The Wickerman

The film starts off with Sergeant Neil Howie sent to investigate a disappearance of a young girl in the isle of Sommerset upon arrival he ask the villagers about the little girl whom is missing but to his despair the villagers are adamant that the girl has never existed. Through further investigation he discovers that the entire island follows a pagan religion. Angered by this he confronts the lord of the island, ironically called lord Sommerset about their beliefs, hoping to put a stop to this but is unsuccessful. After more research he is shocked to find that they will sacrifice the missing girl on May-Day. Sergeant Howie decides to try and intercept the killing but ends up being killed himself.

I thought that the film was very strange and it is not really my sort of film. I thought that some of the ideas were completely way out and the whole concept of the film was strange.

I do think that this film fits into the horror genre because it is quite eerie at times and very spooky, for example the candle that is in the shape of a hand. Some of the things that happen in the film such as the pregnant women jumping over the fire are quite strange and scary too.

When this film was released it was hated by the film industry but as time went on it gained a more cult popularity and therefore was accepted a lot more. I think this was because the horror genre became a lot wider known and also different religions became a lot more common and accepted and as this film is quite religious it would of caught on. The film was directed by British Lion Films but they were facing administration so were bought out by a millionaire named John Bentley.

The fall of the House Of Usher

This film is about a house and the people in it. The house is in the middle of no-where and is surrounded by mist. A slightly strange is the fact that the house has absolutely no vegetation surrounding it. Siblings called Madeline and Robert Usher live in the house. There is also an inconspicuous butler. Madeline has a fiance called Philip Winthrop, however they have not seen each other for sometime and so Philip decides to pay her a visit. Philip does not know that Madeline has a condition that puts her into a death like state and makes her go crazy. Madeline goes into her death like state and Philip cant find her. Eventually she wakes up and in her insanity and rage she attempts to strangle her own brother and then sets fire to herself and thus burning down the rest of the house.

This film fits into the horror genre because of the strange and scary story line. For example the house being surrounded by mist and the freaky butler that knows everything about everyone. Madeline gets shut inside a coffin and this is quite scary, as she is still alive. The author of the novel is Edgar Allen Poe who is well known for making horror novels. Vincent Price plays the lead roll and he is also very well known for working in the horror genre.

The company that was making this film was American International Pictures who at the time was making a lot of horror. The film used cheap sets and used scenes that had been used in other films, it even used a shot of a house burning down to use when the house burnt down in the film. Roger Corman is a very well known director who has done a lot of Poe's novels.

In this film there a certain things that have become cliches over time, such as the way that the characters are dressed and the look of the house, with it being completely dark and surrounded by mist.

The fact that Vincent Price is in the film is good for the audience because he is very popular with the public and he is very good for the directors because he makes money by being so popular and makes people want to see films that he is in.

whitch finder general

Witch Finder General was directed by Michael Reeves who died young at the age of 25, due to an overdose. It was produced by Tigon films and in the USA was called The Conqueror Worm, with reference to Allen Poe, this was an attempt to gain popularity. Vincent Price was also told to narrate a prologue and epilogue from one of Poe's poems, again at an attempt to increase popularity. In the year that this film was made the Hippie culture that had promoted love and harmony started to fade as anarchism/punk era began! There were many public outbreaks of violence and in some circumstances, fatality's occurred. Violence was now becoming much more real and accepted. This film asks the question as to why violence and brutality is so easily accepted. The film is quite bleak in its outlook, but does portray the obvious issues surrounding society's acceptance of violence and interestingly shows that without proper rules and enforcements society will end up in chaos. The film was censored by the BBFC (British Board Film Censorship) which is now known as British Board Film Certification. The name change shows that they were trying to get away from film censorship and more into film certification. The original lead was played by Donald Pleasance who was in ineffectual, but the directors wanted Vincent Price as they knew that with him came a stereo type and he would not be able to play the ineffectual part, so the whole script was re-written around Vincent. This shows how much the actors influence the production of a film.

the exorcist

When the exorcist was first released there was a big uproar about it and a lot of people were not happy that the film was going to be shown to the public. This was because the film was quite ahead its time in terms of horror and the graphics were also very futuristic which made the film seem even more scary. The church complained about the film also and did not like the fact that the film seemed to make light of such exorcisms. Jon Landau felt the film was, “Nothing more than a religious porn film" The BBFC gave this film an 18 rating when first released but was banned for a couple of years and re-released in 1998. It was re-released because the horror genre had progressed and the public were now less shocked by this level of horror. The BBFC were hesitant to put the film onto VHS as they were worried about the film being viewed in homes and the impact it might have on people and it was also a worry that children and young people might get their hands on the film and be horrified/disturbed by the content. I think that there is still a need for regulations in film broadcasting, however i feel that the need is not as great as it was as young people today are surrounded by high levels of horror and violence from a younger age and so are a lot more used to it.