THE THEORISTS
As a group we looked at a selection of specialist horror theorists to understand what our film needs to make it a horror movie. These theorist compiled their own ideas which helped to change the way we look at media and how it all works today.
CAROL CLOVER
Carol Clover is the author of 'Men, Women and Chainsaws' and is a respected Slasher Theorist (the genre of our choice). Clover believes the reason people find horror appealing is because it appears to our masochistic desires (enjoyment of pain and suffering. The reason why horror is such a popular genre is because people get pleasure out of fear. Carol Clover believes that one of the ways to induce that feeling of fear when watching a horror film is to film in scary places that appear to have a terrible history; it gets the audience thinking and makes them feel afraid. Another theory of CLover's is the Final Girl Theory. The Final Girl Theory refers to the last woman alive in a horror movie and the fact that she is usually the most intelligent, resourceful and masculine out of the other female characters. Sydney out of Scream is a good example of The Final Girl Theory being put into practice; Sydney is a unisex name, she is intelligent and she is resourceful. Clover also presents the idea that there are no guns in slasher films because like telephones, fire alarms, doorbells and car engines they aren't reliable and they never work or they run out of bullets etc.
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WINSTON WHEELER DIXON
Winston Wheeler Dixon is the author of 'Film Philosophy Vol 1'. Dixon claimed that men and women were sites of activity in horror films, referring particularly to the characters who were murdered early on in the film and did not make it to the end. An example of this would be Casey in the film Scream; the audience learn very little about her because she is the first to die however her death does spark a wave of fear throughout the audience, making her a site of activity. Dixon also claimed that killers become killers because they have had a troubled childhood or are sexually disturbed. An example of this would be Fred "Freddy" Krueger, the killer from The Nightmare on Elm Street. Krueger was burned by the parent of children he had lured away with ice cream and murdered; Krueger was sexually disturbed and as a reult of this traumatic event continued to kill more people.
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WES CRAVEN
Wes Craven is a legendary horror film director and a renowned horror movie theorist. Craven believes that horror is more scary if it happens in a safe place contrasting with Clovers popular opinion. Examples of this can be found in Craven's own creations for example Casey being murdered at her home in Scream, somewhere that would typically be considered a safe place. Another example would be the victims of Freddy Krueger being murdered in their dreams; people usually feel safe when they're sleeping. Another theory Craven practices to make his horror films scary is the absence of adults. In Scream, Casey may have been saved if her parents came home just a fraction earlier however they weren't around and she was murdered.
LINDA WILLIAMS
Linda Williams is another renowned horror movie theorist. Williams believes that slasher killers are like the monsters of classic horror. They are 'an eruption of the normally repressed animal sexual energy of the civilised male' but also the 'power and potency of a non-phallic sexuality'. - from Linda Williams in 'Where the woman looks'.
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NOEL CARROLL
Noel Carroll is the author of the 'Philosophy of Horror'. Carroll believes that the responses of horror movie characters (shuddering, nausea, paralysis, screaming and revulsion) serve as a kind of mirror to the horror movie audiences and that this is one of the defining features of the genre. For example, Regan vomiting in The Exorcist caused audience members to vomit.
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STUART KAMINSKY |
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WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Shakespeare often presented the idea that if there is not a perfect family unit something is wrong. Often in horror films something is wrong within the family and this contributes to the lives of the characters massively. For example, in The Woman in Black the woman kills because she was forced to give up her child who later died in her sisters care.
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