me i would have did...' and 'Why the hell did she run into there?'. Its like someone watching a football match and shouting at the screen 'You should have crossed it' or 'He should have took the shot'.
Relying on these old tropes are the problem, It might be a bit naive to say people nowadays are smarter or more antithetical but in this age of instant information and everyone on the internet being the smartest people they know, having opinions on everything and being skeptical of everything. Maybe its time for new horror characters that do not trip over twigs, go out alone in the dark or turn lights on when wandering through the house at night.
Two Sentence Horror Stories
While researching horror on the internet I came across these two sentence horror stories.I really like the way they can set a scene and tell a story in so little words. I have listed some of the best ones below sourced from Reddit.com
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1iwylh/what_is_the_best_horror_story_you_can_come_up
"Growing up with cats and dogs, I got used to the sounds of scratching at my door while I slept. Now that I live alone, it is much more unsettling."
My grandmother told me that it was a gift to see the angel of death in front of people's houses, to know that he'd be collecting someone there soon. I thought it was a gift too, up until the day I began to see it in front of every house.
My sister says that mommy killed her. Mommy says that I don't have a sister.
I begin tucking him into bed and he tells me, “Daddy check for monsters under my bed.” I look underneath for his amusement and see him, another him, under the bed, staring back at me quivering and whispering, “Daddy there’s somebody on my bed.”
-Juan J Ruiz
Yesterday my parents told me I was too old for an imaginary friend and that I had to let her go. They found her body this morning.
Don't be scared of the monsters, just look for them. Look to your left, to your right, under your bed, behind your dresser, in your closet but never look up, she hates being seen.
I can't move, breathe, speak or hear and it's so dark all the time. If I knew it would be this lonely, I would have been cremated instead.
For years we heard the little voices and footsteps of the ghost children in our old farmhouse, and we got used to them. Then one day they went quiet, which should have been our own cue to leave.
The doctors told the amputee he might experience a phantom limb from time to time. Nobody prepared him for the moments though, when he felt cold fingers brush across his phantom hand.
My Attempt at the Two Sentence Horror Stories
Trapped
Need to say something, do something but nothing works. I'm alive, I'm in here, please God don't let the autopsy me.
Don't know how long its been and don't care, I just need something to eat. We're not getting out of here, I need to do it, before he gets hungrier first.
Only got seconds, only got seconds left. Do I take a breath before I go under, will that be more painful?
It was only meant to be a one night thing but I really like her. Just one more week and I'll put her back in her grave.
Psycho
Need to cut. Need to cut....
This little piggy goes to mark it. And this little piggy comes home..
She sits there with that disgusting grin on her face bearing those revolting teeth, she used to be beautiful. She told me this is what she wanted for her birthday, too late to regret digging her up now.
Shows finished, TV off, cat in, her toilet, him toilet then bed. Half an hour, kids room, mum and dads room, living room, phone call then end of street for the show.
Paper says there has been another murder, worse than the last. Someone is finally playing.
Other
I thought it was just a bite mark. I can feel it squirming under my skin.
Living on your own can be scary at times, especially in this big cold old house. The worst part is going to bed and finding it already warm.
Nobody else in here. Who the fuck is that in the mirror
" Yes, I need you to send out a car....No I've checked, there's nobody out there but I can see him on the security camera".
It just follows me around asking to buy my soul. I told it I was an atheist and didn't believe in that stuff, it just laughs.
I'm starting to worry, people keep pointing laughing and making growling noises at me. I hope this isn't to do with the blackouts.
" Have you seen anybody in the area acting suspicious?"
"Umm, nope, never seen a body?"
They ask me questions about what I have done, ask me about these crimes. I go to answer but it is not me speaking, I didn't do any of this stuff I'm claiming.
I heard a bang from downstairs and footsteps on the stairs.
I look at my still sleeping husband and consider my position, behind the door,
baseball bat in hand wondering if it’s bad I’m using him a bait.
There, coming to get me. They’ve come
to get me and they’re here.
I can’t see it but I know it’s there,
that smell is back, it smells like burnt toast and rotting abscess. I can only
wait for it to make its move and it will, soon.
The Horror in Presentation
When putting together the slides for my last presentation I have had an idea. It may not be a good idea, but it could work.
The idea is to sabotage the first few slides of the presentation so I duplicated them and moved the copy's to the end. I went back and moved the images of the first few slides so they were only slightly on screen and moved the text to it too was badly positioned. When presenting, the slides will look like there had been some sort of formatting problem or I simply just had no clue how to do slides. I will acknowledge the slides but keep on with the presentation.
The point of this self sabotage is to fit with the subject of the philosophy slide which I did not mess with.. The slide is when I will be talking about for horror to work the audience needs to have an emotional and cognitive response. I see it going two ways, some will see it and have a reaction to feel sorry for me (the response of someone who sees what has happened and empathizes with the problem I have.) or sees what has happened and writes me off (part of what I see as part of the problem horror nowadays has). During the slide I will explain that it was ment and show the slides as they were supposed to be seen, to kind of prove it was meant.
It fits with my final conclusion and finding of the research. There is the worry tho that I damage the presentation marks by not explaining properly or or being misunderstood.
Final Presentation
The idea of this project was to find out why I did not find scary movies scary anymore. I looked into Horror Art literature movies and as it exists on the internet.
(Notice messed up slide, fire on anyway) I looked at the like of Goya and Fusilli. It struck ne that in this medium suspence and build up are practically impossible. It maybe then is just the horror of the situation that causes the effect
.
On the literature side I had looked into mostly sort form horror, poetry like EA Poe and short stories of HP Lovecraft. These older examples
FeedBack
Tutors:
William Huber
Brian Robinson
Note: I had recorded the feed back but the audio quality due to background noise was terrible
William said it may be something with cinema itself as he can read classic horror writing like Grimms Tales and give himself over to it but Hammer or German expressionist film impress but do not frighten. He said its maybe something to do with the media of film that people get immune to it.
Brian said he thought the project had developed well with the angles it was covering with visual and suspenseful horror. Brian said the shape of the project had evolved and nuanced and will stand me in good stead if I want to go forward with it.
Creative Research Essay
Marin Carver
Games Development and Production Management year 3
The Brief
The brief for this creative research project seemed daunting
at first. The opportunity to do in-depth research on a subject of your own
choice means you have to choose wisely. The subject must have enough substance
to justify two semesters of research. The ability to choose a subject
completely new to you, refine a facet of your existing skill or start on one
path of research and go where the research takes you. It is a great opportunity
and I have greatly enjoyed and appreciated my journey.
The Subject…
The subject I chose for my project was horror in media. As a
fan of the genre I have consumed horror media in all forms from an early
age. In the past 10 or so years I have
been finding more and more that my enjoyment and satisfaction of the horror
genre has waned. Previously I had just wrote the situation off with idea that
Hollywood just did not know how to do horror any more. That reasoning is purely
superficial, it had never occurred to me to actually look into the subject and
question, why?
My first caveat was that I would not be delving into the
realms of real horror. Murder, war and disease I viewed as a slippery slope
into politics, political correctness and most likely my own mental wellbeing. I
set clear subtopics, the only horror I was investigating would be horror in
creative media, art, literature and movies. I had planned other forms too,
computer games and urban legends but as the project developed these fell aside.
The plan was to sate my own curiosity in the medium and also give me insight that
I could take forward into future projects. Horror and drawing monsters was what
brought me back into education as a mature student. In a perfect world, being a
creative in that genre is where I would like to be in the future. I hoped this
project would stand me in good stead.
It Starts…
I presented my proposal at the first presentation with some
trepidation. I was unsure if my project was too insubstantial or impractical. I
had no definite final product in mind and wanted the project to kind of lead me
where it will. The feedback I received
was very positive and I felt I was in a good position to start my research.
The Artists…
The first medium I began looking into was horror in art,
specifically classic paintings. I had previously encountered Hieronymus Bosh
and his work has always stayed with me. The vistas he painted full of detail
that had to be searched out, even now I am still finding things I had not
noticed before. One of the questions that it raised was the type of horror it
was. I began this project with two types of horror in mind, jump scare type
horror and the more cerebral psychological horror. My first thought on this
were that it was more a jump scare type horror as it is a snapshot in time.
There is no build up time wise but thinking about it most of this art is based
on biblical references of mythical stories. The bible and the stories of saints
are full of horror stories, especially The Book of Revelations with the imagery
of the end times. During my research I found that a lot of artists who drew
from these sources were actively subverting these stories to show the real
horror behind religion. The main patron of artist was the Catholic Church so
artist were able to be funded for their art and produce something that the
unwary patron would want.
The Writers
My main target for the literature section of my research was
the short form. I have tried many times to read the likes of Stephen King but I
find his books very longwinded and I get bored very quickly, and have yet to
finish one. I found the first person prose of Bram Stokers ‘Dracula’ and HP Lovecraft very
effective. There is something more intimate about the illusion of the subject
talking or writing to you than having an omniscient angle on events. The
concept of the unreliable narrator that is especial used by Lovecraft adds a
great questionability to the situation. Unlike the art that I had researched
before this medium is all build up and paints a more detailed picture
especially when it comes to poetry. I had read some of the Edgar Allen Poe’s
short stories but the poem ‘The Raven’ never really caught me. I found a
reading of it on You Tube and that completely changed my perception of it as I
had never read it with the correct rhythms.
A Horror Story? In two sentences?
During researching horror writings I came across the concept
of the two sentence story. A horror story condensed into two sentences seemed
the ultimate in short form horror. From there I wanted to write my own. Even at
this point I had no idea what I was aiming for as a final product. Apart from
getting to the bottom of the mystery of what had happened to horror, I now
wanted to write my own two sentence horror stories.
The Horror…
Movies was my main research topic in this project as it was
the original question was what wrong horror movies is. Looking into these other
topics was to help me to deeper understand horror as creative medium. After
watching a lot of movies I kind of realised that this line of enquiry was not
really helping. I needed a better understanding and that came in the form of
two critics. Robin Wood is an art and media critic, Noel Carroll is an American
art philosopher. Both had written essays for a book ‘Horror, The Film Reader (In Focus)’ By Mark Jancovich (Dec 2001,
Routledge) and both gave great insight into the medium. From there writing I
had finally come to possible answers and conclusions.
The paths not trod…
During my research I wanted to find out from other people
what they found scary about horror movies. I compiled a short questionnaire.
Participants would be completely anonymous and answer 8 questions on the
subject of horror movies, games and books. I was unsure of doing this in the
first place as I was sceptical if this would actually give any insight. It was
a good insight speaking to people on the subject but ultimately the
questionnaire was useless. I think the reason for this is that I made the
questions too horror movie explicit. When asking about scary movies a lot of
the attitudes on what scary and what scared them gets hazy over time. Through
talking with people it appears some of the scariest characters and situations
were not in horror at all. One character that kept coming up was the ‘Child Catcher’ from ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ (1968).
The Philosophers..
Wood stated the attraction to horror movies was it is like a
dream. It allows the viewer to process societal issues and taboos in the same
way dreams do (Wood, page30). Carroll
suggested that the attraction of horror movies allow the viewer; from a
position of safety, satisfy a curiosity of the situation process and analyse
the situation using emotional response backed by cognitive knowledge (Carroll
41). Carroll suggests that in order for horror to work it must spark an
emotional response backed by cognitive knowledge. It makes sense to me that the
problem with modern horror movies is that it relies on the same tropes that
have existed mostly unchanged since the 1970’s. Having seen these tropes over
and over there is no curiosity, nothing new to process. In using the same tired
characters found in horror, the movies rely on stupid people making stupid
choices. In these situations the viewer loses any sympathy for the characters.
Without that empathy horror fails to work. I believe that for horror to have
its renaissance we need to drop these old tropes and create believable
characters that the audience can get behind.
The Conclusion…
I have really enjoyed working on this project, the freedom
it gave allowed me to pick up a thread that was of great interest to me and
follow it to its conclusion. I am grateful for this opportunity as it has led
me to facets of the horror genre I would never have discovered on my own. I would like to take the two sentance horror stories forward and try to develop story ideas or short animations from them but for now I have compiled them into a collection.
Most
importantly for myself, I have found what I believe is the answer to the
questions I asked at the beginning. Why do I not find modern horror movies
scary? Is it a change within me or do they just not make them like they used
to? Looking at the evidence I have gathered it seems it is a mix of both.
Hollywood horror has not really evolved since the 1970’s and I have consumed
the bulk of what has been on offer since then and have sated my curiosity on
what the genre has to say. My hope going forward is I can use what I have
learned to better my future endeavours and project and hope for the horror
movie genre as a whole to be updated to suit our modern world.
Sources
Stoker, B. 1897.Dracula. e-book. Voltage Spike
Jancovich, M. Wood, R. Carroll, N. 2002. Horror, the film Reader. Routledge
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