Horror Cinema Study Guides

First American Horror movie

Frankenstein

Who directed Frankenstein (1910)?

Dawley

What French director is considered as the father of special effects thanks to his editing tricks?

George Melies

What horror movie the French director Georges Méliès directed in 1896?

The Manor of the Devil

What the name of this American actor of the silent movie area nicknamed "The man of a Thousand Faces" and starring in The Phantom of the Opera (1925).

Lon Chaney

What about Lon Chaney Sr.'s childhood helped him to become so expressive?

His parents were deaf so he became skilled in pantomine

What is the name of the famous actor starring in both The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and The Hands of Orlac (1924)?

Conrad Veidt

What the name of the key horror studio from the early 1930s to the mid-40s

Universal Horror

What French theater founded in 1894 by Oscar Méténier heavily influenced early horror cinema by its themes, visual tricks, and disturbing representations?

Le Theatre du Grand-Guignol (Theatre of Blood)

What is the name of the principal scenarist of Théâtre du Grand Guignol?

Camille Choisy

What famous painting by Edvard Munch embodies "Expressionism"?

The Scream

Mise-en-Scene

What is placed in front of the camera— everything that contributes specifically to the visual presentation the camera captures

What is cinematography?

Art of crafting and making motion pictures, science of recording light electronically or chemically (on film)—the creation of the images you see on screen—series of shots that creates a cohesive narrative; Elements include: lighting, shot size, camera focus, shot composition, camera placement, & camera movement

What worldwide event influenced the German expressionist movement and cinema particularly?

WW1--war and body loss caused body horror genre, anxiety that people are losing it

Features of German Expressionism

Elongated shadows, extreme/excessive acting, sharp angles, contrast between light and dark, geometrically absurd sets; anti-realism

According to Kristin Thompson, what is the legacy of German expressionism to Cinema in general?

Mise-en-scene; distortion and exaggeration

Rembrandt triangle

In lighting, the Rembrandt Triangle is an illuminated spot (triangle) of light on the cheek of the subject that is farthest from the light source

Uplighting

Backlighting

Low-key lighting

illumination that creates strong contrast between light and dark areas of the shot, with deep shadows and little fill light

Chiaroscuro lighting

Adding light (chiaro) to one side and backlight (scuro) to the opposite dark side

Smash cut

An abrupt cut from one image to another with no transition, typically used to startle the audience; intensity to calm; ex: waking from a dream

Cross cutting

cut into action that is happening simultaneously; ex: phone call between two people, shots cut from showing one person to another

Jump cut

Swtich from one shot to another at a different time

Cut in action

cutting to a new scene while the first scene is still in motion

J cut

the audio of the next clip begins before the video of the first has ended

L cut

the audio of a shot plays beyond where the video cuts, underneath the next clip's picture

4 universal classics

Wolfman, Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy

Golden age of universal horro

1931-1946

Tod Browning birth city

Louisville

What the main argument of Rachel Adams' piece is?

Freaks had no narrative of redemption

Main argument of joan Hawkins' Piece

Phallic reading of Freaks
Cleo is the real victim
Freaks as children

Close up

framing technique that captures the head and shoulders of the subject

Extreme long shot

A framing in which the scale of the object shown is very small

POV shot

camera points to what the person is looking at

low angle

The camera films the subject from below. This usually has the effect of making the subject look larger than normal, and therefore strong, powerful, and threatening.

high angle

The camera is above the subject. This usually has the effect of making the subject look smaller than normal, giving him or her the appearance of being weak, powerless, and trapped.

Who plays Frankenstein in 1931

Boris Karloff

Who plays Dracula in 1931

Bela Lugosi

Who plays Wolfman in 1941

Benicio del Toro

Who plays Mummy (1932)

Boris Karloff

What studio made Freaks (1932)

Metro-Goldwayn-Mayer

What term coined by Carol Clover describes the last surviving female character in slasher movies?

Final Girl

What is Carol Clover's main argument in "Her body, Himself."

The Final Girl takes on a masculinized role or is eliminated

According to Siskel and Ebert, why the slasher genre is a bad genre?

Anti-woman

Non-diegetic sound

Sound comes from outside the scene
Ex: in jaws, music plays as shark approaches

Diegetic sound

Any voice, musical passage, or sound effect presented as originating from a source within the film's world.

Contrapuntal sound

sound that counterpoints or contrasts the image; happy music during murder scene

Soundtrack definition

movie music that has songs not directly written for the movie

Score

music written directly for a movie

According to Kyle Christensen, what character offers a stronger model for feminism in Slasher movies?

Nancy from Nightmare on Elm Street
- Refuses to be submissive to men
- Becomes parent and authority figure
- Defeats Freddy in feminist way-mind and willpower, not with violence

What is a genre

Category characterized by similarities in form, style, and subject matter
In horror, subgenres include slashers, paranormal, monster, zombie, gore, vampire, witchcraft

Features of a slasher

Final girl, series, villain with iconic physical features, incompetent law enforcement, killer has psychosexual relations, sexualization of women

What major technical innovation challenged the hegemony of cinema in the 50's?

TV?

Pre-slasher movies of 1960

Peeping Tom and Psycho

Vincent Price

Famous for role in House on Haunted Hill (1950)

Which European country also had a great influence on American horror cinema through the "giallo" genre?

italy

What movie directed in 1968 by Georges Romero reinterpreted the figure of the Zombie.

Zombie

3 Slasher sub-genres

Splatter
Krimi-German, based on British mystery and crime
Giallo-crime or murder mysteries

Who wrote "horror and humor"

Noel Carroll

What is the main argument developed in Noël Carroll's "Horror and Humor"?

Horror has monsters that cause horror/disgusting emotional responses (fear) and are perceived to be harmful;
Horror has a notion of impurity
Violate cultural norms and concepts

Slugline

the scene heading [INT. Claiborne's Room-Day]

Action

description of who the people are and what is happening

Parentheticals

actions during the dialogue to help block scene in ()

10 steps of horror movie writing process

Hook, weakness/flaw, the fear, create no escape, foreplay scares, evil force, investigation, final showdown/confrontation, aftermath, evil lurks (twist)--
BASICALLY: Hook, Fear, No Escape, Foreplay, Evil, Investigation, Confrontation, Aftermath, Twist
HFNFEICA- Helen Finally Now Feels Everything is calming...Ahhh shiT

Who directed Eraserhead (1977) and Elephant Man (1980)

David Lynch

Friday the 13th killer

Jason Voorhees

Nightmare on Elm Street killer

Freddy Kreuger

Halloween series killer

Michael meyers

What movie of the 50s inspired John Carpenter's The Thing?

Thing from another world (1951)

What movie released in 1975 features a transgender mad scientist played by Tim Curry?

Rocky Horror Picture Show

What type of paranoia defines 50s horror genre

paranoia of the unknown (science)--propaganda?

Two fear that define 50s horror cinema

brainwashing, paranoia and the unknown

50s horror cinema is usually a reaction to what?

Communism

What American politician is usually held responsible for the witch hunts lead against communists and sexual "deviants" ?

Eisenhower

For Freud, what fear is linked to the discovery of sexual difference?

Fear of losing one's own phallus (castration); young boy sees mother without penis and fears he will lose his own?

For Lacan, what is the real?

Not the same as reality,
A state in which we are driven only by our needs and before entrance into language,
Drive to go back to the real

For Lacan, what is the imaginary?

We struggle to identify and respond to images we see and want to be, but don't need to be perfect

For Lacan, what is the symbolic

societal, cultural, lingual symbols; law of the father

For Kristeva, what is the abject?

Things that were natural with the mother but become taboo as you grow older (piss, vomit, hershey squirts)

For Kristeva, why the mother stands for the abject?

Once you get older and the law of the father is enforced, objects (symbols) become abject bc they are reminders of the mother

For Burke, the sublime makes us feel...

sublime is artistic effect productive of the strongest emotion the mind is capable of feeling

Closest synonym for Cosmic horror

Lovecraftian horror

Major components of weird fiction

fantasy, supernatural fiction and horror

What was Dr. Greven’s main argument made in the Convocation on “Horror Cinema after Psycho”?

Insidious homophobia in horror films
Transexual killers: disturbing; always have to die, idea of choosing castration, causes ambiguity within self–am I a freak?
Fear coming from the unknown (horror really about conservative values & restoring traditional family values)

Who plays the role of Dr. Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs?

Anthony Hopkins

Who plays the role of Norman Bates in Psycho?

Anthony Perkins

What academic text would be more useful to interpret the movie Psycho?

???

Who plays Rosemary in Rosemary’s baby?

Mia Farrow

Who plays Jack Torrance in The Shinning?

Jack Nicholson

Who wrote the novel The Shinning?

Stephen King

What is basic repression

- something universally repressed
- changes us from uncoordinated animals to living human beings
- makes us distinctively human
- repression makes us capable of directing our own lives and co-existing with others

What is surplus repression?

- Repression focused on something specific that shapes a culture w/predetermined roles
- something you identify with that society as a whole rejects
- makes us into monogamous heterosexual bourgeois patriarchal capitalists

In his article “American Nightmare,” Robin Wood list four objects of repression. What are those?

Sexual energy
bisexuality
female sexuality/creativity
sexuality of children

According to Robin Wood, what does the monster/killer represent?

- embodiment of repression; horror exploits this repression base on society's ideal to comply
- casting them as "the Other"

What does meta-horror mean?

A horror film is self-referential to the genre–selfe-aware & cracks jokes, exploring what makes genre tick & borderline parody
Elements of universe in excess

What is a sequel?

A film that comes directly after another film in a series and derives from story events of that film
Continuation of universe, plot, monster, franchise, & time

What is a parody?

Imitation with intentional exaggeration of specific target or subject for comedic effect: irony, humor, satire to mock/criticize subjects

What is a remake?

Film that has same story & often same title as a film made earlier
Same plot (might play on it to demonstrate specific director’s technique)

In the context of movie production, what does pre-selling mean?

Selling the distribution rights of your project to one or more distributors based on the estimated value of your project on a worldwide basis