.Gore
. Revenge . Haunting . Mass Murder . Demons and Exorcisms |
. Ghosts
. Murder . Religion . Good vs Evil . Serial Killer |
. Envy
. Darkness . Insanity . Nightmare . Supernatural |
The Cabin in The Woods 2012Five friends go for a break at a remote cabin in the woods, where they get more than they bargained for. Together, they must discover the truth behind the cabin in the woods.
The Cabin in the Woods is a horror film that is anti horror films. The film is based around a reality TV studio set up where the five friends are the main characters for the reality horror show. The people in the studio decide and control everything that happens to the five friends. This film is inspirational as it evolves around horror clichés but in a unique way. The characters themselves discover the conventions of typical horror characters. |
Halloween 1978On Halloween night of 1963, 6-year old Michael Myers stabbed his sister to death. After sitting in a mental hospital for 15 years, Myers escapes and returns to Haddonfield to kill.
Halloween is an inspirational film for the horror genre as it was the first film to have a surviving strong female protagonist. The film was the first to break the convention of the male protagonist having to save the female. This inspired more horror films to have strong lead female protagonists. |
The Blair Witch Project 1999Three film students vanish after traveling into a Maryland forest to film a documentary on the local Blair Witch legend, leaving only their footage behind.
The Blair Witch Project is an inspirational film for the horror genre for its marketing techniques, as it was marketed and advertised with the intention of making the public believe that three film students had gone missing and all that remained was their footage. The producers were aiming on the public themselves to promote the film by spreading awareness that these three film students had gone missing, they were aiming on the news going going viral. The producers for this film tried to make the viewers believe that these people were missing and footage was real. One of the ways they did this was list the three actors from the film as 'Missing, presumed dead' on IMDB before the film was realised. |
The Orphanage 2007A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, which used to be an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend.
The Orphanage is a film I personally find inspirational. Most horror films lack a strong narrative and focus only on the scares. A lot of horror films will focus on just building tension and causing scares rather than trying to focus on both scares and narrative. However The Orphanage is a film which has a strong narrative equally combined with building tension and setting an eerie, scary atmosphere. The Orphanage manages to keep the viewer scared but riding on the story, they're not anticipating the next scare but intrigued and hooked on the narrative. |
The Ring 2002A journalist must investigate a mysterious videotape which seems to cause the death of anyone in a week of viewing it.
The Ring is a horror film I find really inspiring. One of the main reasons why I'm inspired by The Ring is the strong narrative, it's gripping and makes you think and concentrate on what could happen next. I also think the cinematography is incredible in this film and find the way in which its filmed inspiring as well. What I find inspirational about The Ring is that like 'The Blair Witch Project' it used unique marketing techniques to help promote the film, The Ring did this by having the footage from the tape broadcasted late at night with no reference to the film. |
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Many horror films have been adapted from either myths, urban legends or books.
Films such as Frankenstein and Dracula are adaptations from novels, both containing mythological creatures to scare the viewer/reader. Other films such as The Shinning, Stir of Echoes, The Hole are adaptations of films containing a psychological thrill instead of featuring mythological creatures. In some cases horror films are adapted from myths and urban legends. Most of these films are based on supernatural legends often featuring ghosts or spirits. Poltergeist is an example of this, it's believed that the event of the film are true, basing a film of a true event will often cause a bigger impact and scare on the audience. |