Movie Magazine
Horror Mood Board
This mood board is a representation of what zombies stand for and what is to be expected in zombie films, such as weapons, rules to survival, the different zombie types, hazardous warnings, etc.
This is a mood board to represent the different zombie types from over the years, from the shamblers, to the walkers, to the crawlers and sprinting zombies.
Zombie Horror
I have decided to base my horror movie trailer on a zombie genre because zombie movies such as REC, Zombieland and 28 days later have inspired me to also have the interest in being part of their creation. Zombies are defined as the "undead", they are deceased and yet behave as if alive, they neither feel pain nor have any emotions. there are two different types of zombies, there are zombies who just walk towards their victims and there are zombies who run towards their victims but they all have one thing in common which is to feed on the flesh and blood of the living. Zombies can affect other humans by biting them and when that's done they affect the human with their saliva which also causes them to turn into a zombie. Zombies come in different ways in some movies zombies are dead people who are raisin from the dead or in "REC" the zombie was possessed by some kind of evil force but in movies such as "28 days later" the zombie were affected by chemicals which made them feed on other humans.
A 1929 article in a popular magazine first used the term, in an article on ''voodoo'' in Haiti. Both the words ''voodoo'' and ''zombie'' were phonetic simplifications of Haitian words. The article emphasised that ''zombies'' were the revived, mindless bodies of the recently buried, with the speculation that a toxin from shellfish was used to create the zombies by putting victims into a state which resembled death and which made the zombies the mental slaves of zombie masters. There was great interest in the article, and when prohibition was lifted, bartenders were quick to create a rum drink called ''the zombie.'' The cocktails were a great hit with the general public.
The Halprin brothers made the first movie which used the word ''zombie'', as others have detailed, and during World War II several other movies about zombies were used, the best of which is the lyrically photographed ''I Walked with a Zombie.''
The Halprin brothers made the first movie which used the word ''zombie'', as others have detailed, and during World War II several other movies about zombies were used, the best of which is the lyrically photographed ''I Walked with a Zombie.''
The term is now used to describe a fictional being, a reanimated body which has no goal other than the need to eat the flesh of the living. The first zombies of that variety appeared in George Romero's 1969 movie, ''The Night of the Living Dead.'' The flesh eating corpses were invented by Romero and another comic book fan who took the visual details of animated corpses from various comic book published by EC comics. The movie was a hit, and served as the spark which produced several other movies featuring such creatures, which Romero called ''zombies'' and which critics and horror movie magazines also called ''zombies.'
The title for my horror movie is "Detention", the movie would be based in a school. The movie is about some rebel students who break into a chemical lab and accidentally get infected by a deadly virus which turns them into zombie, I got this idea when I watched "zombieland" and "28 day later" and I also decided I will use the zombies who run to that my audience would more frightened as zombies who run would create more terror. My horror movie would target mostly teenagers, so I would have to include things that interest teenagers such as sex, drugs and alcohol.
I have chosen some fonts I would like to use for my title on the poster of my movie and the magazine. I have designed some fonts which I would introduce to my target audience for them to decide which font would be appropriate and suitable for the horror movie. I also downloaded some fonts from "dafont.com" which relate to my horror movie. I used red in my font to represent blood as it is done in majority of horror movies, I used black to represent darkness because in horror movies the victims are frightened and the black also represents the personality of the zombies as they are the villains. I would make my target audience choose the font which best describes the movie.
Making a zombie horror movie means I would have to consider the make up for my actors because from watching George Romero's "Dawn of the dead" the zombies look very realistic and I would also let my actors watch the movie to make sure they know what to do during the filming of "Detention". I would also have to learn some make up skills from "youtube.com", I have seen some videos already on "youtube" and I have learned some easy ways to make my actors look like zombies.
I have downloaded a picture of Angelina Jolie to use on Photo shop for an idea of my movie poster, so I have transformed her picture into a zombie but this is just my first draft as I have seen other movie zombie character and I would like my zombies to be more scary and also more appealing to my audience. I thought about the cracks on her face and it would be must better if there was some blood in it.
I have created a mock up on Photo shop to show the layout my magazine would have if the movie has been created, and I have included some conventions I followed during the making of my music magazine.
I have also taken into consideration where I would shoot my movie and since it is based on college kids, I would shoot the movie shoot it in the college and some few other scenes outside college. I would also shoot the movie trailer after school because during detention there are not enough students in college and after college there would be good chances for me and my group to shot the movie without any distractions.
About Night of the Dead By George Romero:
Night of the Living Dead is an American independent horror and cult film directed by George A. Romero and starring Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea and Karl Hardman. It premiered on October 1, 1968, and was completed on a US$114,000 budget. After decades of cinematic re-releases, the film ultimately became a financial success, grossing $12 million domestically and $18 million internationally. Night of the Living Dead was heavily criticized at its release owing to explicit content, but eventually garnered critical acclaim and has been selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry as a film deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. The film has entered the public domain due to an error by the distributor.
The story follows characters Ben Huss (Duane Jones), Barbra (Judith O'Dea), and five others trapped in a rural farmhouse in Pennsylvania which is attacked by "living dead" monsters known as zombies. Night of the Living Dead was the basis of five subsequent Living Dead films (1978-2010) also directed by Romero and has inspired two remakes (1990, 2006).
About Night of the Dead By George Romero:
Night of the Living Dead is an American independent horror and cult film directed by George A. Romero and starring Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea and Karl Hardman. It premiered on October 1, 1968, and was completed on a US$114,000 budget. After decades of cinematic re-releases, the film ultimately became a financial success, grossing $12 million domestically and $18 million internationally. Night of the Living Dead was heavily criticized at its release owing to explicit content, but eventually garnered critical acclaim and has been selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry as a film deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. The film has entered the public domain due to an error by the distributor.
The story follows characters Ben Huss (Duane Jones), Barbra (Judith O'Dea), and five others trapped in a rural farmhouse in Pennsylvania which is attacked by "living dead" monsters known as zombies. Night of the Living Dead was the basis of five subsequent Living Dead films (1978-2010) also directed by Romero and has inspired two remakes (1990, 2006).
Duane Jones as Ben: The lead role of Ben was played by unknown stage actor Duane Jones. His performance depicted Ben as a "comparatively calm and resourceful Negro", according to a contemporary (1969) movie reviewer. Casting Jones as the hero was, in 1968, potentially controversial. At the time, it was atypical for an African-American man to be the hero of a film when the rest of the cast was composed of whites; but Romero said that Jones "simply gave the best audition". After Night of the Living Dead, he was in a few other films, and continued as a theater actor and director until his death in 1988. Despite his other film roles, Jones worried that people only recognized him as Ben. His role in 1968 movie Night of the Living Dead marked the first time an African American actor was cast as the star of a horror film. He was executive director of the Black Theater Alliance, a federation of theater companies, from 1976 to 1981.
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The story begins as siblings Barbra (Judith O'Dea) and Johnny (Russell Streiner) drive to rural Pennsylvania to visit their father's grave where they are violently attacked by a strange man (Bill Hinzman). Johnny tries to rescue his sister, but is killed after he falls and cracks his head on a gravestone. Barbra flees, with the killer in pursuit; eventually to an empty farmhouse where to her horror she discovers a half-eaten woman's corpse. Running out of the house, she notices several menacing figures akin to her pursuer; whereupon a man named Ben (Duane Jones) arrives in a car and takes her inside the house. Hiding in the cellar are married couple Harry (Karl Hardman) and Helen Cooper (Marilyn Eastman) and their daughter Karen (Kyra Schon), who sought refuge at the farmhouse after a group of attackers turned over their car; and teenage couple Tom (Keith Wayne) and Judy (Judith Ridley) who arrived after hearing an emergency broadcast about a series of brutal murders. Ben activates a radio while Barbra awakens from a stupor. Harry asks everyone to hide in the cellar; but Ben deems it a "deathtrap" and remains upstairs.
Harry returns to the cellar to Helen and Karen, who has fallen seriously ill after being bitten on the arm by one of their attackers. Radio reports explain that a state of mass murder is sweeping across the East Coast of the United States. When Ben finds a television, the emergency broadcaster reports that the recently deceased have become living dead and are consuming the flesh of living people. Experts, scientists, and the United States military do not know the cause, though one scientist suspects radioactive contamination from a space probe returning from Venus that exploded in the Earth's atmosphere. When news reports reveal local rescue centers offering refuge, Ben plans to reach the nearest of these and obtain medical care for Karen. Ben and Tom then go to refuel Ben's truck while Harry hurls Molotov cocktails from an upper window to keep the zombies at bay. Fearing for Tom's safety, Judy follows him. At the pump, Tom accidentally spills fuel, setting the truck ablaze. Tom and Judy try to withdraw the truck to avoid further damage; but it explodes, killing them both.
Ben returns to the house to find Harry retreating to the cellar door. Angered by Harry's cowardice, Ben attacks him, while the zombies feed on Tom and Judy. In the house, a report on the television reveals that, aside from lighting dead bodies on fire, a gunshot or heavy blow to the head will stop any zombie and that posses of armed men are patrolling the countryside to restore order.
Harry returns to the cellar to Helen and Karen, who has fallen seriously ill after being bitten on the arm by one of their attackers. Radio reports explain that a state of mass murder is sweeping across the East Coast of the United States. When Ben finds a television, the emergency broadcaster reports that the recently deceased have become living dead and are consuming the flesh of living people. Experts, scientists, and the United States military do not know the cause, though one scientist suspects radioactive contamination from a space probe returning from Venus that exploded in the Earth's atmosphere. When news reports reveal local rescue centers offering refuge, Ben plans to reach the nearest of these and obtain medical care for Karen. Ben and Tom then go to refuel Ben's truck while Harry hurls Molotov cocktails from an upper window to keep the zombies at bay. Fearing for Tom's safety, Judy follows him. At the pump, Tom accidentally spills fuel, setting the truck ablaze. Tom and Judy try to withdraw the truck to avoid further damage; but it explodes, killing them both.
Ben returns to the house to find Harry retreating to the cellar door. Angered by Harry's cowardice, Ben attacks him, while the zombies feed on Tom and Judy. In the house, a report on the television reveals that, aside from lighting dead bodies on fire, a gunshot or heavy blow to the head will stop any zombie and that posses of armed men are patrolling the countryside to restore order.
Moments later, the zombies attempt to break into the house. Harry grabs Ben's rifle and threatens to shoot him, but Ben takes back the gun and shoots Harry, who stumbles into the cellar to collapse next to Karen, who has died of the infection of her injury. The zombies begin to pull Helen and Barbra through the windows; but Helen frees herself and goes down to the cellar to find a reanimated Karen consuming Harry, whereupon Karen kills her with a masonry trowel. Barbra, distracted by seeing Johnny as one of the living dead among the zombies, is carried away by the horde and eaten. The undead break into the house, and Karen attacks Ben; but he seals himself in the cellar and shoots Harry and Helen just as they reanimate. The next morning, Ben is killed by a member of the posse in mistake for a zombie, and placed onto a burning pyre along with other dead bodies.
The Craziers Written By George Romero:
The Crazies (also known as Code Name: Trixie) is a 1973 American science fiction horror-action film about the effects of the accidental release of a military biological weapon upon the inhabitants of a small American town. The film was written and directed by George A. Romero, and starred Lane Carroll, Will MacMillan, Harold Wayne Jones. Although it failed at the box office during its original release, it has since become a cult classic. A remake of the film was made in 2010.
Plot:
The film has two subplots, one of which follows the efforts of civilians to stay alive during the disaster, having to battle both "the crazies" as well as soldiers ordered to shoot on sight. The other involves the efforts of political and military leaders to contain the epidemic of violent insanity induced by the weapon.
Set in and around the small town of Evans City, Pennsylvania, the central characters are fire fighter David (Will McMillan), his girlfriend, Judy (Lane Caroll), who works as a nurse and Clank (Harold Wayne Jones), another fire fighter who harbours feelings for Judy. It is established that David was a Green Beret and Clank an infantryman, who both served in Vietnam. The town has been subject to strange events of late, including an arson fire at a local farm, committed by a demented farmer. Judy and David have extra cause for concern, since Judy is pregnant with David's child.
Meanwhile, heavily armed U.S. troops clad in white NBC suits with MK5 gas masks, arrive in Evans City, led by Major Ryder (Harry Spillman), who takes over the doctor's office where Judy works. It is revealed that an Army plane carrying an untested bioweapon recently crash-landed in the hills near the town, infecting the water supply with a top-secret virus code-named "Trixie," causing victims either to die or become homicidal. "Trixie" is highly contagious, with the most visible sign of contagion being anyone who drinks from the Evans City reservoir. In Washington D.C., government officials order Colonel Christopher Peckem (Lloyd Hollar) to go to Evans City to help contain the virus, while a government scientist, Dr. Elliot Watts (Richard France), arrives in town to find a cure before the virus is able to spread outside the quarantine perimeter.
Washington authorities decide to deploy airborne bombers armed with nuclear weapons, to destroy the infected town if necessary. Further mayhem ensues when the Army cordons off the town, shooting anyone attempting escape. The soldiers are assigned to quarantine the townspeople in the local high school, and the ensuing chaos results in the local sheriff (Robert Karlowsky) being shot with his own pistol. While the townspeople are being rousted from their homes, a soldier encounters a serene-looking elderly woman. Dropping his guard, he urges the woman to come with him, and she stabs him with her knitting needle, injuring him. At this point, nearly all of the villagers have been infected. A small group of soldiers are killed by several villagers armed with firearms and dynamite, after which an infected woman sweeps the bloodied grass. The local priest (Jack Zaharia) is infected. The priest, aghast at soldiers rousting his flock, douses himself with a keg of gasoline, and auto-cremates.
The remainder of the film focuses upon the travails of David, Judy, Clank, teenager Kathy Fulton (Lynn Lowry) and her father Artie (Richard Liberty), and an elderly man, after soldiers confine them in a large van. The soldiers driving the van are attacked by infected people and turn their attention to fighting them. In the fight both the soldiers and diseased people are killed. The old man wanders off by a roadside gas station, clearly infected and muttering about the price of gasoline before being captured by a squad of soldiers. Clank and David commandeer the van and the remaining five seek a way to leave town, heading to the country club to map out a strategy.
Gradually going mad from the virus, Artie has sex with his suddenly deranged daughter Kathy, as he believes her to be his late wife. Upon discovering the pair, Clank retaliates by beating Artie, who then apparently hangs himself. A visibly shaken Kathy wanders outside, only to be killed by soldiers. Believing himself to be infected, Clank stays behind and kills several soldiers before being shot in the head. Judy, now visibly infected, is killed by armed civilians, despite David's efforts to save her. One of the civilians recognizes David and in a clear tone of voice identifies himself as a fellow member of the volunteer fire department, apparently also uninfected and trying to skip town. Angry and frightened, David surrenders to the military. He knows that he is immune to the virus, but keeps it a secret.
The soldiers isolate Dr. Watts in the high school (the same place where the crazies are corralled) using the primitive facilities of the chemistry lab. Watts' insistence that he might find a cure in a proper laboratory are overridden with threats of brute force. When the doctor finally develops a possible cure, he is mistaken for one of the infected while attempting delivery of the vaccine and forced into a quarantined area by soldiers. The test tubes containing the vaccine are then shattered after the doctor falls to his death when pushed down a flight of stairs by a stampede of "Crazies."
The film's final scene shows a disconcerted Colonel Peckem being ordered to relocate to another infected city. He boards a helicopter, looking with sadness at the city below as he leaves the town in chaos.
The Craziers Written By George Romero:
The Crazies (also known as Code Name: Trixie) is a 1973 American science fiction horror-action film about the effects of the accidental release of a military biological weapon upon the inhabitants of a small American town. The film was written and directed by George A. Romero, and starred Lane Carroll, Will MacMillan, Harold Wayne Jones. Although it failed at the box office during its original release, it has since become a cult classic. A remake of the film was made in 2010.
Plot:
The film has two subplots, one of which follows the efforts of civilians to stay alive during the disaster, having to battle both "the crazies" as well as soldiers ordered to shoot on sight. The other involves the efforts of political and military leaders to contain the epidemic of violent insanity induced by the weapon.
Set in and around the small town of Evans City, Pennsylvania, the central characters are fire fighter David (Will McMillan), his girlfriend, Judy (Lane Caroll), who works as a nurse and Clank (Harold Wayne Jones), another fire fighter who harbours feelings for Judy. It is established that David was a Green Beret and Clank an infantryman, who both served in Vietnam. The town has been subject to strange events of late, including an arson fire at a local farm, committed by a demented farmer. Judy and David have extra cause for concern, since Judy is pregnant with David's child.
Meanwhile, heavily armed U.S. troops clad in white NBC suits with MK5 gas masks, arrive in Evans City, led by Major Ryder (Harry Spillman), who takes over the doctor's office where Judy works. It is revealed that an Army plane carrying an untested bioweapon recently crash-landed in the hills near the town, infecting the water supply with a top-secret virus code-named "Trixie," causing victims either to die or become homicidal. "Trixie" is highly contagious, with the most visible sign of contagion being anyone who drinks from the Evans City reservoir. In Washington D.C., government officials order Colonel Christopher Peckem (Lloyd Hollar) to go to Evans City to help contain the virus, while a government scientist, Dr. Elliot Watts (Richard France), arrives in town to find a cure before the virus is able to spread outside the quarantine perimeter.
Washington authorities decide to deploy airborne bombers armed with nuclear weapons, to destroy the infected town if necessary. Further mayhem ensues when the Army cordons off the town, shooting anyone attempting escape. The soldiers are assigned to quarantine the townspeople in the local high school, and the ensuing chaos results in the local sheriff (Robert Karlowsky) being shot with his own pistol. While the townspeople are being rousted from their homes, a soldier encounters a serene-looking elderly woman. Dropping his guard, he urges the woman to come with him, and she stabs him with her knitting needle, injuring him. At this point, nearly all of the villagers have been infected. A small group of soldiers are killed by several villagers armed with firearms and dynamite, after which an infected woman sweeps the bloodied grass. The local priest (Jack Zaharia) is infected. The priest, aghast at soldiers rousting his flock, douses himself with a keg of gasoline, and auto-cremates.
The remainder of the film focuses upon the travails of David, Judy, Clank, teenager Kathy Fulton (Lynn Lowry) and her father Artie (Richard Liberty), and an elderly man, after soldiers confine them in a large van. The soldiers driving the van are attacked by infected people and turn their attention to fighting them. In the fight both the soldiers and diseased people are killed. The old man wanders off by a roadside gas station, clearly infected and muttering about the price of gasoline before being captured by a squad of soldiers. Clank and David commandeer the van and the remaining five seek a way to leave town, heading to the country club to map out a strategy.
Gradually going mad from the virus, Artie has sex with his suddenly deranged daughter Kathy, as he believes her to be his late wife. Upon discovering the pair, Clank retaliates by beating Artie, who then apparently hangs himself. A visibly shaken Kathy wanders outside, only to be killed by soldiers. Believing himself to be infected, Clank stays behind and kills several soldiers before being shot in the head. Judy, now visibly infected, is killed by armed civilians, despite David's efforts to save her. One of the civilians recognizes David and in a clear tone of voice identifies himself as a fellow member of the volunteer fire department, apparently also uninfected and trying to skip town. Angry and frightened, David surrenders to the military. He knows that he is immune to the virus, but keeps it a secret.
The soldiers isolate Dr. Watts in the high school (the same place where the crazies are corralled) using the primitive facilities of the chemistry lab. Watts' insistence that he might find a cure in a proper laboratory are overridden with threats of brute force. When the doctor finally develops a possible cure, he is mistaken for one of the infected while attempting delivery of the vaccine and forced into a quarantined area by soldiers. The test tubes containing the vaccine are then shattered after the doctor falls to his death when pushed down a flight of stairs by a stampede of "Crazies."
The film's final scene shows a disconcerted Colonel Peckem being ordered to relocate to another infected city. He boards a helicopter, looking with sadness at the city below as he leaves the town in chaos.
Production:
According to Romero on the DVD commentary track this project began life with Paul McCollough, who authored a screenplay entitled The Mad People. The script dealt with a military bio weapon that was accidentally released into a small town, with the military subsequently trying to cover up the incident and the townspeople revolting. Romero revealed that the military subplot was only featured in the first act of the script, and the rest of the film focused on the survivors and their attempts to cope with what was happening. The director called McCollough's script "very existential and heady".
The screenplay was read by Lee Hessel, a producer who owned Cambist Films and with whom Romero had previously worked on There's Always Vanilla. Hessel expressed interest in it and offered to finance it as Romero's next film, but only if the director would be willing to rewrite McCollough's screenplay to focus on what Hessel considered the most interesting ingredient of the story, namely the military takeover of the town, which occurred in the first 10 to 20 pages. Romero agreed and rewrote the script, and he was given a budget of approximately $270,000
The film was shot in and around Evans City and Zelienople, both small towns in Pennsylvania about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh. Romero has spoken of how the majority of people in the towns were very cooperative and happy to help with the production.
On 23 February 2010, the film was released onto a Blu-ray Disc format.
According to Romero on the DVD commentary track this project began life with Paul McCollough, who authored a screenplay entitled The Mad People. The script dealt with a military bio weapon that was accidentally released into a small town, with the military subsequently trying to cover up the incident and the townspeople revolting. Romero revealed that the military subplot was only featured in the first act of the script, and the rest of the film focused on the survivors and their attempts to cope with what was happening. The director called McCollough's script "very existential and heady".
The screenplay was read by Lee Hessel, a producer who owned Cambist Films and with whom Romero had previously worked on There's Always Vanilla. Hessel expressed interest in it and offered to finance it as Romero's next film, but only if the director would be willing to rewrite McCollough's screenplay to focus on what Hessel considered the most interesting ingredient of the story, namely the military takeover of the town, which occurred in the first 10 to 20 pages. Romero agreed and rewrote the script, and he was given a budget of approximately $270,000
The film was shot in and around Evans City and Zelienople, both small towns in Pennsylvania about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh. Romero has spoken of how the majority of people in the towns were very cooperative and happy to help with the production.
On 23 February 2010, the film was released onto a Blu-ray Disc format.
Box Office:
The film did not have a wide release, instead playing in a limited number of theaters before opening in a different market. Today, Romero has claimed he feels that the major reason The Crazies failed at the box office was due to poor distribution. He stated that Hessel made a true attempt to adequately market the film, including releasing it under a variety of titles in different parts of the country, but that it never managed to catch the public's eye.
The film did not have a wide release, instead playing in a limited number of theaters before opening in a different market. Today, Romero has claimed he feels that the major reason The Crazies failed at the box office was due to poor distribution. He stated that Hessel made a true attempt to adequately market the film, including releasing it under a variety of titles in different parts of the country, but that it never managed to catch the public's eye.
2 MOCK UPS OF MY HORROR MAGAZINE
MOVIE TITLE (DESIGN)
Psychological Horror
Psychological Horror is a subgenre of horror fiction that preys on peoples fear and emotions to create tension, using common techniques such as not showing the entire form of the monster/killer, always keeping everyone guessing and even making the characters and views doubt each other to who the killer is. The sub-genre uses something called an “archetypal shadow” characteristic that is embodied by the killer/creature, its means the sub-genre relies on the primal instincts of human beings to play tricks on their minds, making them think one thing logically for a while then disproving it with more logic to confuse the audience leading to the simple result of “Fear of the unknown”.
Psychological horror aims to expose its victims to common or Universal range of psychological vulnerabilities and fears, using such things as the Shady parts of the human psyche which most of the population repress and deny. What sets psychological horror apart from the rest is it uses the basics of human fear primal or modern to create tension to get everyone on edge and out of their comfort zones allowing next for the genre to add in some doubt that will separate the group forcing them to break one of the rules of horror survival “always stay in a group”, the doubt will cause them to distance and eventually fight each other until finally near the end where the killer/monster is revealed and the hero/heroine must fight in a hopeless situation.
Psychological horror films don’t follow the traditional routes likes other horror films where they use material characteristic such as Monsters, creatures, aliens and a rely mainly on the single physical manifestation of the threat to be the source and cause of most of the scares in the film such as splatter horror using the more messy sides of killing to create fear but Psychological horror uses the atmosphere of the setting, traditionally starting in a beautiful and peaceful setting before slowly or suddenly throwing the characters into the deep end where their world no longer makes sense and is completely turned over on its head sometimes literally. The main traits psychological horror:
Psychological horror aims to expose its victims to common or Universal range of psychological vulnerabilities and fears, using such things as the Shady parts of the human psyche which most of the population repress and deny. What sets psychological horror apart from the rest is it uses the basics of human fear primal or modern to create tension to get everyone on edge and out of their comfort zones allowing next for the genre to add in some doubt that will separate the group forcing them to break one of the rules of horror survival “always stay in a group”, the doubt will cause them to distance and eventually fight each other until finally near the end where the killer/monster is revealed and the hero/heroine must fight in a hopeless situation.
Psychological horror films don’t follow the traditional routes likes other horror films where they use material characteristic such as Monsters, creatures, aliens and a rely mainly on the single physical manifestation of the threat to be the source and cause of most of the scares in the film such as splatter horror using the more messy sides of killing to create fear but Psychological horror uses the atmosphere of the setting, traditionally starting in a beautiful and peaceful setting before slowly or suddenly throwing the characters into the deep end where their world no longer makes sense and is completely turned over on its head sometimes literally. The main traits psychological horror:
Atmosphere
The best use of atmosphere I could think of was the “Silent Hill” Film, Where the world constantly changes between what could best be described as a foggy trapped dead end town “limbo” of silent hill [picture on the left] and a possibly blood stained world where everything turns to cold dead rust, steam spewing from pipes and is constantly raining and is best described by fans as “Hell”, The world of silent hill constantly changes between the two at random moments not know what actually triggers the change from Limbo to hell. In Limbo the town is covered in ash giving the appearance of snow the run down ghost town of silent hill shows no sign of life but it’s not void of the living, you can find survivors but most of them talk in gibberish and cultish riddles but that is just the small amount the rest are all tortured victims who could not escape the evil created by their own sins and thus are tortured accordingly but are left to roam the empty
streets of silent hill
attacking any survivors or people who are drawn in by the evil through their
own sins. But once the world changed and rusted away and suddenly grew pitch
dark the most dangerous of creatures come out to attack showing the viewers
and characters the dangers this town has but you can’t simply run away due to
the fact that all roads leading out of silent hill only run into a gigantic
open Crevasse with no sign of a bottom or another side because of the dense
thick fog that fills the crevasse and shrouds the other side from view but the
atmosphere doesn’t stop there, the further you travel and uncover mysteries in
silent hill the more twisted both worlds get and slowly they start to blend
into each other as the line between them blurs.
Eerie sounds
The Blair witch project would be my choice on an example of Eerie sounds, The entire film is shown through the hand held camera the 3 students carry and so the audience feel as if they are really there in the film, as the movie progresses and continues slowly but surely the audience find themselves paying full attention and since they have no control over where to look they rely on their hearing listening to every sound in the movie, from non-digetic to digetic sounds in the movie as well as every twig snapping to the sound of the wind even if some sounds are just background sounds this movie takes away the 3rd person aspect the viewer’s get when the camera is controlled by the production crew camera man, instead they are the camera in the film it’s self where the actors interact with giving “Direct address” as if the characters are talking to the very viewers as if they are there in person, the sounds throughout the movie get stranger and more weird and at one point viewers claim to hear the witch herself, this movie is completely psychological horror and removes the viewer’s one most relied sense of sight and causes their instincts to use their other senses sight as touch and hearing, to put the viewer on the edge of their seats can be done in many ways but the best way in psychological horror is to mess around with their minds and senses.
Exploitation of the Viewers and the Characters Psychological Fears
Now Fear is Fear no matter what it is as long as you can
make it scary or creepy the viewers will fear it, in my opinion psychological
horror is able to pry into the minds of its viewers and show them the twisted
side of almost anything and scare them, creating irrational fears of the most
harmless thing, a normal item in a house could become their new found fear due
to a psychological horror film that is well made, Dolls, children, butterflies,
moths, insects and even your own reflection will one day become your worst
fear. This is because when a psychological horror movie such as “Mirror” takes your
harmless reflection and twists and turns your concept of a reflection you
suddenly find yourself checking your reflection more, because the movie makes
it as if your own reflection is trying to kill you, whenever you look away it
doesn’t follow you but watches as you walk away, bringing doubt with it such as
“what is my reflection doing when I look away?” it’s that simple question that
can spark an irrational fear in the form of the movie “Mirror”, Fear is
anything and everything in the modern day anyone can be scared of absolutely
anything even “hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia”that is the fear of long words.
Other horror films use physical fear to scare their viewers but I believe the best way to scare your viewers is psychologically, when you pull the viewers out of their comfort zone and show them imaginable horrors through a single twist in reality then return them to a safe place only have them question their own sanity if what they just saw actually happened always keeping them guessing in a mystery, because everyone likes a good mystery and once you start to blend their hellish fears into the safety of their“reality” they soon doubt everything and fear anything so the walk home in the dark after the movie suddenly becomes part of the experience yet it doesn’t stop till they finally get to sleep and wake in the morning and reminisce on their experience.
Other horror films use physical fear to scare their viewers but I believe the best way to scare your viewers is psychologically, when you pull the viewers out of their comfort zone and show them imaginable horrors through a single twist in reality then return them to a safe place only have them question their own sanity if what they just saw actually happened always keeping them guessing in a mystery, because everyone likes a good mystery and once you start to blend their hellish fears into the safety of their“reality” they soon doubt everything and fear anything so the walk home in the dark after the movie suddenly becomes part of the experience yet it doesn’t stop till they finally get to sleep and wake in the morning and reminisce on their experience.
Iconic Horror characters
Even if the psychological horror film does not show you its main killer/monster its very presence is enough to scare the viewer and make its self an Iconic horror character because no horror film Is complete without its most iconic character burned into the memories of its viewers.
One of these Iconic characters is Silent hills “Pyramid head” known mainly for the large pyramid shaped head gear, his blood soaked skin make apron and his gigantic sword, he is known to have inhuman strength and from a scene of the movie able to skin you alive with his bare hands with just one pull, he is feared as a juggernaut of a creature from the movie to the video games he is
unstoppable and does come in a range of verities. Jigsaw, the most iconic character of the Saw serious, the second most would be Pig face leaving the actual character and brains behind every trap just some old man Jigsaw is actually just a puppet in the films controlled by the main mastermind villain in the movie, he appears on the TV in the torture room briefing the victim of their sins and what the contraption they are linked into is all about and what it does, giving them a set time to complete a task that involves sacrificing a part of their body to gain their freedom. The Horror sub genre of Psychological horror is just one of many sub genres that prey on the fear and minds of their viewers, every character is shrouded in mystery and sin, becoming the source of all evil and torture for the characters of the film as the sit helplessly to watch every last turn and horror only to leave with the images in their mind question their own lives and fears in their own heart, bringing to light their worst fears for a gear experience. |