What is "Horror"?

[Blaine]

Here is the definition of HORROR from: http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html

"Horror Films are unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films effectively center on the dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming events. They deal with our most primal nature and its fears: our nightmares, our vulnerability, our alienation, our revulsions, our terror of the unknown, our fear of death and dismemberment, loss of identity, or fear of sexuality.

Horror films go back as far as the onset of films themselves, over a 100 years ago. From our earliest days, we use our vivid imaginations to see ghosts in shadowy shapes, to be emotionally connected to the unknown and to fear things that are improbable. Watching a horror film gives an opening into that scary world, into an outlet for the essence of fear itself, without actually being in danger. Weird as it sounds, there's a very real thrill and fun factor in being scared or watching disturbing, horrific images.

Whatever dark, primitive, and revolting traits that simultaneously attract and repel us are featured in the horror genre. Horror films are often combined with science fiction when the menace or monster is related to a corruption of technology, or when Earth is threatened by aliens. The fantasy and supernatural film genres are not synonymous with the horror genre, although thriller films may have some relation when they focus on the revolting and horrible acts of the killer/madman. Horror films are also known as chillers, scary movies, spookfests, and the macabre.

Horror films, when done well and with less reliance on horrifying special effects, can be extremely potent film forms, tapping into our dream states and the horror of the irrational and unknown, and the horror within man himself. (The best horror films only imply or suggest the horror in subtle ways, rather than blatantly displaying it, i.e., Val Lewton's horror films.) In horror films, the irrational forces of chaos or horror invariably need to be defeated, and often these films end with a return to normalcy and victory over the monstrous.

Of necessity, the earliest horror films were Gothic in style - meaning that they were usually set in spooky old mansions, castles, or fog-shrouded, dark and shadowy locales. Their main characters have included "unknown," human, supernatural or grotesque creatures, ranging from vampires, demented madmen, devils, unfriendly ghosts, monsters, mad scientists, "Frankensteins," "Jekyll/Hyde" dualities, demons, zombies, evil spirits, arch fiends, Satanic villains, the "possessed," werewolves and freaks to even the unseen, diabolical presence of evil.

Horror films developed out of a number of sources: folktales with devil characters, witchcraft, fables, myths, ghost stories, Grand Guignol melodramas, and Gothic or Victorian novels from Europe by way of Mary Shelley or Irish writer Bram Stoker. In many ways, the expressionistic German silent cinema led the world in films of horror and the supernatural, and established its cinematic vocabulary and style."


Visit the site for examples and more info...

EDIT: here is the page with a listing of some of what they consider HORROR: http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms5.html

 

[Kholi]

Final Destination is DEFINITELY horror. THat's on that list.

Alien is also on that list... I mean I can see how it could be classified as horror.

THanks for the links, and for taking the time to copy and paste that, Blaine.

It'll be interesting to see who comes up with what this fest. Count on a near PG-13 entry from me, if I can make this one.

 

[Ben Sliker]

Blaine,
I'm going to try to one-up you on this one, this is straight from my Film Styles and Genres Class at the University of Wisconsin.

This is Noel Carrol's definition of Horror, or what he likes to call "Art Horror" In lamens terms, to be classified as a horror film, the film must contain A. A monster and that that monster is B. horrifying.

Carrol states "I am concurrently art-horrified by by some Monster X, say dracula, if and only if 1) I am in some state of abnormal, physically felt agitation (shuddering, tingling, screaming, etc.) which 2) has been caused by a) the thought: that dracula is a possible being; and by the evaluative thoughts taht b) said Dracula has the property of being physically (and perhaps morally and socially) threatening in the ways portrayed in the fiction and that c) said dracula has the property of being impure, where c) such thoughts are usually accompanied by the desire to avoid the touch of things like Dracula." (27)

To be a monster, it must refer to “any being not believed to exist now according to contemporary science.” (27) From that, you could say that dinosaurs and aliens can be monsters. The monster must also be threatening AND impure. “If the monster were only evaluated as potentially threatening, the emotion would be fear; if only potentially impure, the emotion would be disgust” (28)

Having a monster in a film doesn’t make it a horror film but it is a necessary component. If you do not have a monster, then it is a terror film. Here’s how to construct your monster: Make sure that the same emotion that is felt on-screen is felt of-screen by the audience. Monsters can be a vehicle for psycho analytical repression – the reality of dreams, say repressed sexual urges, things that are normally private activities displayed grotesquely in public. The Monster can be an encapsulation of repressed feelings. The monster that is repressed, is also oppressed as well (they are a forced deemed dangerous). They can vent or be a service of oppression.

Here are more ways to structure a monster, if you don’t want a psychoanalytical one. They can just be dangerous, unnatural, frightening, or disgusting. The quality of being impure comes from the concept of intersticiality (or the space between parts, the quality of being in between). For instance, a zombie is intersticial, because it is in between being dead and alive. This can also take the form of being a fusion of composite parts from otherwise incompatible categories, for example, a human and a wolf, a machine and an insect, or an infant and a human (let’s not forget possession here.) One more is being across different times and space or “fission”. Temporal fission, or time fission, is evident in the case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, or a doppleganger, the concept that there is an evil version of you out there somewhere. And lastly there is magnification and massification, as in a giant ant or a swarm of locusts, respectively.

If you would like further reading on this, I suggest, Noel Carrol’s “The nature of Horror”, and Robin Wood’s “”Introduction to the American Horror film”

And that kids, is what you learn in college.

 

[Kholi]

Blaine,
I'm going to try to one-up you on this one, this is straight from my Film Styles and Genres Class at the University of Wisconsin.

This is Noel Carrol's definition of Horror, or what he likes to call "Art Horror" In lamens terms, to be classified as a horror film, the film must contain A. A monster and that that monster is B. horrifying.

Carrol states "I am concurrently art-horrified by by some Monster X, say dracula, if and only if 1) I am in some state of abnormal, physically felt agitation (shuddering, tingling, screaming, etc.) which 2) has been caused by a) the thought: that dracula is a possible being; and by the evaluative thoughts taht b) said Dracula has the property of being physically (and perhaps morally and socially) threatening in the ways portrayed in the fiction and that c) said dracula has the property of being impure, where c) such thoughts are usually accompanied by the desire to avoid the touch of things like Dracula." (27)

To be a monster, it must refer to “any being not believed to exist now according to contemporary science.” (27) From that, you could say that dinosaurs and aliens can be monsters. The monster must also be threatening AND impure. “If the monster were only evaluated as potentially threatening, the emotion would be fear; if only potentially impure, the emotion would be disgust” (28)

Having a monster in a film doesn’t make it a horror film but it is a necessary component. If you do not have a monster, then it is a terror film. Here’s how to construct your monster: Make sure that the same emotion that is felt on-screen is felt of-screen by the audience. Monsters can be a vehicle for psycho analytical repression – the reality of dreams, say repressed sexual urges, things that are normally private activities displayed grotesquely in public. The Monster can be an encapsulation of repressed feelings. The monster that is repressed, is also oppressed as well (they are a forced deemed dangerous). They can vent or be a service of oppression.

Here are more ways to structure a monster, if you don’t want a psychoanalytical one. They can just be dangerous, unnatural, frightening, or disgusting. The quality of being impure comes from the concept of intersticiality (or the space between parts, the quality of being in between). For instance, a zombie is intersticial, because it is in between being dead and alive. This can also take the form of being a fusion of composite parts from otherwise incompatible categories, for example, a human and a wolf, a machine and an insect, or an infant and a human (let’s not forget possession here.) One more is being across different times and space or “fission”. Temporal fission, or time fission, is evident in the case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, or a doppleganger, the concept that there is an evil version of you out there somewhere. And lastly there is magnification and massification, as in a giant ant or a swarm of locusts, respectively.

If you would like further reading on this, I suggest, Noel Carrol’s “The nature of Horror”, and Robin Wood’s “”Introduction to the American Horror film”

And that kids, is what you learn in college.

You know what that brings to mind? "Christine" That's personification. The car is the monster in that movie, which makes it an outright horror story.

THanks for that info.

 

[Alex DePew]

Alright, I'll concede the point. I know a good argument when I hear one. Alien is both sci-fi and horror. Maestro1d, you made a great comparisson to the slasher genre and I applaud you.

And the Shining and Poltergeist are great examples. What else are peoples favorites?

 

[SilverWolf]

I agree with Final Destination being horror and I want to add Childs play into the mix

 

[Mark Harris]

Alright, I'll concede the point. I know a good argument when I hear one. Alien is both sci-fi and horror. Maestro1d, you made a great comparisson to the slasher genre and I applaud you.

And the Shining and Poltergeist are great examples. What else are peoples favorites?

Night of the Hunter is one damned creepy movie I always categorize as horror. Also Mamoulian's Jekyll and Hyde is pretty creepy, if you've never seen it.

I also really liked the Salem's Lot mini series that Hooper did.

 

[Kholi]

Just sitting here thinking... and wanted to say that I'm glad horror movies don't tend to get too deep.

You can always pull morals out of them, but bottom line is it's just a scare.

Which means that I don't have to go busting my brain for an onion of an idea. And by onion I mean multi-layered.

ABout to put in James Gunn's "Dawn Of The Dead" ... love that movie. Definitely HOrror.

 

[maestro1d]

Alright, I'll concede the point. I know a good argument when I hear one. Alien is both sci-fi and horror. Maestro1d, you made a great comparisson to the slasher genre and I applaud you.

And the Shining and Poltergeist are great examples. What else are peoples favorites?

Thanks- Nice thread here, good discussions.

 

[J.R. Hudson]

Just sitting here thinking... and wanted to say that I'm glad horror movies don't tend to get too deep.

You can always pull morals out of them, but bottom line is it's just a scare.

Which means that I don't have to go busting my brain for an onion of an idea. And by onion I mean multi-layered.

ABout to put in James Gunn's "Dawn Of The Dead" ... love that movie. Definitely HOrror.

Horror is my favorite genere. Dawn 04 rules.

 

[DarkMatter]

Here is the definition of HORROR from: http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html

"Horror Films are unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films effectively center on the dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming events. They deal with our most primal nature and its fears: our nightmares, our vulnerability, our alienation, our revulsions, our terror of the unknown, our fear of death and dismemberment, loss of identity, or fear of sexuality.

This is a more valid and concise definition of Horror. I still don't get the sci-fi argument for Alien, It is a sci-fi horror movie for hell sakes, it's not Star Trek! As far as the A. monster B. scary, definition I heard, try Irreversible on for size, That movie is full of A. monsters and it is B. scary. It is listed as a thriller, but i can't think of a movie more horrifying. See also, Man Bites Dog. These movies will change the way you view horror as an entity forever.
BTW you may not find these at your local video store, but both are available at Netflix.

 

[Ben Sliker]

moviestunts,
My definition was a scholarly definition, someone actually trying to get down to what a horror film is. And i think you didn't read far enough into the definition. The monster has to be horrifying, not just scary. Here is what makes a monster horrifying:

Carrol states "I am concurrently art-horrified by by some Monster X, say dracula, if and only if 1) I am in some state of abnormal, physically felt agitation (shuddering, tingling, screaming, etc.) which 2) has been caused by a) the thought: that dracula is a possible being; and by the evaluative thoughts taht b) said Dracula has the property of being physically (and perhaps morally and socially) threatening in the ways portrayed in the fiction and that c) said dracula has the property of being impure, where c) such thoughts are usually accompanied by the desire to avoid the touch of things like Dracula." (27)

I felt that the filmsite.org definition was rather generalized, the one i gave was from an actual scholarly article. I have never seen irreversable or man bites dog, but if they fit the description, then they are horror films! If they don't fit that description, this author believes them to be another type of scary film, perhaps a terror or thriller film.

I can do more research into other articles, in fact i just might, i need a little brush up on my genre studies. I'll look for those two at my local indie video store.:nads:

 

[Kholi]

Horror is my favorite genere. Dawn 04 rules.

Horror is technically my favorite genre, as well. But, I'm kinda getting out of it. They just aren't too terribly good anymore.

James Gunn is great, and I love what's been done with Dawn of The Dead 04. Really, the people who do Resident Evil need to take some notes, man.

Dawn 04 was so intense.

 

[DarkMatter]

moviestunts,
My definition was a scholarly definition, someone actually trying to get down to what a horror film is. And i think you didn't read far enough into the definition. The monster has to be horrifying, not just scary. Here is what makes a monster horrifying:



I felt that the filmsite.org definition was rather generalized, the one i gave was from an actual scholarly article. I have never seen irreversable or man bites dog, but if they fit the description, then they are horror films! If they don't fit that description, this author believes them to be another type of scary film, perhaps a terror or thriller film.

I can do more research into other articles, in fact i just might, i need a little brush up on my genre studies. I'll look for those two at my local indie video store.:nads:

I have to warn anyone who rents these movies, NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART, or poeple easily offended, they are shot VERY realistically, documentary style. Getting back to definitions of Horror it boils down to each his own. I'm not sure what this was for:nads: If it was directed at me, it was poor taste and childish to say the least.

 

[Ben Sliker]

lol. sorry, i don't mean to offend, sometimes my emoticon use is misguided, as i don't take them for more than a grain of salt, i assume others don't either. I am actually kinda psyched about catching those two flicks. As for the smiley, I was like oh man ... that little guy got kicked in the nuts, that's pretty funny, ill put that at the end of my message. I guess i just kicked myself in the nuts.

but i wouldn't say horror is a "to each his own" concept. There are some guidelines, and i assume that's why these contests have genres to them, so that people just don't submit anything. I wouldn't say that if a person submitted a "terror" film that they should be disqualified or anything ... hell maybe i am, i don't know. But then of course, that's not up to me.

I was imagining if people were stuck for concepts that they could go back to a definition and start from there. Hence, make up a monster, then make it horrifying and immoral. And then you qualify to be in the contest. And then again, maybe i'm just a genre rule nazi.

MOVIE STUNTS ->:nads: <-Hybridtheory

 

[maestro1d]

Night of the Hunter is one damned creepy movie I always categorize as horror. Also Mamoulian's Jekyll and Hyde is pretty creepy, if you've never seen it.

I also really liked the Salem's Lot mini series that Hooper did.

Salem's Lot was very scary... probably one of the main reasons my brother and I, and all the other kids I knew growing up in the late 70's couldn't sleep for like a year.

The scene where the boy comes back and taps at the window after he is a vampire, and is trying to get his brother to let him back in the house....

Shudder. I am gonna go watch Austin Powers about five times so I can forget it now. Thanks a lot! Thought I had successfully blocked that friggin vampire scene out during childhood. Sigh.

 

[DarkMatter]

lol. sorry, i don't mean to offend, sometimes my emoticon use is misguided, as i don't take them for more than a grain of salt, i assume others don't either. I am actually kinda psyched about catching those two flicks. As for the smiley, I was like oh man ... that little guy got kicked in the nuts, that's pretty funny, ill put that at the end of my message. I guess i just kicked myself in the nuts.

but i wouldn't say horror is a "to each his own" concept. There are some guidelines, and i assume that's why these contests have genres to them, so that people just don't submit anything. I wouldn't say that if a person submitted a "terror" film that they should be disqualified or anything ... hell maybe i am, i don't know. But then of course, that's not up to me.

I was imagining if people were stuck for concepts that they could go back to a definition and start from there. Hence, make up a monster, then make it horrifying and immoral. And then you qualify to be in the contest. And then again, maybe i'm just a genre rule nazi.

MOVIE STUNTS ->:nads: <-Hybridtheory

Lol, I'm interested to know what you think of those two movies, PM me and tell me what you thought. I won't say that my Horror movie will be anything but straight laced terror; but these conversations are fun. And in case you can't tell I LOVE:2vrolijk_08: movies.

 

[maestro1d]

WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (PG13)

Although I'd call that a POS more than a Horror.

EJ

Great friggin movie- the quintessential slasher.

The best in babysitter slasher horror, hands down. Charles Durning and Carol Kane's best work (except all of Kane's work is her best work- man... a RIOT in Scrooged and Princess Bride)

"Have you checked the children?"

Yikes... creepy, creepy, creepy. Before there was Freddie, or Jason, there was Stranger Calls. RENT IT TODAY.

 

[maestro1d]

The Shining was /is evil scary horror all the way

Tremor's is toally Horror in it's own bitchen way

I always loved Tremors.

OK. I'll just say it.

I loved tremors before tremors was cool. There, i said it.

er... yeah. Any way- I thought one of the bets spots in Tremors was with Kevin Bacon... In full redneck accent, after seeing one of the tentacles come out of the ground and do some nastiness he yells... "what the hell was that.... <PAUSE> ...I MEAN WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!?!".

I dunno. Quirky... But there's just something about the way he does that line- i don't know if he mucked up the timing of the line and they just kept it- but I remember it played great.

It was just one of those kinda lines that always kinda bothered me but I loved at the same time, cause it felt odd... I just appreciated the moment finally for it's realness.

It added a true sense of panic to his performance, accidental or not. I remember they even used it in the trailer it was so funny.

OK... I KNOW- am getting a little TOO specific here. LOL

Cool pick though.

DON'T EVEN get me started on SHINING. I Could teach a community college course with this one film alone....

 

[maestro1d]

Alright, I'll concede the point. I know a good argument when I hear one. Alien is both sci-fi and horror. Maestro1d, you made a great comparisson to the slasher genre and I applaud you.

And the Shining and Poltergeist are great examples. What else are peoples favorites?

OK... just woke up, reading e-mail and browsing site here, and a few neurons clicked together.

Here we go: My FAVE pre-"Shining" horror flick (late 70s) HAS GOT TO be "The Changeling" with George C Scott. Like what... 1978, 1979?

Now, for those who don't know it, this is one of THE scariest movies of all time.

Why? You have the protagonist (Scott) plagued by the memory of the recent death of a child- he is mourning, and keeps seeing that darn kids ball (fave toy) from his son.

He tries putting it away... ball keeps turning up.. hmm that's funny "thought I put this way" type grimace of puzzlement from Scott... puts away again. Keeps appearing in odd places. Finally, he is starting to think he's losing his mind... he's getting creeped out.

OK. I KNOW... Let's put an end to this (he thinks)... One night, he goes for long, purposeful drive. ... tosses son's favorite toy ball off bridge.... Sees it hit water. Gets in car, starts drive home.

Whew! Glad that's over.

He walks in front door, as he steps in house, he hears noise, looks up- sees ball (slightly damp?) slowly starts falling down stairs, plop, plop, plop one at a time... finally rests at threshold near his feet.

Wow.

NOW WHAT sadistic f-in genius RUINED my childhood rem sleep with this scene??? LOL. I should probably still be in therapy.

We won't even talk about the creepy Virginian era wheelchair rocking on its own, in the locked attic... on investigation... it stops as door is opened... nope... nothing wrong here... Then later in movie, it spins and races towards attic door as Scott slams it shut. (remember in Poltergeist... the toy Hulk riding flying horse in poltergeist scene, and the spinning record with protractor, as door slams shut? Changeling, Exorcist, etc)

Deep breaths.... relax. Whew. Okay... Find a happy place...

In fact, and I am proud to stake my name on this... The RING and RINGU blatantly plagiarized this movie.

Rent it... you'll see. All the kid buried in the well stuff is straight from Changeling. "The Ring" is actually a direct rip-off mixture of two movies that the writer and/or director MUST have seen as a kid: "Changeling" and the 80's video rental cult classic "Videodrome".

Videodrome (probably James Woods greatest role outside 'Cop', 'Salvador', 'Best Seller' and 'The Oninon Field') was one of the first great psy-horror movies (with Deborah Harry from Blondie- youza).

Any way. All the "IS it REAL or the VIDEO TAPE" from stuff from "the Ring" is straight from Videodrome. Especially touching screen with the fly, fly in/out of screen? And the (SHUDDER) little girl coming out of the tv at the end- TOTALLY VIDEODROME.

But also, it creeps you out (the ring) because unlike Changeling, where u get to go "whew" at the end when the crime is solved, and childs body is put to rest... no, no, no my friends. The GENIUS directors (did is say they stole? sorry... apologies) adds the teriffic ploy of the girl coming out of well to wreak havoc as a nasty little demoness curr.

Man. This is not your father's Changeling.

Very scary.