Useful Resources:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film - This gives history on the type of genre and what is contained in it.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_horror_films - This gives a list
of films from each decades and years etc.
• http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html - This gives a list of horror films with there history and explanation on what they contain.
Horror Films are unsettling films to make us frightened and panic and to reveal our worst fears, often in a shocking and surprising way. Horror films make us feel vunerable and make us feel isolated (on our own) and bring up past events.
'The earliest horror films were Gothic in style - meaning that they were usually set in spooky old mansions, castles, or fog-shrouded, dark and shadowy locales'. The main type of characters do not generally come across as normal human beings, they are either known as serial killers or even the supernatural types like aliens and monsters.
Research from www.play.com:
• http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/5237134/A-Thing-of-Unspeakable-Horror/Product.html - A Thing of Unspeakable Horror: The History of Hammer Films by Sinclair McKay (New & Used: £3.34)
Hammer Films was known for producing Gothic horror films 'from 1934 until 1979', with films such as "The Curse of Frankenstein." The film company was also known for creating big stars in the industry. It is about the production company and how the horror films don't need to have big stars as the characters are always killed off.
• http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/1825754/The-Monster-Show/Product.html - The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror by David J. Skal (New & Used: £8.34)
This book gives a brief history of horror films and what they all have in common and looking at particular features which are used over and over again up until today.
• http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/651167/The-Rough-Guide-to-Horror-Movies/Product.html - The Rough Guide To Horror Movies by Alan Jones (New & Used: £7.46)
This book looks at the worlds most terrifying movies. 'It shows the classic films such as "Frankenstein" and "Nightmare On Elm Street"(Freddie Kruger)'. The book gives details on what scares us behind the movies in real life situations and looks at all the types of horrors throughout the 20th century. It also gives details on past horror films such as "The Exorcist" and "Psycho".
• http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/1099980/American-Gothic-Sixty-Years-of-Horror-Cinema/Product.html - American Gothic: Sixty Years of Cinema by Jonathon Rigby (New & Used: £12.99)
This book looks at the early American horror films in the 1950s such as Dracula etc. This book gives a good sense of the genre looking at Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film "Psycho" which was the film which made the horror films today.
• http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/1892374/On-Writing-Horror/Product.html - On Writing Horror: A Handbook by The Horror Writers of America (New & Used: £8.24)
This book basically gives specific instructions on how authors write and sell horror.
Halloween(1978, John Carpenter):
• The film opens with a blank black screen which could signify a low budget film.
• The music starts first before anything like the production company and title etc to aware the viewers.
• The music makes the audiences heart beat irregular with fast high pitched notes and suddenly dropping down to a deep loud droning note.
• As the title come on screen there is a slight zooming in towards the pumpkin.
• The font of the title sequence (directors, producers and actors etc)is a serif font with the sharp edges. The colour of the font is red and orange and changes just like when the pumpkin flickers from a dark red to a bright orange.
• Then there is one small title sequence which has a black background with white text which could show a documentary style (with shaky camera work).
• The opening of the film is a long shot of a house were a blue tint lighting effect is used which could signify supernatural. The colour could also represent the genre of the film because the main weapon used in a horror film is a knife and the blade has a blue tint to it.
• The house is a detached house and is used in this film as it shows vunerability and isolation (the house is on its own).
• This film has a sheriff or cop in it. This is one main feature which is used in horror films because they always get killed (they feel as though they are the can solve anything and that they are in charge).
• Not in this film but in many other horror films there are specific stereotypes such as a busty blonde (sexual appeal) always gets killed. This is used in other films like Scream and Psycho.
History and use full informational facts on Halloween:
• There are no big star names in this horror film but this goes for most of them because the characters are generally killed anyway so there would be no point in paying lots of money for famous stars.
• The well known actor in Halloween is called Donald Pleasant helped promote the movie.
• Famous Quote 'Halloween is the gun of the wind of horror movie (from producer).
• It was the most profitable horror movie of all time.
• The same names are used in horror movies:Dr Loomis (Halloween), Sam Loomis (Psycho) and Billy Loomis (Scream.
• Halloween contains part of the auteur theory because the director John Carpenter takes care of everything involved in the film.
• One of the main characters in Halloween Jamie Lee Curtis was the daughter of the main character in Psycho so Halloween achieved lots of promotion for the movie.
Horrors are mainly aimed at the youth male audience because the type of music used in horror movie is heavy metal which attracts a male audience. However it does also appeal to the female audience because the main characters are females.
Horror Features (LEGACY OF BLOOD, Jim Harper):
•Usually its the female characters who get killed. Threes usually more than one female character, for example in Halloween Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a vunerable character who doesn't show a sexual appeal, but her friends are the total opposite as they are the busty blonde stereotypes so this is binary opposition.
•Most horror films have females as the main protagonist and one of there fathers is related to the police. This is used in Halloween and Nightmare On Elm Street because Nancy Thompson's farther is a detective. The police character always dies as they try to be the hero but always fail because horror films are mainly targeted at a youth audience no an older aged target audience.
•Horror films are all about the scary character which is usually addressed as a human serial killer in films like Psycho and Halloween. However sometimes monster and aliens are used as a scary character like in the film Jeepers Creepers or you can have horror films with the supernatural character like aliens etc.
•The horror films with the human killers usually were a mask to cover the face such as in Scream or Halloween. Masks usual signify the scary character who is evil which can relate to one of Propps character types.
•"The Ring" plays a big role in my genre research because my film has great comparisons and lots of inter textual reference.
The film uses a female as a scary character and looks like a goth because she has long jet black hair which covers her face . She only moves when she is 'out to get someone or something, when the video tape is played and only screams and shouts but doesn't say anything at all. Whenever a victim plays the video tape the phone will ring telling them they only have one week to live.
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