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.

the shining

the structure of the film is linear this means that it has a start middle and end of in more advance terms the x position building up the characters getting to know the plot then theres the complication this is when problems start to arise the climax is next this when the problems get sorted then theres the resolution when you start to wined down from the rest of the film so the shining theres the x position where we are introduced to jack the main character then the complication these include when danny starts talking to tony and when the hotel manager tells jack about the last caretaker that went mental also all the visions that danny gets about the hotel the climax is when jack loses his mind and goes on a rampage and tries to kill his family but danny escapes the resolution is when jack freezes to death in the maze. the film has a few muguffins these incude the dog man flating the man and the picture of jack in the picture in the end of the film the purpose of these is to through you of the sent also this film uses duse ex machine you can argue that the shining has and has not the argument for it has is that jack was always the caretaker cause the picture at the end of the film but you can argue against saying that he just caught cabin fever and went mental.
the krubick style
he is abit of a maverick when it comes to film making he utised modern technology like the stedy cam this alows him to do long tracking shots this allows for more shots and to add more atmosphere also he lets the actors make the characters to add a bit of intensity this could make the character easier to play if it were based on the actor also he has a disricard for traditionals conventions instead of tying all of the loose ends like traditional horror films this film leaves the loose ends open this film is very popular to a wide audience so evaluate a scene lets take the classic hears jonny and disect it Stanley kubrick creates meaning in this scene firstly he used the audio this includes dialect and the music also the sound of the axe hitting the door jack nicholson uses nursery rhymes to create a area of calmbess

Frankenstein (1994 film) Kenneth Branagh

what about the film makes it fit within the horror genre? could we argue for it to fit into another genre? this fits well in to the horror genre because it has the monster a mad professor trying to beat death but we could argue that it could fit into 3 or 4 other genres it has a element of romance and heartbreak with victors fiance killed by the monster on there wedding night you have the si/fi element with the monster and the experiments and you could argue it is like a television drama.who produced the film and what were the circumstances in which it was made? compared to James whales Frankenstein this film had alot bigger budget and alot more technology also an all star cast this film was Produced by Francis Ford Coppola this was made when there were significant changes in science as cloning of the dolly the sheep sparked controversy and the idea of beating death. the narrative has changed much but it has kept the blind man and has also kept the bride at the end the only difference being is that the blind man plays a flute instead of a violin and the bride at the end was Frankensteins fiance, both monsters get killed by fire there are alot of differances in the film as it was set in a cholera outbreak also the monster loses its iconography as its lost its large head and bolts through its neck which is associated with the original monster the film itslf isnt scary and i dont think of it is a horror more of a scripted drama 

Unit 1 genre analysis on horror

what about the film makes it fit within the horror genre? could we argue for it to fit into another genre?the things that makes it fit into the horror genre is the music is largely instrumental and the camera is canted so it gives a very good angle also the actors do alot of screaming to build up tension there are alot of camera angles and there is alot of panning in the film aswel. we could say that the film bride of Frankenstein has multiple genre such as comedy/horror si/fi/horror ect the film has alot of comic parts such as the part where Frankenstein smokes for the first time or when the mad grandmother this is the comedy part the si/fi part of the film deals with the monster (Frankenstein) and scientists which is assoscated with this genre.
who produced the film and what were the circumstances in which it was made?
universal produced the movie the film was made with as little money as possible as it was made in the depression in America and all of the major producers including paramount tri star Disney ect all had different genres to focus on to save money.

from a modern day view point what did you feel about the film ?
i thought it was more funny than scary. what were the links to the soical/technological environment are there?the technology in the 30s was not very advance the cameras were very heavy also they could not do different shots using their cameras compared to our cameras they could do overhead shots as the cameras nowadays are allot smaller and lighter the social issues that are linked with Frankenstein are that people in the 30s wouldn't now what a horror was but if an audience of people watched bride of Frankenstein they would of thought it was funny and simple i think the audience of the 30s would of enjoined the film as it was hugely anticipated as people would of been new to the horror genre but it was a big success .
what is the benefit to the audiences?the benefit to audiences was that they had not seen a horror film before and it would of been cheap to go see because the film was made in the economic down turn in America during the 30s what is the benefit to the producers? the benefit would of been after the shown the bride of Frankenstein the realised that it was a big success the went on to create the franchise and with it created iconography with Frankenstein having a big head and bolts though his neck.