When looking at this table we can see that the Scream franchise has had a huge success and we would like to incorporate elements from this film into our own opening sequence.
• noun 1) an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust.
2) a thing causing such a feeling.
3) intense dismay.
4)informal a bad or mischievous person, especially a child.
— ORIGIN Latin, from horrere ‘shudder, (of hair) stand on end’
The Gothic Origins
Horace Walpole's 1764 novel, The Castle of Otranto, initialised the term 'horror' as it was full of supernatural surprises. Many people imitated this and today it's called the Gothic Genre. Later on in 1818 the first great horror classic was written by Mary Shelley - Frankenstein.
Nineteenth Century Writers
Many novelists tried to write horror fiction such as Emily Bronte writing Wuthering Heights and Charles Dickens with The Signalman and A Christmas Carol. Edgar Allen Poe is also another celebrated author of the gothic genre and has written literary classics such as 'The Tell Tale Heart' and 'The Raven' - both of which have been parodied in the Simpsons.
Later in the century Sigmund Freud continued Poe's work however advanced the topics including psychological terms with madness and insanity becoming key genres in this new mode of writing. Popular gothic novels included The Turn of The Screw in 1898, and The Yellow Wallpaper 1899. Another revelation in the horror novel genre was Dracula in 1897 which included sexual themes as well as the psychological and horror.
The First Horror Movies
These previous novels have been transformed into the early classic horror films such as Frankenstein which has had many modern adaptations. Other first horror films include:
The Golem 1915/1920
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari 1919
Nosferatu 1922
Horror films of the 1930's include Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Dracula, Frankenstein, Freaks, The Mummy, King Kong and The Bride of Frankenstein.
Contemporary Horror - The Noughties
Due to horrific terrorist attacks such as 9/11 the world's perspective of what is terrifying altered and horror films became reborn with these new fears. There was even calls to ban horror movies for world peace, but in 2005 the horror genre became as popular as ever. The classic monsters have been replaced with paranormal activities such as 'death' in the final destination franchise, which is seen as an unstoppable force as appose to a disfigured beings.
Horror films of the noughties include:
Final Destination (2000)
28 Days Later (2002)
Dog Soldiers (2002)
Death Watch (2002)
The Grudge (2004)
Hostel (2005)
Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
Wolf Creek (2005)
Slither (2006)
Also in this time a new phenomenon is Asian horror films which are slower paced, heavy thrills and draw heavily on the spirit instead of a material world focusing on ghosts and curses. They do not have so much of a logical plot which creates an aura of strangeness adding to there appeal. Although not popular yet with a mass audience this sub-genre is steadily growing.
As for the future who knows? Only time can tell...
The audience of horror films tend to be adults, mainly due to the fact that the BBFC usually rates horror films above the rating of 15. This is due to the severe graphic content that is displayed throughout a horror film, including gore, extreme violence and death. These type of themes are deemed inappropriate for younger teenagers or children, however must teenagers from the ages of 13-18 will have seen the most gory productions in todays modern film industry, and even consider horror being their favourite genre of film.
The opening scene ends at 3:20, however I couldn't find a shorter clip.
The film I've chosen is Silent Hill, which was originally a popular games series, but with such an extensive and graphic storyline that was known worldwide, a film was to be anticipated.
The first thing the viewer see's is a high angle of the film's main character, Rose (Radha Mitchell), screaming her daughter's name. The shriek in her voice and the breaking towards the end of it imitates the terror that we come to expect from this film. We also see that her husband (Sean Bean) is above her in the background, although he is out of focus, the asynchronous sound of his troubled shrieks that echo his wife's, emphasise the effect of the terror. We are already confronted with some themes of classical horror, such as darkness, and muffled sounds of traffic. Next, we witness another typical aspect of horror's, when we see Rose running frantically, looking for her daughter. Usually running in horror films is associated with running away from the horror, rather than running towards it. However in some cases, such as is, you see them running toward the danger to help someone in need. We then see another high angle of Rose as she picks up her daughters teddy bear, giving us a clue that she is in fact looking for a child. This adds to the anticipation, as in horror films, a child can often be the villain or the subject of horror itself, for example in The Exorcist, when the child becomes possessed. The setting that Rose is running through is a woodsy type of area, which is a common sight in horror films. As she runs through the woodland area, we see a various amount of shots, including long shots to establish the surroundings and add an effect of eerie-ness to the scene. There is also a few tracking shots to mirror Rose's feeling of terror as we follow her on her sprint. As she is running under the bridge we here unstable sounds of traffic of the setting above, and the graffiti on the walls gives a feeling of an unstable area. The water surrounding her also shows us that she is going to be slowed down by this and has us anticipating the outcome. We then see a low angle of her coming out from under the bridge, making her look inferior, as if she is going to fail in her attempt to save her daughter. That is when we see her run to the edge of a waterfall, and we then see that there is danger, and also a dead end, another common sight in horror films. The camera shows us a low angle of the waterfall and where it stops, which is at a very low down and steep bottom, almost like a bottomless pit, as it is difficult see because of the dark. There is then a long shot of the waterfall with Rose standing on it, still repeating her daughters name in rapid shrieks, imitating the rapidness of the waterfall. That is when we finally see a low angle of the subject, Sharon, swaying ever so slightly at the edge of a cliff, giving the feeling of unstable again. There is then a panning shot around to Rose again, who then realises where her daughter is. Then there is a close up of her face, looking abruptly horrified, as she mouths the words 'Oh my god', followed by another shriek of 'Sharon!
We then see Sharon at a high angle, mumbling unfathomable words. Giving the feeling of unknown. Then we come to see her at low angle, still swaying at the edge of a cliff, which makes us wonder whether she will fall or not. The camera then plunges rapidly down the bottomless pit and shows us a brief glimpse of what seems to be hell and of the horrific face she is staring at, grinning back up at her. She then begins to fall slowly but surely, until we see a long shot of Rose run up to her and slam into Sharon pushing her away from death, whilst shrieking 'No!' In the background we see a lit up crucifix, which evidently, we come to see later in the film. This is followed by a shot of her husband running across a busy road, with a droning sound of beeping coming at him, giving us a feeling of danger. It then shows us Rose again with Sharon, as Sharon screams things we are unable to understand, until she starts to repeat 'Silent Hill', followed by Rose trying to sooth her by shushing her and saying 'wake up' which then makes us understand that the child has a sleepwalking disorder, another common theme in horror films. A dialogue then begins between Rose and her husband about them 'finding away', as Rose replies 'No' and 'She said it again' it gives us an idea of the coming plot in the film. This is followed by the heavy breathing of Sharon, and the shot of her wriggling and jerking about, as if she is trying to get out of her parent's grip. We then witness the final long shot of the family embracing in the grass, again seeing the lit up crucifix in the background which is accompanied by the very slight eerie music of the piano, which is a common sound bridge throughout the film. This is then followed by the title of the film in 'creepy' font, and the wisps of ash flying around it, another theme from this particular horror. The sequence then comes to an end at 3:20.
