Horror Research: The 2000's (Extended)

Spoofs:
Although the noughties didn't really bring any actual horror movies, spoofs of already existing horror films were released. For anyone who doesn't know what "spoof" means it more or less just means a micky take. Two of the main spoofs of the noughties were "Shaun Of the Dead" (Spoof of Dawn of the Dead) and "Scary Movie" (Spoof of Scream with hints of other clasical horror films such as The Blair Witch Project and The Sixth Sence along with many others).

Horror Research: The 2000's

The noughties wasn't really up to much in terms of horror films. Not many original horror films were made but there were many remakes were made such as Friday the 13th, Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

As well as seeing old films being re-made, we also saw characters from seperate movies going against one another in new films. Two prime examples of this are Freddy vs Jason (2003) and Alien vs Predator (2004).



Although there wearn't many good horror films in the noughties, one film started off mass horror story, filled with blood, guts and psychopathic killers; Saw! The saw films really brought something new to the horror game; instead of the killer chaising their victim(s), in saw the victims of Jigsaw (The crazed psycho killer) have to play his "games" in order to try and survive, whether it be harming themselves or another victim who has also been captured. When Saw was realised it really got people thinking "how far would you go to survive?".

 

Horror Research: The 90's

The Slasher genre of horror was truely in its prime during the 90's. The gallons of blood and piles of guts and corpses no longer fazed people, they wanted something a little different. The 90's saw the birth of "Psychological Horror" which really delved into the minds of the killers to see how they think and plot. The sophisticated way in which these types of films were done meant that there was less of the blood and gore and more psychological aspects, showing cat and mouse type chase going on between the killer and their victim(s). One of the most iconic horror films of the 90's was "The Silence Of the Lambs" which is about a young FBI agent who uses the criminal yet genius mind of a serial killer to help find another serial killer.



Although there were many slasher films during the 90's such as "Candyman" and "I Know What you did Last Summer", one of them would become the greatest films of the 90's. As well as releasing the 7th sequal to his Nightmare on Elm Street (New Nightmare) Wes Craven also released "Scream". Scream is about a masked killer known as "Ghostface" who goes out to kill a whole group of teens after the one year anniversary of the Sidney's (The main character) mother's death. Scream is one of the first and one of the best true Teen Horror films that was followed by 3 just as great sequals!

Horror Research: The 80's (Continued)

As well as the numorous mass murderers that the decade brought, the 80's also saw the return of Sci-Fi Horror movies, even bigger and better than before!! Because of the new and improved technology, it gave the writers and directors of horror movies a chance to really go all out and make aliens, monsters and un-human beings look realer and scarier that ever! Two films released at the time that really pushed the technowlogical boundries were "Alien" and "Predator". Both films used the new found technology to the max, creating various flesh eating beings.

Other Sci-Fi horror movies of the the 80's include The Thing, The Fly and The Toxic Avenger.

 

Horror Research: The 80's

The 80's was when teen slashers were at the best. After Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the 70's, the 80's saw many sequals made to carry on scaring audiences. However, the 80's saw the introduction of two of the most iconic mass killers of the horror genre; Freddy Kruger (Nightmare on Elm Street series) and Jason Voorhees (Friday The 13th series). These two crazed murderers prey on teen victims. Freddy Kruger kills his victims when they are most vunerable; in their dreams, and Jason Voorhees tracks and kills a group of teens who go camping. Because the victims in both sets of films are just normal teens doing normal things it made audiences fear that it could happen to them and this really scared people at the time.





Another crazed killer of the 80's was an unusual one; a doll that goes by the name "Chucky". "Child's Play" is about a young boy who recieves a doll for his birthday. Little does the boy know that his doll has been posessed by the soul of a cereal killers who goes by the name the "Lakeshore Strangler". In an attempt to leave this plastic body, Chucky goes around killing anyone who gets in his way!

Horror Research: The 70's

The 70's is most commonly known as the era of the creepy kids. Horror wanted to scare their audiences with something new and unexpecting. In the past, children in films are very harmless but during the 70's horror writers decided to change this image by making children scary! Films such as, the Exocist, the Omen, Carrie along with many others are examples of horror films which had young people as the main character/ killer.

The 70's also brought about the true birth of the sub-genre 'Slasher'. Slasher films consist of a crazed killer going around, killing anyone and everyone. 'Halloween' and 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' are just two of the 70's slasher films.

Horror Research: The 60's

The 'swingin Sixties' brought about yet another new era of horror. The fear of nuclear attacks from the 50's had passed so the horror genre needed something new to do. One of the most iconic horror directors of the 60's was Mr Alfred Hitchcock, who directed some of the most well known horror films in history such as 'The Birds' and 'Psycho'.


This scene from 'Psycho' is arguably the most famous scene in horror history!

The 60's also brought the start of the 'Undead' craze. In 1968 the horror film 'Night of the Living Dead' was realised. This film is about a group of people running from hoards of undead Zombies trying to feed on living flesh. Below is the trailer for Night of the Living Dead.

Horror Research: The 50's

The 50's brought the world a new sub-genre of Horror; Sci-Fi (Science Fiction)!

Because of the horrific ending of the Second World war when American Troops were ordered to drop nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing more that 150,000 people, horror in the 50's aimed to prey on the peoples fears of nuclear warfare. Films such as Godzilla, The Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Beast with a Million eyes along with many others are examples of horror using public paranoia to their advantage.

 

Horror Research: The 40's

Many sequals were made in the 40's for the popular horror characters of the 30's (Dracula, Frankenstein and the Mummy). House of Dracula, The Mummy's Curse and The Ghost of Frankenstein are 3 of the sequals to be made in the 40's.

However, we also see some new faces on the horror scene, such as The Wolf Man and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

All in all, the 40's wasn't really Horror's best moment as the world was at war for the second time, therefore, people were too busy either helping with the war effort or trying to stay safe!

Horror research: the 30's

The 1930's was the real birth of the horror genre. 1931 was the year that the two most well known horror films were released: Dracula and Frankenstein. These two films were adapted from the books which they are based. Dracula was played by a young Transylvanian man named Bela Lugosi and the part of Frankenstein's monster was played by Boris Karloff.



Karloff as the monster

 

Lugosi's version of the Count.

 Other horror films that were made in the 30's include: The mummy (1932), Freaks (1932) and King Kong (1933).



 

  We see Karloff once again in 'The Mummy'. A beauty and the beast love story of a mummified man who wants to bring his dead lover back to him.

 

Freaks is about a circus that goes around, showing off its acts, these are in fact various people who have dis-figurements or un-natural atributes to their bodies (sort of a 'Freak show') These 'Freaks' include a dwarf man, a man with no limbs, a bearded lady and many others with mental or physical disabilities. Towards the end of the film we see all the 'Freaks' cralling through the mud and chase the peolpe who had laughed at them. This film was banned from many countries because of its horrific images.

 King Kong is about a giant ape is brought to America from foreign lands who runs riot through New York City, destroying buildings, crashing planes and climbing atop the famous Empire State Building. This, like the Mummy is about a beast that falls in love with a beauty.

 

Horror Research: The Beginning

The Silent Era:
The year is 1915 and the first horror movie was made. The Golem was a film about a jewish statue (A Golem) that protects a ghetto in medieval Prague. When his job is finished and the ghetto is no longer in danger he isn't needed, but he doesn't want to go, so he runs riot around the place, eventually being defeated by a young girl.

A Picture from the first horror film 'The Golem'

 
We now jump to 1919 and yet another horror film is made. The Cabinet of Dr Caligari is about an evil doctor who is put up against a hero who is falsely put into a lunatic asylem. This film really plays with the audience because you are never 100% certain who is mad and who is sane. Because of its eerie vibe and jagged asymmetry of the mise en scene, this film is often cited 'the grandaddy of all horror films'. 

                                                      An image from the 1919 film 'The Cabinet of Dr Caligari'

In 1922 we see the first vampire film. Nosferatu is based on the novel 'Dracula' written by Bram Stoker in 1897. This film is believed to be the best vampire film because of its  frightening bloodsucker and the fact that it is a "vampire movie that actually believes in vampires"

                                                       The 1922 Trailer for the film 'Nosferatu'

Main Task

Preliminary task-DONE!! Now time to start on the main task. Our main task is to create the first 2 minutes, including the titles for a teen horror movie. For this task we shall be editing the raw footage together with the editing software Final Cut, oppose to iMovie as Final Cut is more professional than iMovie and the final piece will be of a higher standard because of this. 

In the following blogs I shall be conducting some research on the history of the horror genre as a whole to help me maximise the potential of my groups final product.

Evaluation Of Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task: Final Product

Today TwinPine Films finished filming and editing the final piece for the preliminary task. Below is our finished film.