Works Cited

Badley, L. (1995). Film, Horror, and the Body Fantastic. Westport: Greenwood Press.

Briefel, A. (2009, January). What some ghosts Dont Know: spectral incognizance and the horror film. Narrative , pp. 95-109.

Cull, N. (2000). The Exorcist. History Today , 46-51.

Gill, P. (2002). The monstrous yeas: teens, slasher film, and the family. Journal of Film and Video , 16-30.

Humphries, R. (2002). The American Horror Film. Edinburgh: University Press.

Joan, C. (2007). Frames of evil: The holocaust as horror in American film. Journal of American Culture , 243-244.

Kelly, C. (2007). From final girl to final woman: defeating the male monster inhalloween and halloween h20. Journal of Popular Film and Television , 12-20.

Kendrick, J. (n.d.). Razors in the dreamscape: revisiting A Nightmare On Elm Street and the slasher film. Film Criticism , 17-33.

Kilker, R. (n.d.). All roads lead to the abject: the monstrous feminine and gender boundaries in StanleyKubricks The Shining. Literature Film Quarterly , 52-63.

Lizardi, R. (2010). "Re-imagining" Hegemony and Misogyny in the contemporaray slasher remak. Jounral of Popular Flim & Television , 113-121.

Prince, S. (2004). The Horror Film. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Walker, G. A. (1987). American Horrors. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Applying the course to the scariest movie I have ever seen.

Before taking film communication I was oblivious to almost everything that goes into making a film, particularly how writers and directors can harness the most important social, cultural, and political opinions which grip the nation during the era in which the film came out. During the course of the semester I learned so many things about a host of films which I knew so well but apparently did not really know at all. I never even took it into consideration how those elements are apparent in these films and that is what interested me most in the class. Now that I have the opportunity I would like to apply how the social, cultural, and political implications play into the scariest movie I have ever seen.

I went to see a midnight showing of the re-mastered version of a film which debuted in 1974 when I was in 4^th grade and I will admit I had trouble sleeping for the night. William Blatty’s The Exorcist which had a shocked the nation in 1974 had been rereleased and my mother who saw the film as a young girl was eager to take me. I watched the film and left the theatre in terror and ever since it has been the scariest movie I have ever seen. From that time until I researched the film for this project I only knew the movie as a film of demonic possession which made it seem so possible and completely terrifying and that is why I liked the film so much. Now having read into the film and all of its implications my love for this film has been revived.

The movie is actually based on a novel by William Blatty which is based on an actual exorcism. The exorcism took place in Maryland in 1949 and involved a boy who was speaking languages he never studied and had strange symbols and words appear on his body. Blatty used it as the background of his work and then altered the story to play on the happenings of that time.

The films story at its most basic sense shows a movie star mother whose child has become possessed and must hire a pair of priests in order to heal her child. How Blatty created the demon was particularly interesting. A goal of his book and movie to relate to the American Public that there is real evil present in our world so took the most evil occurrences in our world and put them together. “ Blatty sought to draw these disparate manifestations of evil – crime, communism, genocide, war and assassination- together into a cohesive presence. The demon of The Exorcist was the result.” (Cull 47) I know realize how he created something evil.

As the film also refers to the American youth of those times it is making a connection to social opinion of the decade. Kids of the ‘70’s were considered rebellious and that is why the subject of the possession is a teenager. “In reworking the Mount Rainier case for 1970s America, Blatty altered the gender of the possessed child. In doing so he moved his story into the typical territory of the horror genre: the female body.” (Cull49) I thought it was interesting how he molded those aspects of the story to pertain to the opinions about youths while keeping his film in a typical horror film. Horror as a genre has its beginnings in plotting science verse religion. There is a portion of the film when a possessed Regan is put through a number of medical tests all which fail so religion must save the day.   

There are also political references within the film. A large one has to do with the President Nixon. “Father Merrin’s warning to beware of the demon’s voice as it mixes lies with truth is exactly the sort of thing President Nixon had begun to say about the American Media as it probed the breaking story of Watergate.” (Cull 49) I think Blatty was taking a stab at Nixon for being a dishonest president and making a fool of the white house and letting him know how people felt.        

Personally applying these concepts to The Exorcist helped take this movie to a new level for me. As a film student I am interested in how films such as this one can be a voice for the nation. It is amazing that films played with such heated issues right under my nose and I had no idea until now. Now I can read films at a deeper level and I am enjoying that.   

Holocaust films=Horror films?

A newer concept to horror which I would like to discuss is the idea of the holocaust films as horror films. At first one would think holocaust films are merely historical counts of the exact atrocities as to raise awareness of what really happened. Looking a little bit closer it is easier to make connections between holocaust films and themes that are central to horror films.

            Horror films are defined as aiming to illicit a strong emotional response from the viewer. Holocaust films are made to illicit that strong emotional response as well but what makes it closer to genre is that it uses the same techniques. In an essay by Caroline Joan she discusses a book that was published about holocaust films as horror films but also adds point as to why she sees the connection as well. She writes, “Sharp separations are made between good and evil, between perpetrators and victims in showing connections between horror movies and the Nazi holocaust. For example, the shower scenes in both Psycho and Schindler’s List use female nudity to depict vulnerability.” Joan makes a solid point. Once again I note that horror is constantly under speculation for its use of the female body in films. She notes that both films although entirely different in sense of a story, both use the same technique to portray the female body.

            Also horror films sometimes use very shocking and gruesome scenes to illicit fear in the viewer. Holocaust films definitely use the same technique by showing exactly what happened to victims of the holocaust. Piles of dead bodies, enslaved Jews gaunt from malnutrition and overworking, and horrific execution scenes all show up in holocaust films over and over again. Directors trying to tell the story of the Jewish people do this to prove how disturbing the holocaust actually was and to also make the Nazi’s that much more intimidating and the films that much more horrific.

             Whether it is the use of the female body to depict vulnerability or the use of shock tactics by mutilating the human body holocaust film use these tactics. Horror films also use these tactics and actually originated them. It is a new idea to think about when watching holocaust films to try and relate them to horror films, it may be easier then you think.

Horror Films and the shot and editing

Horror as a genre is intended to invoke a strong emotional response to what is shown. There are several techniques films employ to earn this response. Low context horror films, which I strongly dislike by the way, may simply try to earn this response by showing intensely gory scenes. For example the Saw films have slowly slipped into this pattern of a poorly made narrative with tons of cut up bodies and what not like this is going to actually scare anyone over the age of 12. Great Horror films use stronger techniques such as the way scenes are shot. Before special effects took over cinema this was the way which directors would achieve their ultimate goal of invoking fear but also reinforcing the films connotative meanings.

            Horror is notorious for using women as the victims of the films. As an audience we can see that they are the victim from merely watching the movie but there are subtle added effects in the way they are shot which can back up that they are the subject of degradation. An example of this which to me has become a cliché in recent horror films is they pick a female as the victim but not only a female one that is better looking than the standard for lack of a better term. The film then exploits this good looking female throughout the film. As this female is shot there are times when you can see cleavage and curves taking advantage of female beauty, or what female beauty means to an overpowering male. Therefore the females are shot from a high angle and at a relatively close distance. In class we spent much time discussing that this exemplifies a power balance due to the male towering and over the female which is made stronger by shooting them down. Also I noticed when this happens in a film that it leads to showing more cleavage or skin on that female. In the film Jeepers Creepers there is a scene on the school bus the students are riding home from the basketball game. The main female character is moving up to the front of the bus to sit next her best friend on the bench and across from her is her two guy friends. Before she reaches her chair the camera switches to the perspective of the two guys in the opposite bench and as she moves to sit in the seat in the bottom left part of the screen you can you see the girls rear end. As she bends to sit her jeans are lowered slightly and her black thong underwear slips out of the top of her pants. The camera switching to the male perspective and the emphasis on her rear end and exposed undergarments only aid the exploitation of the female body.

            Horror as much as it objectifies women through the use of the shot, the shot can also help to create more fear for the audience. In a lot of great horror flicks there is a use of shadows which adds effect. This makes sense as a tool for a director because horror films usually take place during night hours so shadows would naturally be created. In an earlier post I made of a scene analysis from Nightmare on Elm Street there are many examples of how shadows are used. When Freddy Krueger is about to make himself visible he is walking around the corner of the alley out of sight. Although his physical body is out of sight there is a tremendous silhouette of him displayed onto a garage door. The expanding of his shadow makes him seem much more menacing, also it adds to the suspense the audience feels while waiting for his appearance. In the film Halloween in the final scene when Jaime Lee Curtis makes her final stand she is walking away from what she thinks is the dead body of Michael Myers but is actually being followed by him. The camera follows her for a second then moves into the next room prematurely. When in the next room both characters shadows are portrayed through the door before they enter and you can see Michael Myers grab onto her from behind in their shadows and then they spill into the room.

            It is quite interesting to sit and watch horror films and attempt to pick out camera techniques which directors use to emphasize various aspects of the film.     

Semiotic Analysis: Halloween examples

Horror as a genre has a very close connection with semiotics. Considering that horror as a genre is all about making various cultural references it easy to see that most films could not function on a deeper level without semiotics. A common theme among horror films is the victimization of women which relates back to feminism and how women are treated in the United States. Without semiotics in a film would a teenage girl running away from a serial killer be anything more than a random victim? The answer is no. To help me with my examples of uses of semiotics in horror films I will refer to the film Halloween.

            Personally I feel that horror has one technique of utilizing semiotics that is somewhat unique to horror genre and that is hoe sound is utilized. In horror films of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s were the first to utilize this technique. The film Halloween owes part of its fame to the Michael Myers theme song which is known by anyone who has seen the film. During scenes in the film the song will play when Michael Myers is near and about to strike. As soon as that music comes the audience can recognize danger is near. Many horror films use this technique of having a particular song or sounds that play when some type of danger is near.

            Horror films can also use semiotics by the way the way it uses its characters in the film and how the narrative can tell you about those characters. In the film Halloween the main character Jaime Lee Curtis makes no comparison to what one would think is a female capable of eluding an immortal murderer. In the film we learn that Jaime Lee Curtis is very timid because we learn of her fear of talking to boys. We also find out throughout the introduction of the film she spends weekdays studying and doing homework and weekends babysitting neighborhood children. After being subdued by Michael for a period of time she finally fends off her predator and then is rescued at the last moment by an older male. This would be the denotative meaning, what we see directly in the film. The way this is constructed tells me a few things about a connotative meaning. The final woman is a character placed into slasher films during the 70’s and 80’s because of the progressive movement in America. At that time females were starting to become very independent in the U.S. So films use the final girl as a reference that women are strong enough (final girl-Jaime Lee Curtis) to compete with their male counterparts (their predator-Michael Myers) and survive. I think it is interesting that they made Jaime Lee Curtis a teenage girl who likely would grow up to be successful due to her work ethic in school and babysitting. To me this references what the ideal teenage girl would be during the progressive movement fending for herself against a relentless male race.

            Interestingly enough Jaime Lee Curtis is able to survive until the end but still ends up being saved by a male. Opinions are mixed as to whether the film gratifies women or reminds them that they still need their male counterparts for success. Semiotics is very subjective and opinion based there are many debates very similar to the one that surrounds Halloween. Experts argue that horror films can be interpreted as either gratifying women or degrading them.

The narrative function of mis en scene in horror films

Needless to say horror is a genre which relies heavily on a specific narrative in the film. A director or writer needs to pay special attention to how the story is constructed because most horror films have a fairly complex narrative. They tell a story which usually takes place over an extended period of time and may have multiple view points.

            A great example of a horror flick which has a well crafted narrative put together solely for that film is M. Night Shamylan’s film The Sixth Sense. In the beginning of the film Bruce Willis is accepting a highly esteemed award for being a great child psychologist in Philadelphia. After an award ceremony and a night of celebration he and his wife return home and begin to get ready for bed. Upon coming home Bruce finds in his bedroom an ex patient who is apparently lost it and angry with Bruce for not helping him. The intruder shoots Bruce and then kills himself. Bruce falls on the bed and the scene blacks out and across the bottom flashes one year later. The scene opens up with Bruce heading to talk to a new client. This new client ends up having the ability to see ghosts. After some time of befriending and talking with the child, the child convinces Bruce to try and mend his broken relationship with his wife. Bruce is encouraged to speak to her when she sleeps. When Bruce tries to talk with her he realizes that he is actually dead. His wife had not been ignoring him she had been mourning for him.

            That is the narrative of the film at its simplest form. The writer and director needed to create a narrative that had a long jump in the beginning. When the scene fades out and comes back one year later showing an apparently live and well Bruce Willis we assume he survived. The child who he speaks to all film has an ability to see ghosts and that is how we have been interacting with Bruce the whole time. The writer/director of the film needed to show you that the main character dies without you actually knowing, and then have you interact with him as if he were a ghost without you knowing and that is the reason he wrote the film as he did. The film would not have had the same effect if there had not been a giant twist at the end of the film.

Sub Genre: Slasher Films

The sub genre of slasher films arguably may be the most popular type of horror film among modern audiences. There are several factors which make the films so popular to audiences. Some experts refer to slasher films and teenage slasher films insinuating they are made for a young audience. Pat Gill author of The Monstrous Years: teens, slasher films, and the family makes not about the sub genres beginning: “In 1978, Halloween heralded a new sub-genre of horror, the teen slasher film. Combining Inventive violenve and a clever, eerily evocative suburban mis-en-scene with engaging, believable, contemporary teen protagonists and a superhuman killer, director and co-writer John Carpenter created a new, effective type of film thriller.” (Gill 16)

            Gill makes a solid point. Halloween is a classic in itself, but also a classic for ushering in this new sub genre. If one can recall all the slasher movies they have ever seen there are several characteristics which could be found in them all.

The first being the film either takes place in a small town, or a suburb of a larger city. This is also a factor which makes the films appeal. Small towns and suburbs are thought of as being far from the dangers associated with the city. These places are where people come to raise family’s in a good environment and the films bring terror to these so called nesting grounds. This makes the film appealing to the everyday teen. Usually that teen lives in a suburb or small town making them identify with the subjects in the film. Also the whole basis of horror genre is making the impossibly frightening possible. This is done by centering a story around a normal group of friends in a normal  town, and then having this normal setting rocked by some type of monster.  

Second there is the idea of this “final girl”. Usually a female is the main character of the story. Usually her attacker is a serial killer/rapist who attacks a long line of females until he comes across out main character who somehow finds the will and strength and ingenuity to get away from her attacker unlike her friends.  Kelley Connelly author of From Final Girl to Final Woman makes a note on the importance of the final girl “The significance of the final girl is not just the development of a new cinematic character that possesses each of these characteristics. The final girl is significant not on because of who she is or how she acts but also because of what she represents”. (Connelly 14) What she represents is the breaking out of the female sex. The progressive movement started in the 1970’s and movies always reflect the opinions and ideologies of a country. It is then safe to assume that while the U.S. was slowly letting its oppressed populations rise up that the metaphor was made in the movies. Women in the U.S. were blooming as a sex and it is evident in films.

Despite the arguments that women in slasher films are depicted as powerful and cunning and able to compete with their male counterpart there is a lot of work and criticism that argues the opposite. Many would argue that throughout slasher films women are objectified for the benefit of the male. Women are shot in ways that demean them. For example the camera shot angles down on them, there are always sexual references made between the killer and their victims and that the male gets his pleasure through the punishment of women. Considering most of these films throughout show several female bodies stalked, attacked, and then mutilated.

I can see where both sides of the argument draw their conclusions from. Throughout the film women are constantly on the down until the final girl saves them. I guess it depends on the way you see the film.