Horror+Movies

toc =What is a Horror Movie?= Horror movies are created to produce fear, fascination, horror, disgust, anger, and excitement in their viewers, amongst other emotions. They often involve some form of revenge, an angry or psychotic serial murderer, or some supernatural creature such as vampires, witches, werewolves, zombies, and monsters. The plot of horror movies commonly takes place during the night, evening, or early morning, but rarely during the daytime. Horror films are generally set in small towns, European cities, or fictional locations. =Where did the Inspiration come from?= Many popular horror movies of today, were movies inspired by gothic novels, such as Frankenstein, Dracula, It, and The Ring. Horror movies can have sub-genres such as fantasy, science fiction, romance, and dark comedy. Many of the original horror films were thrilling dark gothic romance stories in which the protagonists sought revenge on society for socially exiling them for some reason, usually due to a physical abnormality. Such films would include The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera. Eventually, the popularity of horror films transitioned into science fiction and fantasy-based films. Films like The Mummy and The Invisible Man introduced to the silver screen fictional, imaginary creatures that fascinate viewers with the world of the unreal. When thinking of horror movies two names immediately come to mind: director Alfred Hitchcock and writer Stephen King. These two men revolutionalized the world of horror film by bringing to life a world of their horrific and terrorizing imaginations. Psychological thrillers like Psycho, The Birds, and The Shining bring such fright to a movie viewer because they deal with real-life scenarios and realistic settings.

=Types of Horror Films= Movies based on true stories and events like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Amityville Horror, and Hostel are so frightful because the events portrayed on screen parallel actual events thought up and acted out by serial killers with sick and disturbed minds. The reality of a film's plot and methods of murder are what draw in a viewer, creating intrigue and awe.

Many of Hollywood’s most popular icons are horror film characters such as Freddy Kruger, Jason, Michael Myers, and Carrie. These characters made such an impact on their audiences that they will forever be remembered and feared. Some production studios have tried to popularize movie characters even farther by producing and creating sequels or films that integrate different horror movies, such as Freddy vs. Jason, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, and The Grudge 2. Seldom does the sequel make successful box office sales in comparison to the original; it is very rare and more common for the sequel to fail in box office reviews. = = =Downs and Ups= As the history of the film genre suggested, the early horror genre first depicted supernatural events and in the early 20th century introduced the first image of monster in a full-length horror film which lead into 40s and 50s towards science fiction rather than gothic. It was in the late 1950s that the horror films were no long seen as low budgets and exploitation but a huge international success with the rise of studioes centering on horror. An increasing pucblic fascination helped reshape the genre and the advances in the horror genre took higher when "Ringu" from Japan launched a revival of horror films leading to creation of "Ju-on" and American re-make, "The Grudge"

= = = = =Watching "The Grudge"=

1) Imaging Effect
There are simliar features between Japanese film "Ringu" and its Western clones such as "The Grudge" and "The Ring". The viewer may find themselves ringing up similar images within these films which are the depictions of the scene settings and the ghost character. In "The Grudge", scares mostly consist of characters with long black hair with eyes that drips blood and fingers popping out of hair and a little boy who makes creepy noise and looks very pale. Audience may have enough of an understanding of the horror genre to see that similarities with "The Grudge" may also be present in "The Ring"--the ghost in the dark areas, the long-haired female ghost, the white clothing and the haunting that only takes place at night time with the supernatural deadly force.



2) Sound Effects
The scares of horror films also consist of the sound effects and music which plays vital role to invoke fear in its audience. "The Grudge" for instance, used sound of croaking noise whenever the shadow of the grudge came into the scene and sudden loud sounds that came along with surprising scary images. Sound effects such as screaming noise, hear beating noise and door creeping sound were used in each scene. The suspense music plus the sound effects was key fact that was used throughout the film which endorses the anxiety and fear of the audience as they watch each scene by scene.

3) Audience and Scenes
In most horror movies or ghost-related movies, the audience is treated with little bits of scary scenes, but in the film "The Grudge", the audience is faced with scary scenes after scary scenes, that are new to them. The most memorable and creative scene from "The Grudge" could be a character (Sarah Michelle Gellar) running from fear of the ghost. The film depicted the image of the evil presence in pursuit as a woman is running up a stairs frantically. When the frightened woman looks up, she sees the lights above her starts to go off floor by floor. It is the flashes of horrifying images with sound effects that create the fear and mystery in the film rather that the whole train of repetitive images. //"When people are vulnerable, I learned, that is when they are defenseless and the most likely to be frightened - so that's how the hair-washing scene came about. I got these ideas just from talking to people, and finding out what would scare them"// said, director of original series of "The Grudge" [|Takashi Shimizu]

=The Psychology of Horror Films= Horror movies will continue as a popular film genre so long as people maintain their fascination with the dark, violent and gory. Fear and terror from horror movies stimulate adrenaline and excitement within the audience by means of special effects, realistic reenactments, and believable emotions. The overall success of a horror film depends on how involved the audience feels and to what extent they identify with the characters on screen.

=Interesting Links=
 * [|The Portal of Horror]
 * [|Top 25 Horror Movies of All-Time]
 * "Horror Film." 19 Nov. 2006 <[|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film>.]

=Image Sources=
 * [|Scary face]
 * [|Feddy]
 * [|Carrie]
 * [|Leatherface]
 * [|Jason]
 * [|The Grudge]
 * [|The Kid]
 * [|The Woman ghost]
 * [|Ghost Fingers]