In this essay I will be discussing the creative process seen in horror films, particularly focusing on “slasher” films and how these have changed since the 1970’s to the present. I will also explore how the advances in computer generated visual effects, has grown, to become a part of the horror genre nowadays.
Horror films strive to draw out emotions of fear, horror and terror from the audience. The films are designed to frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying shocking finale, while attracting and entertaining us at the same time. The plot of a horror film often involves death, the dark side of life as well as strange and alarming events. Horror films focus on our nightmares, our vulnerability, our terror of the unknown and our fear of death.
Early horror films were often based upon classic literature from the gothic/horror genre. These included: Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man and the Phantom of The Opera. The first horror film to be produced was called Le Manoir Du Diable which is often referred to 'The Devil's Castle.' It was written and produced by Georges Melies and was released in 1896. The duration of the film was a mere two minutes and told the story of a bat which flies into an ancient castle and transforms into an evil spirit. After preparing a cauldron, the demon produces skeletons, ghosts and witches, until a creature from the underworld is summoned and holds before the demon a crucifix and it vanishes in a blast of smoke. This film has been credited as being the world's first horror and vampire film.
Dracula is also another early horror film, it was produced in 1931 and directed by Tod Browning. The film is an adaptation of the 1897 novel Dracula written by Bram Stoker. Dracula has been regarded to many literary genres including vampire literature, horror fiction, the gothic novel and invasion literature.
During the 1960’s one of the most influential horror films, was Psycho – Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Hitchcock was a successful British filmmaker and producer, who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. Within his lifetime Hitchcock directed more than fifty films and remains one of the most popular and recognizable filmmakers of all time.
The film, Psycho, was based on a novel by Robert Bloch. This film laid the path for a slew of inferior screen slashers.
The main themes shown throughout this film are human vulnerabilities, confused identities and victimization. These themes are portrayed through motifs, eyes and nature, such as stuffed birds, which were all aimed at the victim who is presented as a vulnerable young woman. These themes heavily influenced other film producers to use the same ideas in their own slasher films, many of which are commonly seen in today’s typical horror films.
Psycho changed the way the movie industry looked at the horror genre. The supernatural monsters, like Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, and the Wolf Man were gone and replaced with realistic terror. Psycho influenced more recent films such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes, in so much as the villain was a human being. The slasher genre was born, however it was John Carpenters “Halloween” which took the genre and pushed it into the mainstream.
Halloween tells the story of a six year old who murders his sister on halloween night, in 1973. After being admitted to a mental hospital where he can be closely studied by a doctor, he escapes and returns back home on Halloween night where he can do harm to a baby sitter and her friends.
John Carpenter, the director of Halloween, makes good use of light and shadow. The killer within the story appears in and out of dark shadows and corners, leaving the audience unsure of where he is hiding or what his next move will be and the approach he will take in killing his next victim. This method of stalking from the darkness has been influenced by the idea of “the boogeyman”, the childhood monster that lurks in closets and under beds.
This movie, not only sold more tickets than any other horror film, it broke all previous box-office records for any type of film made by an independent production company.
The next film that followed in the same year alongside Halloween was The Exorcist – also a box office smash. This film is about a young child who is possessed by the devil.
Devil possession became popular within the horror genre and was later seen in Audrey Rose and The Omen. Audrey Rose was based on real life events and associates with reincarnation and mysterious strangers. The Omen, on the other hand, focuses on creating a tense and unsettling atmosphere for the viewer as the events within the story begin to unfold.
Like every other genre of film, horror films have evolved over the decades by adapting to each new generation and preying on their fears. For instance the launch of the Russian satellite Sputnik resulted in a lot of movies about alien invasions and the birth of nuclear power lead to numerous films about mutated animals, insects and people. As years passed, young audiences demanded gruesome images become more intense and explicit. Special effects allowed film producers to satisfy the viewer’s eager appetites for dismemberment and blood. This resulted in more gruesome and terrifying films. These films proved to be more commercially successful than others. Examples include Night of The Living Dead (1968) and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974).
Scream is the 1996 slasher film produced by Wes Craven. The plot of the film involves a psychopathic serial killer wearing a Halloween costume, who taunts and threatens his victims on the phone before stabbing and carving out their inside organs with an eight inch hunting knife. The killer is often referred to as 'Ghostface', dresses up as a variation of a ghost or the Grim Reaper. He also uses a device to disguise his voice when threatening his chosen victims who are vulnerable teenagers.
Using props, such as a mask, to cover up the identity of the killer portrays the villain as more fearful and gives them an elevated psychotic status. This idea became well known, and has been used in films such as Friday the 13th (1980), Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) and Saw (2004).
Case Study: Halloween (1978) and Saw (2004).
I will analyze, in detail, the typical themes and camera shots that the directors used throughout their film to frighten their audience. I will then compare both films and discuss similarities and differences between both films. I will finish with a conclusion of how and why horror films have changed over the years.
Halloween was directed and written by John Carpenter. It is often seen as the first slasher film and draws influence from Hitchcock’s Psycho.
The story tells of a six year old boy, Michael Myers, murdering his seventeen year old sister with a large kitchen knife in their home on Halloween night 1963. Immediately after the brutal killing, his parents find him in a trance-like state and decide to send him to a child psychiatrist in a mental hospital where he can be closely examined. After eight years (Michael, now aged 21) escapes and returns back home to attack a young girl and her friends. He continues on his killing spree, in order to wreak havoc on his home town.
The analysis of the title, and the opening sequence of the film leads to a greater understanding of Carpenter's techniques in gripping the audience and causing unease and tension upon them.
The title sequence of Halloween is simple, but full of various techniques that John Carpenter has used to reinforce the title and genre of film. The black background is typical of a horror film as the connotations of dark colors suggests isolation, death, mourning and sadness; all of which are reoccurring themes within the horror genre.
The only mise-en-scene used in this scene is a pumpkin which supports the title of the film: Halloween, a night based around fear. The font used in this scene flickers from golden yellow to red which has negative connotations such as blood, danger and death.
The soundtrack music, which was composed by John Carpenter himself, is made of atmospheric layers such as staccato piano, which creates tension and anticipation within the atmosphere as they blend with the chords and rise in pitch and volume as the audience get nearer to the opening of the film.
The opening scene shows a dimly lit house on a regular suburban American street. The color of the house is white which indicates purity and innocence. The house contains many shadows, as it is the only lit part of the street. The camera zooms in on the house. The camera then moves around the shadowy house and inside the house, the audience sees a hand pull a knife out of a drawer, showing that this indeed is a potential murderer. The murderer then makes his way up the stairs towards the young girls room in this case she is presented as the victim. As the camera moves up the stairs the audience hear the sound of a clock chiming. Next you see a hand grab a clown mask, and the camera frame is seen through two eyeholes. This type of shot is known as POV or Point Of View.
The camera turns to face the girl and she screams a name revealing the identity of the murderer, "Michael". The ambient audio begins as Michael takes his first few stabs at his victim, supported by her screams.
The film doesn't show all the gore of the weapon meeting the flesh, like modern films tend to do, but instead focuses on the knife moving back and forth reminding us of Hitchcock's 'Psycho'.
The camera retreats out of the house we can hear heavy breathing. The murderer walks outside and all of a sudden, the camera switches from subjective point of view to a high angle camera shot, zooming out. This shows that the murderer is in fact the younger brother of the victim aged around six years old.
This shows that the audience have been manipulated by the director in believing that the murderer was an adult. High angle shots, to suggest the murderer is tall; are used by the director in this instance. Almost every scene is filmed with the camera constantly moving to make the audience feel disordered, insecure, unsettled and paranoid, believing that every corner, shadow, noise or space is potentially life threatening or dangerous and that everyone will be a helpless victim of random violence.
Carpenter also makes the bold view of having most of the stalk sequences taking place during the day and has kept the murderer out of focus, making him seem more mysterious and frightening. This makes the day scenes just as unnerving in the daylight as the scenes that take place at night in the darkness.
Saw is a 2004 horror film and is the first installment of the Saw film series. The film is directed by James Wan. The film tells a story about two men who are kidnapped and locked in an industrial bathroom with a dead body between them and given instructions related to escaping. Meanwhile police detectives investigate and attempt to seize the criminal who is responsible for this, the Jigsaw Killer.
Jigsaw usually builds deadly traps for his victims, which are often a symbolic representation of what is seen as a flaw in a person's life. Jigsaw calls these tests "games", and tells the person the "rules" of the game usually by audio or videotape. The rules are the tasks that the person must perform in order to pass the test and survive, however, the tasks often involve extreme self-mutilation. Jigsaw is seen wearing a mask in order to cover up his identity.
The opening credits are presented with the sound of a saw chopping as they appear on screen, as the super-imposed title “Twisted Pictures” appears on screen animated barbed wire starts to wrap around the text and shortly after a saw falls down through the middle of it. This gives a scary effect and relates to what is going to happen in the film. The screen then goes dark and the title “Saw” appears in the centre of the screen and gradually fades away in silence.
The film begins with a close up shot showing a character under water breathing heavily as he comes up for air and then screaming. The picture then goes to complete darkness (for about 45 seconds) and all the audience are able to hear is the dialogue between two characters that are yet to be revealed. Bright lights are then switched on to show two men at either side of what looks to be a rusty old bathroom. The camera pans around after showing the two men and reveals that there is a corpse in the middle of the bathroom floor holding a revolver.
The opening sequence reveals only one setting – the bathroom in which the characters are trapped in, at first it is blacked out and you expect the film to be dark but bright lights are switched on to reveal the whole room. The bathroom appears to be very rusty and old and the corpse being shown on the floor in the middle of the room gives the audience a fright already in the beginning of the film – this already suggests the film is going to be of the Horror genre.
The significant camera shots used in the opening sequence include the first close up of one of the characters, Adam, to show the worry on his face, the master shot of the bathroom after the lights are switched on, this reveals to the audience the whereabouts of the characters and emphasizes the bad situation the characters find themselves in. The camera pans around to the corpse and then cut to a bird’s eye view of the corpse lying in the middle of the floor. These are the first shots to reveal there is a corpse in the room as well as the main characters.
Editing is used well in the opening scene of Saw to add suspense and tension to the film, a reverse shot is used when the two characters look across at each other once the lights are switched on. This shows their reaction to the situation and the worried look on Adams face. One other significant piece of editing in the opening scene is when the camera cuts quickly to the birds eye view shot of the corpse, the sound of Adams screaming reaction is timed perfectly here as the corpse is shown.
The sound in the scene is mostly dialogue between the two characters and Adams screaming. A slow non-diegetic piece of music is played throughout the start while the scene is in darkness; this builds up tension and adds to the audience’s suspense, as they do not yet know what is about to be revealed. When the lights are switched on the characters make a loud noise; this with the slow music and darkness, just before, creates a contrast and frightens the audience.
The first similarity is that both films tell the story of a person who is out to harm others for the sake of it - like a massacre. Both title sequences have a black background and have used mise-en-scene within the title sequence that relates to what will happen in the film.
Both films use an image supporting the title of their film, Halloween uses an image of a pumpkin and Saw uses a tool saw. Both killers use a mask to hide their identity making their form more frightening. They also taunt, intimidate and terrorize their victims; which again frightens the audience and brings out their worst fears.
Differences between these two films are; Halloween does not show all the gore of killing the victims whereas Saw does. Saw uses a variety of weapons and traps on the victims showing the audience all the gore and blood and evokes their fear of self-mutilation and dismemberment.
In conclusion, slasher films have evolved and experimented with different types of themes. From aliens to zombies, characters have developed and taken many faces and personality traits.
In the past, horror films were designed to scare and terrify the audience with characters such as Dracula and Frankenstein. But, in recent years, it is graphic violence and gore that has been on the agenda with directors finding ways to push the boundaries finding more and different ways to inflicting pain, and producing successful horror films. Examples of this include Scream, Night of the Living Dead, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Saw. The killers in these films are psychotic and find amusement in taunting their victims before brutally killing them.
Writers, directors and actors in horror films have historically sought to create adrenaline rushes, common with feeling threat or terror. This has been accomplished in a variety of ways, from demonic activity, monsters on the loose and extraterrestrial beings. Viewers connect with these films as they give a disturbingly real sense about how events could in fact happen in some way. This creates a level of fear that rivets the audience to their seats and keeps them enticed and wanting to see more.
Movies like Saw and Hostel have all pushed the boundaries by trying to find new ways to harm their victims which all stems back to the violence in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Another technique that has been proven to be effective within the horror genre is the use of 3D technology. Over the years, 3D slasher films have grown to be popular with the majority of cinema goers. My Bloody Valentine 3D entered the cinemas in early 2009 and became popular within weeks of its release.
With directors experimenting with various techniques to find new ways of frightening their audience, to keep up with the generation, the future for slasher films looks to be more gruesome and bloody, filled with new killers of a high psychotic status with a hidden identity and the scenarios for the victims to be more exciting and adrenaline pumping, drawing more fear from the audience.
