The Role Of The Production Company

The role of a production company for a film is primarily to make the film a success, whether or not the company is a huge conglomerate with millions to spend on productions and advertising, or it's an independent, low-budget team who don't have the budget to blow on extravagance. Often films in the past that have been the best box office reception have spent lots of time creating massive advertising campaigns so that the audience anticipate them for months before they actually are released in cinemas. These advertising campaigns often include posters, trailers, internet adverts, paying blogger's to advertise the upcoming film, radio advertising, and interview slots on television shows if there are famous celebrities involved in the film. It is easy to imagine the expense spent on making sure the film is a success regardless of the film itself with the six major studios in 2003 - Disney, Warner Bros, Sony, 20th Century Fox, Universal and Paranormal having spent on average $34.8 million to advertise a movie. For obvious reasons, it can be very difficult for an independent film to become successful in today's industry without millions to promote their media product. Luckily for independent horror film makers, it seems that a lack of money need not dictate the success of a film in today's industry, with the well known chillers 'The Blair Witch Project' (1999) and 'Paranormal Activity' (2009) spending only $20,000 (this is debated, sometimes up to $750,000!!) and $15,000 respectively on the entire films.

Something that 'The Blair Witch Project' and 'Paranormal Activity' have in common is that they are not filmed in a traditional manner, instead using hand held camcorders which adds a terrifying realistic edge to the cinematography. Although DIABOLUS is not entirely hand-held camera filmed, it does include elements of such which I think adds to the realism of the film, making it scarier than it would look if filmed in a very static manner. Also, DIABOLUS makes use of the abstract camera shots and angles often found horror films as it unsettles the audience as they don't know what to expect. These qualities are often made more prominent in independent films to further unnerve the audience as the camera (their view point) isn't removed from the action of the film meaning the audience feel very uncomfortable - this extra involvement with the film is what makes up for the lack of a huge budget. I therefore feel that if DIABOLUS were a real film to be released, it would be produced by an independent company who would make use of the internet to advertise and distribute their film.

Let The Right One In (2008) Analysis

‘Let The Right One In’ (Låt Den Rätte Komma In), is a 2008 Swedish horror film directed by Tomas Alfredson (director of many Swedish films and recently the movie adaptation of the book ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’) about a young boy bullied at school who makes friends with the girl that moves in next door, who turns out to be a vampire trapped in a 12 year olds body. It is the screen adaptation of the 2004 Swedish novel of the same name. The film's screenplay was by John Ajvide Lindqvist (who wrote the novel) and was distributed and produced by Sandrew Metronome Distribution Sverige AB (among others). There has been an American re-make of the film.

‘Let The Right One In’ perpetuates the Bulgarian structuralist linguist Todorov’s work, as it does follow the basic of beginning with an equilibrium, which is disrupted by an event setting off a chain of events, creating disequilibrium. This is then resolved by the denouement and a new equilibrium is settled at the end. At the start of the film, the audience are introduced to Oskar who obviously has lots of pent up anger at his bullies as he practices stabbing a tree. The first few moments before Eli arrives in his life, although not ‘normal’ seem to be the norm for his life and it allows time for the movie to explore the current characters personalities and for the audience to understand the dynamics of Oskar’s life. The event that sets off a chain of events leading to disequilibrium is when Oskar meets Eli on the play equipment and she tells him she can’t be his friend. Disequilibrium is everything from that point e.g. the murders resulting from Hakans failure to bring Eli blood, Oskar finding out about Eli’s past and the last swimming pool kill scene. After this a new equilibrium is created as Eli and Oskar decide to leave together, however the audience feels uncomfortable as they don’t know Eli’s true intentions or what happens to Oskar.

When an audience goes to watch a horror film, there are certain elements they expect to see in order for them to properly identify with it being a horror film. Much of horror films is actually suspense and in order to create this, the film has to create the right atmosphere. The elements of Let The Right One In that perpetuate the genre include setting, camera work, lighting and iconography. The film is set in a snow-covered community on the outskirts of Stockholm which promotes a clinic and isolated feeling. Because of the snow and the grey buildings, there is a general lack of bright colours, which combined with many of the shots which occur at night, create an eerie atmosphere that the audience will find believable for murders and monsters to occur in. Technical code such as lighting from unexpected angles, unsettling jumps in editing, the use of ambient sounds such as footsteps and unusual, expressive shots are also made use of in this film and the genre in general to create suspense and shock for the audience. Iconography in the film was the use of children on the brink of being teenagers, for both the unsettling juxtaposition of children and evil and this also means the audience feel repulsed and conflicted by the paedophilic themes in the film, whilst also wanting Eli to survive.

As Horror dates back to the very early 20th century, there has been plenty of time to create the genre expectations as mentioned before, however these can be very useful for film directors to oppose as well, shocking the audience into a false sense of security, then frightening them suddenly. This can also be used in the narrative structure of films and by contrasting to the usual expectations that the viewers have, such as the monster being a love interest and surviving, you can confuse them which creates more disconcertment. The ambiguous ending of the film where you discover Oskar leaves with Eli, both makes the audience think and want to discuss the film, and also leaves it open for a prequel.

In terms of Let The Right One In’s place in the history of horror, gore returned with a vengeance in the 2000’s and the terms 'gore-nography' and other similar terms came into existence to describe the new breed of movies that try to titillate the audience with excessive amounts of gore. However, Let The Right One In is much more subtle than this and uses taboo topics such paedophilia, transgender people, and subverting the idea of childhood innocence to create unease in the audience, as well as bloody moments too. An example of this is Hakan, who had poured acid all over his face to avoid being identified, letting Eli drink from him and then end his life by pulling him out of the hospital window. Also, Let The Right One In was released just before vampire, and specifically Twilight mania took over the globe, which has meant vampire-genre films have returned on an big scale.

A Russian theorist named Propp examined hundreds of examples of folk tales to see if they shared any structures and identified 8 characters that were mostly present. They were: the villain(s), the hero, the donor (who provides an object with some magic property), the helper that aids the hero, the princess (the sought after person) who is the reward for the hero and object of the villain’s schemes, her father who rewards the hero, the dispatcher and the false hero. Although horror films obviously differ from folk tales analysed a century ago, many of these character types are still visible in the horror genre, often tweaked such as the idea of the hero. The hero in horror films now tends to be a ‘final girl’ who is often in need of rescuing (the princess) but ultimately defeats the villain. These character types however are subverted in Let The Right One In as instead of the female being the one in need of rescuing, it is Eli that rescues Oskar and protects him. Another theorist who is important when looking at horror film analysis is Levi-Strauss who looked at narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions. These are sets of contrasting values which show the structure of media texts such as films. The binary oppositions set up in Let The Right One In included male/female, young/old, life/death and morality/immorality.

In conclusion, although Let The Right One In adheres to many of the main conventions traditionally found in the genre, the characters are much more complex and multi-faceted than many typical horror films. It does perpetuate the genre however, as it shares many of the common settings, technical codes, narrative structure and character types found commonly in horror. 

Freddy Krueger

Freddy Krueger was the iconic main antagonist of the original 6 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' teen comedy-slasher horror films played by Robert Englund which spanned from 1984 to 1991. They and he proved so popular, time and time again with a teenage audience, that even after the 'Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare' he reprised his role in 'Wes Craven's New Nightmare' (1994) in which he returns to haunt the people who made the original 6 films, and a compilation film of 'Freddy vs. Jason' (2003) another well known horror character. Finally, the Freddy Krueger character was reprised again in a remake of the first original film 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' (2010) with a different actor, Jackie Earle Haley. In this remake they twisted the storyline slightly, instead of him being in working in a power factory and being a child killer before his death, in the 2010 version he was a gardener and a paedophile.

His appearance in the films, is extremely disfigured to represent how he burnt to death, and he always wears a fedora, a green and red striped jumper and his razor gloves which he uses to kill (although in the 2010 remake, he actually has blades coming out of his hands). The comedy aspect of the films comes in the form of his witty remarks and one liners that have become iconic in horror films.

In the original 6 films, his background was that he was conceived through rape while his mother worked at a psychiatric hospital and as a child, he was adopted by an abusive alcoholic called Mr. Underwood who taught him to torture animals and himself, and was often taunted by other children for being the "son of 100 maniacs" giving him motivation to go on a killing spree of children later. However, when their parents found out he was the murderer, they burnt him alive in the boiler room of the power station, at which point 'Dream Demons' gave him the option to become immortal in exchange for become their agent. From this point on, Freddy Kreuger is immortal and all powerful in the dream landscape of teenagers dreams who when he kills in the dreams, die in real life also. The idea for this is said to be influenced by a spate of Sudden Unexpected Nocturnal Death Syndrome that happened around the time before the screenplay was written.

Freddy's powers in the dream world include being able to manipulate the surroundings and control it in general which adds terror to the teenagers last moments as he hunts them. His power heightens the more people know and fear him (and also due to the amount of souls he absorbs). Often a childlike playground rhyme is chanted by people in the dream to warn the teenagers of his presence. In some cases, he can escape from the dreams into the real world, where although still supernaturally strong, he can be defeated. The film's often are centred around one main teenager, usually a girl, who defeats him in the end although the end is always left often to allow sequels to be made e.t.c. also this adds fear as you're never quite sure if he's actually defeated or not and this ambiguity scares the audience.

Representation Of Women In The Horror Genre

The first Horror films started appearing in the early 20^th century and since then, the roles and representations of women in the genre have developed greatly, with many films both perpetuating traditional gender roles and contradicting them. As almost a century has passed, the way women are presented in Horror films has varied from the stereotypical girl in need of rescuing, to women fighting back against the monsters plaguing them.

Vladimir Propp was a Russian critic who examined 100’s of traditional folk tales in the early 20^th century and identified 8 main character roles within these stories which can be applied to many types of narrative including novels and films. One of these main character types identified was that of the ‘princess’ who is the sought after person in the narrative, often the reward for the hero and the object of the villain’s schemes. An example of this character in the Horror Genre is Jami Gertz’s character ‘Star’ in the 1987 teenage comedy-horror ‘The Lost Boys’. She is a good example of early representations of women in Horror, because although in the 80’s representations of women were changing; she is most frequently shown as a victim in need of rescuing by Michael. Not only this, but she is seen as a sexual object to lure him into the pack, which is in keeping with Propp’s theory of her being sought after by both the prince and the villain. She never stands up to David or the other vampires, or ever shows her vamperic side unlike the other half-vampires. This adheres to traditional gender roles showing women as weak, submissive and peace-keeping. At one point in the film she defends ‘Laddy’ the child half-vampire and begs the Frog Brothers not to stake him, which is another example of the stereotypical, maternal side of women often shown in narrative texts. When the new equilibrium is established at the end of the film, the audience can infer that Michael and Star will carry on their relationship, following Propp’s idea that the ‘hero’ character wins the ‘princess’. For many of the audience members, Star would have just been seen as the romantic love-interest of Michael to make the film more interesting and to fit the teenage movie genre. However, Feminists would see the film as perpetuating the stereotypical female gender role, as even though the film was produced after the female sexual revolution in the 70’s and Star isn't presented as demure or innocent, she still never asserts herself and takes control of the situation.  

Often in the Horror Genre and films in general, women are seen as sexual objects to entertain the mostly male audience. Laura Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze Theory’ states that the camera is ‘male’ and used in such a way to objectify women and reduce their role in a film to being something to look at, not to be listened to, or taken seriously. This can be done in many ways, such as shots focusing on body parts such as breasts instead of their faces. A perfect example of this sexualisation is Paris Hilton’s character ‘Paige’ in the 2005 American Horror film ‘House of Wax’. Her character is often dressed provocatively, especially at her death, which the camera takes full advantage of. Whereas her boyfriend’s death ends in a matter of seconds, Paige’s death goes on for about ten minutes, during which she is chased in her underwear through the woods and into a barn before she finally dies by a pole through the head. No important dialogue is spoken throughout this period, nor any vital plot twists apart from the fact another teenager is killed, leading to the conclusion that Paige’s death was purely for the titillation of the male audience members. This sexualisation coupled with an especially gruesome death could be seen as disturbing because it perpetuates the idea of women being sexual items to be thrown away after use. The camera shots of her body instead of her face also leads to difficulty in the audience identifying with Paige as a person, which furthers her objectification. Laura Mulvey’s theory links into the idea that the world is male; in that, the majority of people in positions of power are male which leads to power itself being presented as a masculine trait. Feminists would say this representation of women impedes gender equality by further promoting old fashioned and sexist ideology in films which is then internalised by the young Horror audience. Also there have been studies conducted that concluded that exposure to media such as Horror films, where it’s typically women being brutally murdered, can lead to men becoming desensitised to violence towards women.

Another feminist take on the Horror Genre is Carol Clover’s book ‘Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film’ published in 1992 which had a huge impact of feminist horror film theory. One of her most important/well known contributions was the ‘Final Girl Theory’, but linked to that is her argument that the women who don’t follow conservative ideology are the first to be murdered. Paris Hilton’s character again fits into this as the ‘slutty’ character that drinks and has sex before marriage. This representation of women serves as a warning to the female audience members to not challenge the power structure of society by living life without conservative values.

Claude Levi-Strauss was a theorist who looked at narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions which are juxtaposing values which can be used to reveal the structure in a narrative. An example of this is Lina Leandersson’s character ‘Eli’ in the 2008 Swedish romantic-horror film ‘Let the Right One In’. Although not biologically female, the audience doesn't realise that until two thirds of the way through and her gender doesn’t play a big part of the story line on face value anyway. Eli is a vampire stuck permanently in a 12 year olds body, who constantly walks the line between binary oppositions, which I believe is where her power ultimately lies. Binary oppositions that are shown through her character are good/evil, femininity/masculinity, innocence/corruption, life/death, youth/age and many others. Although a killer, she displays morality in her resistance to murdering which could present her as a ‘good’ being to the audience; however, there is another contradiction in the form of Hakan, her paedophilic ‘carer’, who she forces to kill for her instead, using his devotion in her as a motivator. She presents as female, wearing clothing such as leggings and often, colours like pink which are associated as femininity. Despite this, she tells Oskar at one point that she is ‘not a girl’. At first the audience assumes this means she is a vampire, but then later they realise that she meant she’s biologically male. After her penis being removed, and being stuck in a pre-adolescent state, she has the choice to present however she liked and she chooses to be female/androgynous which contrasts with the traditional idea that in order to obtain power and respect you have to be male. Her role could be interpreted by the audience as a metaphor for hidden power within women that society underestimates, unfortunately it could also be interpreted along the lines of: in order be powerful you have to be biologically male in the first place. Also, Eli’s fangs could be seen as a phallic symbol, making up for her lack of a penis, which empower her in the same way being outwardly male would.

In conclusion, although the representation of women in the Horror Genre has progressed a lot since the ‘damsels in distress’ in the mid 20^th century, women are still often presented as the ‘weaker’ and less powerful of the sexes, sometimes leading to their deaths. I purposefully didn't include any female characters from films who would count as ‘final girls’ because although they do empower women in a way, I find them very backwards as I disagree with the ideology that in order for women to be as powerful in society as men, they have to appear masculinised and conservative. Women’s representation in the horror genre still has a long way to come in order to avoid perpetuating traditional, sexist ideology but this is the sadly the case in nearly every media text. 

House Of Wax - Trailer Analysis

I analysed the House Of Wax trailer, looking for codes and conventions found within trailers.

The Lost Boys (1987) Analysis

The Lost Boys is a 1987 Comedy-Horror film directed by Joel Schumacher known for other successful 80’s teen films such as St Elmo’s Fire (1985) and Phantom Of The Opera, a commercially successful 2004 Romantic Musical.  The movie is about two brothers and their mother that move to a new town and become aware that it is inhabited by a group of teenaged vampires who belong to a motorbike gang. It stars Kiefer Sutherland and Corey Feldman, famous 80’s teen movie actors. The screen play was written by Janice Fischer, James Jeremias and Jeffrey Boam and the film was produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

The Lost Boys perpetuates the Bulgarian structuralist linguist Todorov’s work mostly, as it does follow the basic of beginning with an equilibrium, which is disrupted by an event setting off a chain of events, creating disequilibrium. This is then resolved by the denouement and a new equilibrium is settled at the end. However, there are moments in the film that trick the viewers into thinking it is resolved before it really is. An example of this is when it turns out Max is actually the head vampire right at the end. The start of the film, Michael and Sam move into their grandfather’s house with their mother in a new town and go exploring the carnival. This gives time for the audience to identify with and discover the personalities of these characters and be introduced to the motorbike gang who you can tell are going to be a negative influence. The event that sets of the chain of events leading to disequilibrium and the discovery of the gang being vampires is when Michael drinks some of the blood some the chalice, thus turning him into a half vampire without him realising it. The disequilibrium is the knowledge of the gang being vampires and Michael trying to get Star to like him while defeating the vampires and not turning into a full vampire himself. The side story is Sam and his two friends from the comic book store trying to discover if his mother’s new boyfriend is a vampire. The end is resolved with a fight resulting in the death of the gang and Star and Michael becoming human again.

When an audience goes to watch a horror film, there are certain elements they expect to see in order for them to properly identify with it being a horror film. Much of horror films is actually suspense and in order to create this, the film has to create the right atmosphere. The elements of The Lost Boys that perpetuate the genre include camera work, lighting and iconography. However, the setting is very different to the usual horror genre as it is not an isolated setting; it is a large, thriving tourist town. On the other hand, this is combatted by most of the film taking place at night. Technical code such as lighting from unexpected angles, unsettling jumps in editing, and the use of ambient sounds such as footsteps and heartbeats are also made use of in this film and the genre in general to create for the audience.

As Horror dates back to the very early 20th century, there has been plenty of time to create the genre expectations as mentioned before, however these can be very useful for film directors to oppose as well, shocking the audience into a false sense of security, then frightening them suddenly. This can also be used in the narrative structure of films and by contrasting to the usual expectations that the viewers have, such as making Max the head vampire, you can confuse them which creates more disconcertment. The end of the film where it is revealed the granddad knew about the vampires all along adds a humorous edge after all the bloodshed.

Although Splatter films had been present before the 80's, in this decade there was an emergence of 'Slasher movies' which are a different genre as it typically involves a psychopathic murderer who stalks and kills many victims, usually in a very graphic and violent way which a cutting tool that is often a knife or an axe. This decade also became known for its 'B-movie' films that are now considered cult classics including The Lost Boys (1987) which, although doesn’t fit into the Slasher or Splatter genres, is quite gory for 80’s standards. The Lost Boys is an alternative to other 80’s teen movies which the majority of were ‘Brat Pack’ movies like The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink.

A Russian theorist named Propp examined hundreds of examples of folk tales to see if they shared any structures and identified 8 characters that were mostly present. They were: the villain(s), the hero, the donor (who provides an object with some magic property), the helper that aids the hero, the princess (the sought after person) who is the reward for the hero and object of the villain’s schemes, her father who rewards the hero, the dispatcher and the false hero. Although horror films obviously differ from folk tales analysed a century ago, many of these character types are still visible in the horror genre, but often slightly tweaked with flaws. The character types obvious in House Of Wax are the hero (Michael), the villains (motorbike gang), the helpers (comic book store boys) and the princess (Star). Another theorist who is important when looking at horror film analysis is Levi-Strauss who looked at narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions. These are sets of contrasting values which show the structure of media texts such as films. The binary oppositions set up in The Lost Boys are good/evil, vampire/human, reality/fiction and morality/immorality.

In conclusion, I find The Lost Boys to be not only a traditional horror film, but also one that clearly belongs to the 80’s because of the actors, soundtrack and production. It adheres to many of the main conventions found in the horror genre such as technical codes, narrative structure and character types. However, the use of comedy and false endings make it more involved and entertaining, and to a modern viewer with an interest in 80’s movies, although it lacks realistic gore or a many truly scary parts, it is a brilliant horror film.

House Of Wax (2005) Analysis

House of Wax, also known as Wax House, Baby is a 2005 horror film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (known for thrillers such as Orphan in 2009 and Unknown in 2001) about a group of teenagers stranded by a strange wax museum that have to fight for survival to avoid becoming a new wax figure at the hands of the town’s only surviving members. It is loosely based on the 1953 House of Wax, but has been revamped with a different storyline. The film's screenplay was by Chad and Carey Hayes and was distributed and produced by Warner Bro's Entertainment.

‘House of Wax’ perpetuates the Bulgarian structuralist linguist Todorov’s work, as it does follow the basic of beginning with an equilibrium, which is disrupted by an event setting off a chain of events, creating disequilibrium. This is then resolved by the denouement and a new equilibrium is settled at the end. At the start of the film, the 6 teenaged friends head off on a road trip to a football game which is a typical scenario for an American movie. This usual, everyday situation allows time for the movie to explore the characters personalities and for the audience to understand the dynamics of the friend group. The event that sets off a chain of events leading to disequilibrium is when their car is sabotaged and they have to ask the hunter (that turns out to be a third brother) for a lift to the nearby town. Disequilibrium is everything that takes part within the town as the main characters discover that almost everyone in the town is a wax figure leading to the climatic melting of the waxhouse, killing Vincent. After this a new equilibrium is created as the brother and sister will have to live on without their 4 friends, however, this calm at the end of the film is disturbed because of the revelation that the hunter is one of the brothers.

When an audience goes to watch a horror film, there are certain elements they expect to see in order for them to properly identify with it being a horror film. Much of horror films is actually suspense and in order to create this, the film has to create the right atmosphere. The elements of House Of Wax that perpetuate the genre include setting, camera work, lighting and iconography. The film is set in a secluded, rural community which promotes a feeling of isolation especially when the characters discover everyone else in the town is made of wax except the murderers. The town has a past, specifically the boys past in which Bo was abused and turned psychotic by his parents and Vincent was the conjoined twin who ended up with a deformed face which leads to the creation of his wax face, perpetuating the convention of a covered/hidden face and ambiguous identity. The use of underground passages where the brothers turn people into wax and control the town is usual of horror films as basements and underground lairs are supposed to connote our primitive instincts. Technical code such as lighting from unexpected angles, unsettling jumps in editing, the use of ambient sounds such as footsteps and unusual, expressive shots are also made use of in this film and the genre in general to create suspense and shock for the audience. Iconography in the film was the use of very pale skin matched with long dark hair on Vincent to create a ghostly look not dis-similar to The Grudge which audiences would associate with fear.

As Horror dates back to the very early 20^th century, there has been plenty of time to create the genre expectations as mentioned before, however these can be very useful for film directors to oppose as well, shocking the audience into a false sense of security, then frightening them suddenly. This can also be used in the narrative structure of films and by contrasting to the usual expectations that the viewers have, such as allowing the final girls brother to survive as well, you can confuse them which creates more disconcertment. The ambiguous ending of the film where you discover the hunter is actually a third brother creates an unsettling atmosphere and the possibility for a spin off sequel about him.

In terms of House of Wax’s place in the history of horror, gore returned with a vengeance in the 2000’s and the terms 'gore-nography' and other similar terms came into existence to describe the new breed of movies that try to titillate the audience with excessive amounts of gore. This spawned series of movies such as Hostel (2005). House of Wax isn’t quite ‘gore-nography’ as the story line isn’t only focused on violence, however there are many deaths and gory attacks in the film which meet this genre. An example of this is Paris Hiltons death which goes on for many minutes as she is chased in her underwear from the campsite and ends up impaled on a pole.

A Russian theorist named Propp examined hundreds of examples of folk tales to see if they shared any structures and identified 8 characters that were mostly present. They were: the villain(s), the hero, the donor (who provides an object with some magic property), the helper that aids the hero, the princess (the sought after person) who is the reward for the hero and object of the villain’s schemes, her father who rewards the hero, the dispatcher and the false hero. Although horror films obviously differ from folk tales analysed a century ago, many of these character types are still visible in the horror genre, often tweaked such as the idea of the hero. The hero in horror films now tends to be a ‘final girl’ who is often in need of rescuing (the princess) but ultimately defeats the villain. The character types obvious in House Of Wax are the hero, the villains and the dispatcher (who turns out to be a villain himself). Another theorist who is important when looking at horror film analysis is Levi-Strauss who looked at narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions. These are sets of contrasting values which show the structure of media texts such as films. The binary oppositions set up in House Of Wax included good/evil, natural/artificial, life/death and sanity/insanity.

In conclusion, I find House Of Wax to be a traditional horror film as it adheres to the majority of the main conventions found in the genre. It perpetuates the genre in this way as it shares many of the common settings, technical codes, narrative structure and character types found commonly in horror. However, it tries to make the story line more interesting with the addition of slightly unexpected story twists such as two characters surviving instead of just the final girl and the hunter turning out to be one of the brothers.

Let The Right One In - Trailer Analysis

I analysed the Let The Right One In trailer, looking for the common codes and conventions found within trailers.

Room 1408 - Trailer Analysis

I analysed the Room 1408 trailer, looking for the common codes and conventions found within trailers.

History of the Horror Film Genre

Although there are films credited for being horror in the end of the 19^th century, the horror genre first emerged with German Expressionism in the silent era of films from around 1920. As imported films were banned from Germany, the demand for more films made within the country was high. These films relied on non-realistic, distorted sets to add an eerie quality as after the First World War there were no large budgets available for production. This and the absence of spoken dialogue, (actors of silent and German expressionism films had to use over exaggerated expressions and body language to communicate their emotions with the audience), resulted in a very abstract and distinct, recognisable style that greatly influenced the film noir and horror genre of films especially. Examples of these films are The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (sometimes accredited as being influential for zombie movies later on because of the sleep walking assistant of Dr Caligari) and Nosferatu which is based unauthorised on Bram Stokers Dracula which meant that later on that the courts ordered for all copies to be destroyed because Bram Stroker’s wife sued the company for stealing the idea.

In the early years of horror movies with dialogue, the company Universal Pictures began making a succession of successful films based of gothic horror novels such as Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Dracula (which had been mimicked earlier by Nosferatu) by Bram Stoker (both of the film adaptations were released in 1931). These films created an appetite for the horror genre and other companies soon followed such as Paramount with Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde also in 1931. Films in those times were often based around themes of insanity and mad scientists and built upon the techniques that were employed in German Expressionism films such as over exaggerated facial expressions. Often the movie theatres would use gimmicks such as ambulances waiting outside and nurses on hand in the movie theatre to further scare the audience. Although these movies were in black and white, sometimes such as in the original screenings of Frankenstein, coloured screens were used to create atmosphere such as red for the climatic ending.  

After the success of films such as Frankenstein, Universal pictures not only created sequels to their successful horror films they began creating other horror films rapidly as they saw there was a gap in the market for them. There was an emergence of films where nature goes wrong and started attacking people and also the beginning of werewolf and cat people stories where humans transformed into animals. Although werewolf novels existed they were not popular on the scale of classic gothic horror novels such as Dracula, so it fell to Universal Pictures to make them popular. Although they created the movie “Werewolf in London” in the 30’s, their first big werewolf movie was the influential “Wolf Man” starring Lon Chaney Jr. son of Lon Chaney Sr. who was known for silent movies. This kick-started the craze in the 40’s for horror movies based around nature going wrong.


In the 1950’s, the horror film genre started moving away from its literary roots and with the help of new advances in technology, there was instead the beginning of films about the horror of Armageddon and the horror of the demonic. Often these were inexpensive B-movies without well-known actors. Horror of Armageddon films such as Them! (nuclear waste spill that created giant ants) were about existential threats that could end the human civilisation and were often based on themes of nuclear warfare, pandemic or extra-terrestrial attack. This fear of an outside attack changing the entire world was part of the American fear of Communist infiltration and often the monsters were unnamed to further the feeling of unease in the USA at that time. The Blob (1958) is a good example of this as it is a red faceless blob that grows as it devours people and if you watch the trailer and replaces all instances where “The Blob” is said with “Communism” it still fits.



A British film production company that was well known for horror in the 1950’s – 70’s was Hammer films. It began to dominate the market at that time with worldwide distribution and financial success, probably helped by partnerships with studios in the states such as Warner Bros. It was known for a series of films based on gothic novels such as new workings of Frankenstein and Dracula. This success made the company well known as ‘Hammer House of Horror’ and during the 50’s and 60’s they produced a vast amount of films as because their popularity increased, American companies wanted in on the success. Halfway through the 60’s a new financial deal meant there was a burst of more gothic styled films such as The Devil Rides Out (The Devil's Bride) which is about a group of satanists who invoke the devil. Unfortunately, in the 70's they lost popularity and lost backing by studios as nobody was really interested in the traditional gothic horror genre anymore.


The first splatter/slasher movie, the influential Psycho came out in 1960 but the trend in the 60’s and 70’s was actually more based in Ghosts, Zombies, Satanism and Family. The first influential zombie film was Night of The Living Dead (1968) which moved even further away from classic gothic horror and gave horror more everyday realism. The supernatural became a bigger theme and Japanese horror often used folk religion such as Satanism in their movies. Because the restrictive “Hay’s Code” was lifted in the 60’s movies could be more gory and shocking than ever before. Satanism also became huge in the western world when The Exorcist came out in 1973 leading to a whole branch of film dedicated to the possession of women and children that is still very much alive in the horror movie genre today. Satan is a villain that often features in horror films because he is invincible to humans. Another popular satanic movie is The Omen from 1976.


Although Splatter films had been present before the 80's, in this decade there was an emergence of 'Slasher movies' which are a different genre as it typically involves a psychopathic murderer who stalks and kills many victims, usually in a very graphic and violent way which a cutting tool that is often a knife or an axe. Although there were a couple of these in the late 70's such as Halloween (1978) they became very popular in the 80's with such films as Friday The 13th (1980) and My Bloody Valentine (1981). This decade also became known for its 'B-movie' films that are now considered cult classics such as The Lost Boys (1987) and the gory Fright Night (1985).


After fifteen years of these types of film and the success of them falling, directors wanted to come up with something new and interesting to re-grab audiences attentions. They started making parody horror films where the characters are aware of typical horror movie conventions which creates humour in films such as Dead Alive (1992) and Scream (1996) where they compile a list of how to survive a scary movie. This trend continues today with modern movies as Scary Movie (2000) and Shaun Of The Dead (2004) that use both gore and black humour to create the Comedy Horror genre.


Many of the gory 80's 'B-movies' mentioned before are termed 'Video-Nasties', these are movies that were deemed unfit for cinema showings, and so went straight to video, with the worst parts censored by the BBFC. There was uproar because of the lack of regulatory system on videos and people were concerned they could fall into childrens hands - this caused there to be new laws by which movies for video sale went through a stricter censorship than even for ones shown in cinemas. In some cases, there have been 'Moral Panics' caused by attacks and murders that were blamed on the criminals having seen a certain film. Examples of this are Evil Dead (1981) and Childs Play 3 (1991), the latter being said to have influenced the murder of three year old boy James Bulger by two 10 year olds who had seen the film. There has always been concern about how the viewing of graphically violent films could effect members of society, especially young people.


In the 2000's, gore returned with a vengence and the terms 'gore-nography' and other similar terms came into existance to describe the new breed of movies that try to titilate the audience with excessive amounts of gore. This spawned series of movies such as Hostel (2005). David Edelstein of New York Magazine was negative towards the director (Eli Roth) for creating what he termed 'torture-porn' where audiences were excited by gore "like a sexual act". These movies are only really enjoyed by a very niche audience, but have become popular because of the hype surrounding them and how gory they are. 'Gore-nography' is ultimately about killing and torturing people in a variety of ways and often don't focus at all heavily on character or plot, however, some series such as Saw (2004) and Final Destination (2000) try to include a story line as to why the events are occuring which removes them slightly from the 'torture-porn' genre as it is not entirely focused on the gory violence depicted.


In conclusion, over the years, with many updates in technology and interests of the general public, the Horror genre has developed and expanded into many sub-genres to create the vast array of films being made today. Although there are many things that you would expect to see in a horror film, the two thing I think that all horror films have in common is the use of suspense and having an 'enemy'. The horror genre is constantly evolving and changing to re-grab audiences attentions and although certain themes tend to stay with the genre such as isolation and blood shed, it's constantly being reinvented.