Jack Witherden
Case Study for Genres : Horror
"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." ~ H. P. Lovecraft
The genre of horror brings mixed images to different people. Some see a traditional scary story, some see an elaborate paranormal thriller, and others may see the simple phobic elements. No matter what your opinion is of this fiction area, it has remained a highly popular among readers for centuries in english literature. Its long established history has evolved from literary/vocally tales of terror, to full blown multi-million dollar movies within a single century spawning its own cliches and conventions. the genre has also branched to other forms of media such as television programs, comics, graphic novels and even video games both adapted or taken influenced from films of this genre.
"Horror films have been analyzed within a range of theoretical paradigms and discourses. The genre has been addressed in the light of its theological and moral perspectives, its sociological and cultural dimensions, its politics of representation, and its configuration as a set of texts particularly conductive to psychoanalytic approaches."
the horror genre p7
History
There is no known beginning to fictional horror material. Perhaps the most well-known "first" horror novel was that of Dante Allegri, The Divine Comedy. This book came to be known as, Inferno, among other aliases. The Fifteenth-Century satire chronicles a journey through both heaven and hell, it contains all basic elements of a horror novel.
Allegri holding the divine comedy next to the entrance of hell
There were many early books that told tales of terror as a fictional genre, and it was evolved into some very early films such as Nosferatu. The film, shot in 1921 and released in 1922, was in essence an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula, with names and other details changed because the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel (for instance, "vampire" became "Nosferatu," and Count Dracula became Count Orlok).
A scene from the 1922 silent film, Nosferatu
Horror movies were reborn in the 1930s. The dreamlike imagery of the 1920s, the films peopled by ghostly wraiths floating silently through the terror of mortals, their grotesque death masks a visual representation of 'horror', were replaced by monsters that grunted and groaned and howled. Horror, with its strong elements of the fantastic and the supernatural, provided an effective escape to audiences tiring of their Great Depression reality. This was also despite the struggle that many of the major players - such as director Tod Browning - had to adapt to the new medium.
A scene taken from dracula (1931)
Movie poster for I was a Teenage Wolf (1957)
Horror movies in the 1950s were dominated by the 'B' picture. In 1956 James Nicholson & Samuel Arkoff decided that there was money to be made in supplying the bottom end of the cinema market with two-for-the-price-of-one movies. The B-picture was thought to be dead, the two-picture moviegoing experience taken over by television. However, Arkoff and Nicholson had a very specific audience in mind - one that didn't enjoy sitting in the living room surrounded by close family members. And they knew what teenagers wanted.
Horror movies of the 1980s (which probably begin in 1979 with Alien) exist at the glorious watershed when special visual effects finally caught up with the gory imaginings of horror fans and movie makers. Technical advances in the field of animatronics, and liquid and foam latex meant that the human frame could be distorted to an entirely new dimension, onscreen, in realistic close up. Horror films during this decade delivered the full colour close-up, look-no-strings-attached, special effect in a way that previous practitioners of the art could only dream about. Everything that had been suggested of horror films in the 1950s could now be brought into reality.
Evil Dead (1981)
The Horror genre now seems to take its impressionism from other cultures and fears. Long gone are the days of the 90s psychopaths, chasing the blonde girls away from houses in a whodunnit sort of hybridization. With remakes of Japanese movies including 'The Grudge', and 'The Ring' taking the western stage now, the horror subjects are more that of mind and suggestiveness. This should continue towards the next big thing that our minds adapt to being fear of next.
Hybridization and Sub-Genres
the horror genre includes many sub-genres (or sub-divisions) such as slasher films, physiological horrors and gothic horror cinema. Sub - genres and hybrid forms, which are films that use a mix of two or more different genres, take conventions and utilize them in a way that may be amended, subverted or self-consciously commented upon.
The 2004 movie Shaun of the Dead, in which a man decides to turn his declining life around by winning back his ex-girlfriend, bettering his relationship with his mother whilst dealing with an entire community that has returned from the dead to eat the living, there are many sub-genres that exist within the narrative of the film. The hybridization of both comedy and horror in this case is also coincided with a touch of romance and family values. The films two main genres however, are horror and comedy which doesn't seem like an obvious pairing of themes, however most hybrids no matter what combination of genres aren't in theory. The use of graphical gore and inappropriate soundtrack is used in a section of this film, which can in some movies make the terror even more sinister, plays a comedic role in this film and defines the form for the mixture of feelings that this film portrays.
Movie poster for Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Hybrids of the horror genre however, can also be a more expected mixture of sub-genres. Wes Craven's Scream provides an example of the slasher format but also offers a commentary on the construction and consumption of the horror film, a kind of "self mock" categorization of itself. The classic conventions of the horror films include such aspects as the final girl, a frightening place, and narratives that move from an equilibrium to a disturbance and back to a new, resolved equilibrium (Todorov's theory). Scream has included all of these typical codes and conventions of the genre in its narrative and has played them to there full extent (e.g. the kitchen knife and the ghoulish mask). The film acknowledges that its audience will have seen previous horror films. It invites the audience to comment on the predictability of the genre and at the same time offers them a new, self-contious, but frightening example of a horror film.
A scene from the 1996 slasher, Scream
Horror genre in video games
The horror genre as discussed previously in its beginnings as literature, takes many forms in the modern world, with new technology founded it is possible to create video games in the horror genre. The horror video game has the ability to include the audience in its story-line thus enhancing the fear factor, its interactivity sucks the player into the game and takes them through some of the emotions portrayed to us through the actors of horror films if successful. They too can portray many forms of fear to the player as the film can to its audience, such as the straight forward gore infested shoot em ups to the intense suggestion and suspense influenced story based games.
The House of the Dead game series uses copious amounts of gore and action in its gameplay to shock the player into shooting as much as he/she can in a desperate fight for survival at every turn. It relies strongly on the stereotypical zombie character in its gameplay as an all known figure of the horror genre.
The Silent Hill game series however relies on building its suspense and uses suggestion to strike fear into its players putting them in a state of anticipation, fear, and nervousness round every corner or room that the player enters. This style of gameplay, much like the film history, has evolved as the games audience's tastes have changed. What would have struck fear into most at one point in time, would be seen as cliched and predictable by the next.
Screen shot of 'The House of the Dead' video game
Conclusion
The horror genre has come a long way since its beginnings as tales of terror told both literately and vocally through different generations. It has stood its test of time and had seen many new aspects through the advancement of technology and its audience's perceptions of fear itself. Horror can be defined in all sorts of media and has become an established genre over the years it has existed in media form. People like to be scared as one of the emotions that is aimed to them by the horror genre. With a mix of the time of releases and common conventions that people believe will put their fear factor to a maximum, horror media can and will always be a main contender in the themes and styles of any form of media produced in the world for some time to come.
Bibliography
Books
General genre analysis and research: A-level Film Studies for WJEC
Tanya Jones
2005
pg. 306
Arkoff and Nickolson information: The Lost One
Stephen D. Youngkin
2005
pg. 406
Bam Stroker's Dracula historty: Hollywood Gothic
David J. Skal
1990
pg. 10 - 11
Various other historical research: Hammer and Beyond - The British Horror Film
Peter Hutchings
1993
Websites
http://horrorgenre.com/home.php
http://web.utk.edu/~wrobinso/590_lec_horror.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film
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