Horror Research

1. Horror Research Jade Odusote

2. Horror Defined • Definition of horror: An intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust. • A thing causing such a feeling. • 3) intense dismay. — ORIGIN Latin, from horrere ‘shudder, (of hair) stand on end’.

3. History of horror • Horror first began with myths of 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. 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.

4. Horror in the beginning • A quote from wiki answers about where horror began and how it was formed through imagination “Horror began as seeing things or imagining what your nightmares would look like, So when artists began their work, they would have nightmares or dreams, which concludes to the devil, which almost everyone believed in. They would ask sculptor to make them a creature, but the sculptors didn't know how, so they took different images of animals and added them together to make a stature which we now call gargoyles. Early horror started with the dead, and talking to spirits followed by exorcisms. Horror began as an early start to thrill and excitement. People enjoyed the horror and fascination to get scared and startled by plays, artwork and murder”

5. Facts from horror movie history “The year was 1922, place: German. I can say that it was the birth of horror movies. W Murnau started the terror and fear through Nosferatu, nosferatuthe story about a bloodsucking vampire. It wasn't the first vampire movie, as in 1896 Georges Melies made Le Castle Du Diable, but Nosferatu was the first movie where we saw a vampire killed by sunlight. This one boasted remarkable animalistic makeup that has not been replicated, even in modern times.A great many vampire movies followed after that. In 1931 Universal Studio launched 2legendary horror movies, Dracula with BelaLugosi and Frankenstein with Boris Karloff. Both of the films became a classic and were very successful. Boris Karloff even became a legendary name in horror movies history. The Mummy (1932) a silent picture with horror icon Boris Karloff in the title role remains a classic, with unforgettable make-up and atmosphere. In 1935, the sequel of Frankenstein, The Bride Of Frankenstein was made.”

6. Horror time line • 1930’s – horrors were based on literature and films such as Dracula and Frankenstein were made. • 1950’s-1960’s – alien and monster movies were created to take away some of the nations fear during the cold war, by allowing human kind to seem in control and as wanting and achieving peace allowing them to escape from the realities of fear of nuclear attack. During this era movies such as Godzilla and Them! were produced. • 1970’s – realism was introduced to the genre. More relatable films generated more fright during this time. Films such as the legendary Psycho and Halloween were created. • 1980’s – in the 80’s slashers were the most popular of horror films such as Nightmare on Elm Street. Also special effects were used more and more during this decade creating monsters as the villains resulting in films such as An American Werewolf in London and The Thing. • 1990’s – psychological thrillers are introduced and fear of the unknown is used widely. Films such as The Blair Witch Project, which was the first of its kind and changed the horror genre completely, introducing a completely unique style. Also films such as se7en had a lot of religious connotations, the victims having to pay for their sins. • 2000’s – religious connotations followed into the noughties, with films such as Saw being made. Also predictions for world chaos and destruction such as The Day after Tomorrow and 1012, as well as inescapable and unprovoked deaths such as in the film Final Destination. More recently films such as Paranormal Activity and The Orphan have reintroduced psychological horrors.

7. Horror genre changes over time

8. Sub genres • Psychological • Zombie • J-Horror • Thriller • Monster • slasher

9. psychological • Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror fiction that relies on characters' fears and emotional instability to build tension. Psychological horror aims to create discomfort by exposing common or universal psychological vulnerabilities and fears, such as the shadowy parts of the human psyche which most people repress or deny, whereas splatter fiction focuses on bizarre, alien evil to which the average viewer cannot easily relate

10. J-horror • J-horror is Japanese horror which mainly evolves around cultural and religious beliefs. • J-horror is has gotten very popular over the years and a lot of films have been remade by the western market such as (ring, Grudge, Eye etc). • J-Horror have several ways of getting the viewers of the feet through techniques such as tension building, involving ghost, using psychological horror, poltergeists, possession and exorcism. • Yurei. Yurei are Japanese ghost which are mainly dressed in white clothing which are worn at funerals or to represent someone passing away in Japan or western culture. The ghost also have really long hair which came from Japanese woman growing their long black hair. Another feature to this ghost is it being very pale/white in the skin tone, this comes from the idea of a soul passing away but cannot leave so the remain behind in a body that has passed away already.

11. Thriller • Thriller films tend not to be class in the horror section but depending on the graphic content of the film, some film pass the line and step into the horror section. This includes graphic content such as threats that may lead to death, this does not include psychological content. The threat will be constant and will scare the viewers as well. You can say it’s a action and adventure film with a little bit of horror which you get Thriller when you mix all these together. A good example of a horror film which could be classed as a Thriller is Jaws. Jaws is a film where they have a story line to it and once in a way you have a threat to death. There is the occasionally killin.

12. monster • Monster films tend to be given to films that involve human beings or one or more monsters. The term monster is usually applied to films sometimes labelled as horror, fantasy or science fiction genre that in most cases involve oversized monsters. • Monsters are normally an oversized species that cannot be controlled which then it will be classed as a monsters. A good example of this would be Frankenstein.

13. slasher • A slasher film is a subgenre of horror film, and at times thriller, typically involving a mysterious psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims usually in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe. Although the term "slasher" may be used as a generic term for any horror movie involving graphic acts of murder, the slasher as a genre has its own set of characteristics which set it apart from related genres like the splatter film.

14. zombie • Zombies are a species you can say that portrays a living dead corpse or a mindless human being. Zombies are really popular now a days as zombies are being used in TV series and fictional books. Zombies are also an icon that has been around for a long time. Zombies can be classed as several film genre such as comedy, science fiction, thriller or romance.Zombieshave been successful in the TV series such as ‘The walking Dead’ is a really popular series that has been going for a few series.