Horror films
Just a few thoughts on my time watching horror films. This is the incoherent mess that comes out of my head when I over think things so enjoy this.
Sex = death
This is a common theme in horror films. Sex is wrong if outside of marriage like before marriage or if it is an extra-marital affair. It can be a symbol for picking up an STD.
Curiosity
Questioning everything, the status-quo, will get you killed in a horror film. This is a sign that to do the same in general life is dangerous and you should do as you are told.
Characters are usually young
There are a couple of points around this. It is tragic to see someone die young. Also these sorts of films are more likely to appeal to that age group who want to see films about people like them. There is a message that young people are inexperienced and need to learn though.
No one turns the light on
The dark means that people can't see what is waiting there and this adds to the feeling of dread and suspense. Nothing appears to be as scary in the cold light of day.
There is likely to be weather
There is likely to be either rain or a thunderstorm at some point for dramatic effect or 'pathetic fallacy'. Thunder can be the climax of a scary event and the use of lightening can be to hint at something scary in the dark. Rain makes it darker (clouds can block out moonlight) and can represent a sad scene when deaths occur.
Horror films often contain a message
In the Saw films people who were really nasty are being taught lessons about their greed and selfishness. Other films can try and warn teenagers off of things like sex and drugs (the sex = death example above). It is rare to find a horror without some kind of message attached to it.
Infection (2004) - doctors and nurses try to cover up a death at a financially struggling hospital. Meanwhile there is a victim with a strange virus in the emergency room and they try to investigate while trying to speed up the rate of decay on the dead body. This all leads to tragic events taking place as they are picked off one-by-one.
Ringu (1998)/Ju-on: The Grudge (2002) - the Ring trilogy starts with teenagers being killed after staying in a cabin in the woods for an illicit meet up. They have watched a creepy video while they are there and received a phone call straight away afterwards telling them that they would die in seven days. The people who die are curious, young and also selfish throughout the film. There is one death of a man who has left his wife and the woman involved was too curious about the film and puts herself and her young son in danger as a result. The ghoul, Sadako, is seeking revenge for her death at the hands of her father. A similar theme can be seen in The Grudge, which is revenge for the murder of a woman and her young son. Everyone connected with the house that the murders took place in disappear in mysterious ways at the hands of their angry spirits.
Unfriended (2014) - the group of teens having a Skype group chat receive a message from their dead friend and they start dying off in horrible ways. It turns out that they weren't great friends and humiliated her a year earlier with a YouTube video showing her drunk antics which led to her suicide. Revenge is taken by her spirit. This is similar to I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) where a group of teens are punished for their hit and run of a pedestrian.
In Devil (2010) a group of people are trapped in a lift and killed off one-by-one by the devil (who is one of the passengers). They are all horrible people and have committed all kinds of offenses. It is clear the devil is punishing them for this.
You get the point. People are punished in horror films. They are the modern equivalent of medieval images of hell. These portrayed a vision of pain and despair as punishment for a bad life. The aim was to avoid these images becoming reality after death. Today, horror films encourage us to be pure and not to challenge the status-quo and to do so means we avoid something bad happening to us.
This is my not at all academic thought process on just watching horror films for years. This is my interpretation.
Sex = death
This is a common theme in horror films. Sex is wrong if outside of marriage like before marriage or if it is an extra-marital affair. It can be a symbol for picking up an STD.
Curiosity
Questioning everything, the status-quo, will get you killed in a horror film. This is a sign that to do the same in general life is dangerous and you should do as you are told.
Characters are usually young
There are a couple of points around this. It is tragic to see someone die young. Also these sorts of films are more likely to appeal to that age group who want to see films about people like them. There is a message that young people are inexperienced and need to learn though.
No one turns the light on
The dark means that people can't see what is waiting there and this adds to the feeling of dread and suspense. Nothing appears to be as scary in the cold light of day.
There is likely to be weather
There is likely to be either rain or a thunderstorm at some point for dramatic effect or 'pathetic fallacy'. Thunder can be the climax of a scary event and the use of lightening can be to hint at something scary in the dark. Rain makes it darker (clouds can block out moonlight) and can represent a sad scene when deaths occur.
Horror films often contain a message
In the Saw films people who were really nasty are being taught lessons about their greed and selfishness. Other films can try and warn teenagers off of things like sex and drugs (the sex = death example above). It is rare to find a horror without some kind of message attached to it.
Infection (2004) - doctors and nurses try to cover up a death at a financially struggling hospital. Meanwhile there is a victim with a strange virus in the emergency room and they try to investigate while trying to speed up the rate of decay on the dead body. This all leads to tragic events taking place as they are picked off one-by-one.
Ringu (1998)/Ju-on: The Grudge (2002) - the Ring trilogy starts with teenagers being killed after staying in a cabin in the woods for an illicit meet up. They have watched a creepy video while they are there and received a phone call straight away afterwards telling them that they would die in seven days. The people who die are curious, young and also selfish throughout the film. There is one death of a man who has left his wife and the woman involved was too curious about the film and puts herself and her young son in danger as a result. The ghoul, Sadako, is seeking revenge for her death at the hands of her father. A similar theme can be seen in The Grudge, which is revenge for the murder of a woman and her young son. Everyone connected with the house that the murders took place in disappear in mysterious ways at the hands of their angry spirits.
Unfriended (2014) - the group of teens having a Skype group chat receive a message from their dead friend and they start dying off in horrible ways. It turns out that they weren't great friends and humiliated her a year earlier with a YouTube video showing her drunk antics which led to her suicide. Revenge is taken by her spirit. This is similar to I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) where a group of teens are punished for their hit and run of a pedestrian.
In Devil (2010) a group of people are trapped in a lift and killed off one-by-one by the devil (who is one of the passengers). They are all horrible people and have committed all kinds of offenses. It is clear the devil is punishing them for this.
You get the point. People are punished in horror films. They are the modern equivalent of medieval images of hell. These portrayed a vision of pain and despair as punishment for a bad life. The aim was to avoid these images becoming reality after death. Today, horror films encourage us to be pure and not to challenge the status-quo and to do so means we avoid something bad happening to us.
This is my not at all academic thought process on just watching horror films for years. This is my interpretation.
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