Analysis 1: Horror Films

            Horror films attempt to scare, frighten, excite and disgust the audience, and the level of scare changes over time, culture, and person.  According to Wilson, K. 2011, “As long as there have been stories, there have been stories about the Other, the unrealities we might categories today as speculative fiction. Early creation myths in all cultures are populated by demons and darkness, and early Abrahamic and Egyptian mythology resounds with tales of a world beyond the physical, a realm of the spirits, to be revered and feared. Classical mythology is replete with monsters - Cereberus, the Minotaur, Medusa, the Hydra, the Sirens, Cyclops, Scylla and Charybdis to name but a few- and heroes must navigate safely through the land of the dead on frequent occasions. Ancestor worship and the veneration of the dead begin with the Zhou dynasty in China, 1500 years BC. The modern horror genre as we know it is only around 200 years old (it begins to have form and conventions towards the end of the eighteenth century) but it has distinguished antecedents. Every culture has a set of stories dealing with the unknown and unexplained, tales that chill, provoke and keep the listener wondering "what if..?" Horror films are the present-day version of the epic poems and ballads told round the fires of our ancestors.” The pop culture topic horror films have many different types of beliefs and myths:  films were created from ancient myths, there are myths about the movies that were filmed, and there are myths about people that watch scary movies.   Examples of movies inspired by myths are: The Chainsaw Texas Masacre, The Blair Witch Project, Amityville Horror, and Candy Man.  Examples of myths about filmed movies are:  the tragic deaths from the “poltergeist curse” – where the cast mysteriously died, the use of really scaring the actors in the movies the Shining, and the Exorcist so that there scenes looked more real.    Example of myths about people that like scary movies:  that they are negative, violent, cult-like and worship Satan.  (Reelz About Movies, n.d.).

            There are several categories of horror films, such as: zombies, vampires, werewolves, virus, cannibal, hell, demons, ghost, torture, and serial killers.  There are numerous icons to horror movies such as:  Freddie Kruger, Jason Voorhees, Hannibal Lector, Michael Meyers, Jigsaw, Leather Face and Chucky to name a few.  Some of the great horror films made are:  The Shining, Amityville Horror, The Exorcist, Nightmare of Elm Street, Halloween, Friday the 13^th, Chainsaw Mascara, Saw, Bates Motel, Final Destination, and Silence of the Lambs. (Free Horror Movie 2011).

I love the thrill of scary movies and I have no desire to be violent, cult-like or worship Satan.  I really enjoy horror movies that are based on ideas that could really happen.  I really like supernatural films that are inspired by true events and are based on actual myths about ghost and demons.  I think it is amazing how many films have been created from the mythology that surrounds horror.   I think horror films are pushing the envelope and that as time goes on, it is harder to scare the audience as the level of scare has intensified.

References

Free horror movie. (2011). Retrieved April 13, 2013 from http://www.free-horror-movies.com/moviesgenere/icons.htm.

Reelz about movies. (n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2013 from http://www.reelz.com/movie-news/12174/hollywoods-scariest-rumors-myths-and-legends/.

Wilson, K. (2011).  Horror film history – roots of the horror genre. Retrieved April 13, 2013 from  http://www.horrorfilmhistory.com/index.php?pageID=early.