Moral Panic

Moral panic has been described a a condition episode, person or group of people who emerge to become define as a threat to society's valve and interest.

Deviance/threat

Media plays a part on defining and shaping social problems and perceptions of threat.
This media representation and subsequent societal reaction may increase the deviance and threat.

Cohen(1972)

• 'An initial act of deviance or normative diversity is defined as being worthy of attention and is responded positively. These groups are isolated and this operates to alleviate them from conventional society. they perceive themselves as more deviant group than others in similar position and this leads to more deviance. 
•  the media response and representation of the behavior actually help to define it, communicate it and portrays it as a model for viewers to observe and adopt it.

Let The Right One In

The vampire film that includes a young girl names Eli who is known to be 12.  Like other vampire film ‘let the right one in’ is a very dramatic and gory full movie. Stereotypically, a young boy names Oskar is seemed to be bullied at school that becomes rather angry towards the bully. The film moved at a very slow pace in where the action commence later. Eli age and sex were main factor that encouraged viewer to empathise with her more than other character by the way she was presented for example a vulnerable girl who lives on blood and her struggle to hunt humans to kill in order to survive.

Similar to other vampire films Eli has a soft and caring side which is presented when she interacts with Oskar, she controls herself to avoid drinking Oskar blood. Oskar is shown to be living in a state where he has been bullied and with the help of Eli she over powers the bully. The settings used are very isolated and dark scenes are used specially at nights, typical of when the vampires come out to seek prey.

The Exorcist

The Exorcist is a daring movie which runs very slowly emphasizing the plot and its characters, which is different from other films that show long creepy corridors with no sort of scare. It deals with demonic possession of a 12- year old girl and her mother' s hope to win her back from the evil inside her. Chris her mother notices unnatural behavior of her daughter such as swearing and abnormal strength. When medication seem to fail proving confusion for the doctors with unpleasant test results, two priest are called in to get rid of the evil within her body, the evil inside her is referred as a demon. Karras one of the priest is taunted for his weak faith and guilt over his mother's death. Both of them fail the first attempt and Karras believes he is not mentally fit for the second attempt. 

A film set in 1973, the director is able to set such a incredible scene of a girl trembling down the stairs is commendable, which however will be unnoticeable in this era as more techniques have evolved. Using children as main characters corrupt their innocence which is widely being used by many new horror movie.

 This close up scene of the face expression of how she would be feeling as she is possessed. The audience feel uncomfortable by the invasion of space. The camera is very still on the face as you are able to see the detail of her face which is scary and dripping with blood where her anger in her eye is clearly frightening.  

 I really liked this scene as the lightening is unusual purple and a man dressed in black portrays a silhouette. For me it creates an uneasy mood where I am left wondering what is in this house as the long wide shot establish setting an location to give an interactive view where the silhouette is made the center of attention. During this scene the soundtrack lowers its pitch to create tension which is approaching.

I think this is a very troubling scene for many viewers as it's quite gory and off putting. the use of bright green colour is sickening in which the audience are not left horrified of the scary face but due to the girl throwing up 

Sinister

A bloody splatter flick leaves audience overwhelmed by the tension created during the creepy night sequences.  A very catchy beginning which allows the audience to be engaged throughout the spooky scenes.

 The films protagonist Ellison moves in a house with his wife and two children.  Upon moving in and analyzing the house, he finds 8 films up in the attic, these tapes consist of murders faced by the family members who previously lived in this house. Whilst watching the tapes he finds a chain of similar symbol which he tries to unfold to find out the cause of the murders.

This film was most appealing to me as the film focused more on the plot, the characters are more developed and have a more diverse story line. Many of the horror films contain many horrifying scenes with a less lasting impression whereas sinister only has a fair share which leaves a lasting sensation throughout the film.

I really liked this scene as what he found as evidence on the tape, he then experiences it himself which makes it quite scary. Before the sense is shown there is a suspense sound track, giving a echo beat reaching its peak to create a upcoming tempo.

Again in this scene Ellison views the tape and the 'Bagour' is seen to move his head which almost feels like he is behind the laptop. who is thirsty for more blood sucking murder. this lighting used is very dim in all the scene so that the horror imaginary is maintained 

Audience Theories

Deconstruction Of Horror Movie Poster

Audience theory: Propp , Todorov and Binary Oppostion

Insidious

Is a paranormal supernatural film which evolves around the past experience of Josh which is shown via his child who suffers the same paranormal activity. From a young age Josh has always been afraid of taking picture, the audience are unaware of the reason behind until the end. As he grows up he believes his problems are ended. However, moving into a new house where weird and bizarre events take place, his wife Rose takes notes and ensures Josh notices theses changes.

In the up coming scenes Josh’s son enters the world of dreams which are unreal and disturbing, in which he draws a door and images of a man dressed in black with red face. He later goes in coma where he is psychologically still able to have the exhausting imagery of ghosts. Elise a paranormal investigator is called in and Josh is to find out that his son is able to leave his body and travel.

The non- diegetic soundtrack is set to leave the audience on edge with a really loud scratchy violin score which is fused in with unsystematic piano bangs. Ambient sound in the background is very much expected which reinforces the atmosphere of the film yet leaving a mysterious experience.

The low key lightening in this scene is very interesting and intense as the clothing worn by Patrick blends in with the background enhancing the white the face of the ghost which is behind Josh. The use of a small light such as the candle makes the audience focus more only on the med image of the ghost over taking Josh’s body. 

Comparing Carrie(1976) to Carrie(2013)

Carrie is a 1976 and 2013 American supernatural horror film based on Stephen kings’ novel. The (1976) film received two academy awards, which launched numerous young actors. The (2013) film ranked top 3 and grossed $84,790,678 worldwide and achieving 3 awards.

Carrie was a film that really appealed to me after the film insidious (2010) where there was basic iconography such as more blood and religious input. I prefer the newer version of Carrie (2013) as I really liked the prom scene where more ‘Pig’s blood’ was used. The colour red is associated with danger and revengeful actions towards the people she was bullied by. The colour can also connote for a person’s expression in this case it was Carrie’s was very angry at her fellow students who were involved in the terrible act. A supernatural power was within her which is shown more in the prom scene where she is moving objects and people via her eyes similar to the (1976) version.

Also during the prom scene in (1976) there is a voice over which repeat the same words her mother said to her before she left for the prom ‘they’re all going to laugh at you’ this was very effective as the audience felt how this phrase impacted Carrie during the disturbed situation.  Whilst thinking of her mother she felt a red bubble of anger grow within her and started taking action to punish every one of their deeds.  Her mother told her she is doing a sin by going to the prom but she didn’t listen and she got punished and produced more sinful activities.  The psycho strings are used in (1976) in the shower scene which is related to the horror genre similar to the film Psycho (1960).

Both version show religion to an extreme where Carrie’s mother makes her pray in a closed room if she has done a sinful act. Her mother believes that every mistake will be forgiven if we ask for forgiven as soon as possible. In the last scene when carries walks in the bathroom to wash of the blood her mother is waiting behind a door creeping up to her, its create a very suspense atmosphere where there is low key lightening creating shadows and no dialogue.

Carrie walks out the bathroom and the camera slowly pans her move and her mother suddenly stabs her and she trembles down the stairs. The strong religions quotes are spoken by her mother to get the ‘evil’ out but it’s to overwhelming for Carrie and using her powers pushes her mother to a door where her arms are stretched out to represent the cross, an imitation of the crucifix of Jesus. In both versions carrier’s mother is wearing white association with innocence who is trying to get rid of the harmful sin of her daughter. Her hands and body are pinned down by scissors, knives and other sharp object.  There is also a puppet at the end of the film which foreshadows the mother’s death and blood dripping out of it.

Horror Genre and Convention