Research for Genre Assignment- Horror

Film Idea Research

I have been looking into natural occurrences of the mind, for example hallucinations that occur naturally in the brain, not from drug use,Paranoia,night terrors, and sleep walking.
All these occurrences can happen to everyone of us at any point of our life and for a small handful it can last a lifetime.
What i was most interested in was Sleep Paralysis, as i have had a few experiences, i wanted to look deeper into this condition of the mind and see if anyone has made accounts of this truly terrifying experience.




I have found this video on youtube, i decided to put this up on my blog because i feel that this real life film will give more insight into sleep paralysis, this is a real condition that not many people know about, i want to try and make people aware of how scary sleep paralysis actually is, if you have never experienced it, then you won't know the extent. 


The majority of people who experience sleep paralysis will feel as if they are unable to move, breath, speak, but their brain is still working, their eyes are open, they can see, some people experience hallucinations, people/animals or sensing people in their room, hearing things, and more often than not a sensation of someone sitting on top of your chest keeping you from moving, stopping you from breathing, this is extremely distressing from the person who is having a sleep paralysis episode. 

Reason why i want to make this into my horror short:
As i have seen throughout my research, not many people know of this condition. I have conducted my own research on this issue and the results are as shown:

I asked 13 people whether they have experienced sleep paralysis, sleep walking, natural occurring hallucinations(Not drug induced), 10 out of 13 people said no, 1 from the 3 people who said yes had experienced sleep paralysis, and the remaining 2 out of the 3 had experienced sleep walking. 

As seen from my results, not many people know about sleep paralysis, this is the reason i want to make a film based on this condition. 

This is a real life occurrence, and the majority of the people who experience it feel as if they are in their own horror film. 

I want to make people aware of what their brain is capable of, to make them realise what other people have to suffer with when trying have a nights sleep- even though my film will be a dramatised version of what happens to people.

I want to add the element of truth into my film but also keep the horror theme running through it too.


Primary Research.
I have also conducted my own research in the form of a questionnaire, which i gave out to 13 people in total, the questions on the questionnaire are as follows:

1.What are you scared of? 

2.What would you say is your favourite horror film? 

3.Why is this your favourite horror film? 

4.Do you get scared by horror films?

5.Do you prefer new horror films, or old?

6.Can you explain why?

7.Have you ever experienced a natural phenomenon of the mind, such as, sleepwalking, hallucination (not drug induced), sleep paralysis?

The 1st question, what are you scared seemed to bring a few weird answers up that i didn't expect (even though i asked this question, i wasn't going to use it as part of my own film)Here are a few of the answers:

-The Dark

-THESE ARE THE MOST COMMON ANSWERS-Insects, spiders, moths and bees.

-Someone also said being alone, another person also said being attacked whilst asleep at night.

The second question i asked was, what is your favourite horror film? and The Shining (Kubrick, 1980) seemed to pop up quite a lot.

The answers i got from these questions surprised me, because it seems that not everybody is scared by horror films, only a small proportion.

This shows me that people have desensitised themselves from horror, this can be because of a range of reasons, for example:

• video games, some video games contain strong images of bloody violence and are 1st person shooter games, so it is actually like you are killing someone/something. 
• The media, what i mean by this is, everyday on the news you hear about a murder, now a days people don't even bat an eye to hearing about them because it happens so often.

Do you prefer old or new horror films?
the results i got-

The results i received from this question shocked me, because i would've thought the age range i asked 17-23 years old, would've preferred newer horror films because of the gore and so forth.

I also asked the question could they explain why they preferred this choice, it came to light that many people where bored with horror films that are out now a days and they prefer the older films because they have more original ideas, and have more depth to them than just bloody violence.

The last question i asked was extremely important to my own film, i asked whether people have experienced and natural phenomenon of the mind, for example, sleep walking, natural hallucinations (not drug induced) and/or sleep paralysis.

The answers that i received back showed that only 3 people out of the 13 i had asked has experienced one of the above, only one person had experienced sleep paralysis, this shocked me, but also it made me feel quite happy, because i want to make a film that will hopefully make people aware of sleep paralysis, even though my film will be a dramatisation of what happens during sleep paralysis, but if only one person researches into the condition, my film will be doing what i wanted it to do. 

Research for Genre Assignment- Horror

I have researched a 'bulk' of Horror films to try and establish the genre before looking at films that are of close genre to the film that i am going to make.(i will state in the descriptions of the films whether they are part of my bulk research)
"Ghost stories have been around for ages, told around campfires and at sleepovers by adults and children alike.
Why is it then that we constantly find ourselves at a loss for great movies in the ghost story genre? I think it really boils down to atmosphere and that's Guillermo del Toro's "The Devil's Backbone" (El Espinazo del Diablo) strongest asset." Despare [Horror.com, accessed Nov 2011]

The Devil's Backbone (Del Toro's, 2001) 



The devil's backbone is the 'brother' film to pans labyrinth, they are both set during the spanish civil war at the other ends of spain. This is guillermo de toro's take on a horror film. Eventhough this film includes a lot of ghostly goings on, it isn't as scary as you would like it to be, there isn't much suspense in seeing the little boy ghost, and even though i like this film a lot i feel that the appearance of the ghost boy could've been shown a lot better, he isn't really a scary ghost. 


The themes of this film would include, war- because the film has war issues running through it, western- as in where it is set, in a desert type place and it looks like a ranch, also i would add that the head teacher of the school also dresses like a tiller girl that you would often see in western films.
One of the themes that are within this film is bullying, carlo's is subjected to bullying because he is the new boy that was left at the orphanage by his tutor- carlo's seems to have come from a rich background and brings many toys and comics to the orphanage with him, this stirs jealously throughout the institute.
Another theme of this film is the underlying element of Religion.
The lost boys (Schumacher, 1987) 
The lost boys was filmed in the 80s(1987), about a family moving to a small upbeat town on the coast in California. 

This town looks like a normal coastal town that is 'buzzing' with young people- but as the shots are establishing where the family have moved to, there are flashes of 'missing' posters, this creates a sense of mystery about this town and builds up the suspense that you know something about this place isn't as all it seems. 


This film has an element of comedy to it, a hybrid genre that mixes between horror and comedy, of which, even though at this film at the time probably would have been scary, softens the blow of the controversial use of vampires. 


This film incorporates the 80s american rock music scene, the music, the soundtrack is originally written by The doors- People are strange, but performed by Echo and the bunnymen, this keeps it upto date with the film because Echo and the bunnymen were an eighties band. There is also a giant picture of Jim Morrison on the wall in the Vampire's hangout, this film seems to be 'laced' with Jim Morrison.
"In what may be a homage to Jim Morrison of The Doors, the lead role in the film is played by Jason Patric, who bears an uncanny resemblance to The Lizard King." The following a review from The New York Times 31st July 1987. Le Fronde 3rd June 2011
 The fashion of clothing, leather jackets, the female character star is a sort of hippie character, the motorbikes- all these elements add up to create a film that is aimed at young adults that are also, or who were into this scene- you could say that this film has a cult following, it also features on Heckler spray.com Top ten cult classic Mid-80s fantasy adventure flicks at number 6. 


I am going to break down the mise on scene for the whole film:
Decor: Gothic
Lighting:Dark
Costume: the costumes are young punk rocker, gothic too.
Location: california and some scenes are filmed in the vampire's 'den'


The gothic aspect to this film helps with the vampire storyline, this could also be seen as a thematic element, for example, take a vampire film and set it in a local pub, it would change the thematics within that film. Gothic decor and location go hand in hand with a vampire film because you associate the two together.

The director of the film also added a clever touch of making the characters style punk rock, the dark clothing, the melancholy bluesy Doors song that also features as the soundtrack, the use of motorcycles, a hippie, set in a fashion conscious, young upbeat town... if you look deep into the style of how the characters are dressed, the bikes, the songs, it is associated with the stereotypical gothic style and you also would associate gothic style with vampires too.


Horror films normally do have gothic elements to them, but the director has made it obvious in this film, yet some may find it not that noticeable.


i feel that a sub-genre of the lost boys could be a road trip, i think this because it has some of the thematics and the iconography of the road trip genre, for example, a family up sticks and move to a different town, but you actually see the travel of the family- this is only an observation made by myself.
Also there is a sub-genre of romance, between The characters of Micheal and star, this is probably one of the main themes that run through the whole film.


The thematics of a horror film is normally based around good versus evil and equilibrium, i will use the lost boys as an example- a family move to a new town and the older son gets involved with a gang of vampires- there is 'competition' between micheal and the head vampire of the gang because of the love interest 
between him and star. 
Silent Hill (Gans, 2006)

this film is an adaptation of the game silent hill, but as in most game adaptations, this film is 'loosely' based on the game.
For example, the parent in the game is called Harry mason, and in the film it is a woman character called Rose da Silva- obviously the gender of the parent character has changed from the game.
This film has a simple storyline- a girl who is sleep walking at night, when her 'parents' look for her she has sleep walked out of the house and into the garden, her mom finds her, she hears her daughter repeat the words 'silent hill'. The young girl has been sleep walking for many years, since her parents adopted her- they didnt know of her past. 
This spurs the mother on to take her daughter to the place that she talks of in her dreams.
The mother takes the daughter despite of what the father thinks, and drives her to silent hill. There are a few 'spooky' going ons that happen on the way, and they end up crashing. When the mother awakes, she sees that her daughter is missing, she panics. 


The mise en scene completely changes when they arrive in silent hill, before the shots were bright, representing real life. In arriving in silent hill, it is foggy, cold, an element of the unknown linked with the fog- you dont know what is lurking within it, this changes the mood of the film completely, things start to become more sinister and suspense is built on the look of the set alone.
Mise en scene- of arriving in silent hill.
Decor- the set is foggy, abandoned, dirty- ash is on the ground.
Lighting- the lighting has changed from bright and normal, to a colour grading of grey to represent a different world all together, or could be argued to make it look like they have gone back in time. 
Costume- due to the crash, the clothes that the mother is wearing are dirty, this is also affected by the lighting.
Location- silent hill.


The mother meets a police woman who has been following her to silent hill, because she was concerned for the child's welfare, she also was in the crash. Things start to get obvious that they have entered another 'world' as such, when the police officer tries to contact the police station via her walkie talkie and it doesnt work, it just makes noises.
They set of in search for the lost child- silent hill is a ghost town which was left many years ago due to a fire that burns underground- The inspiration for this film could've been taken from actual events that are happening in America- Centralia. An underground fire has been burning for 47 years since a uncontrolled fire at a dump spread underground to a coal mine and still burns to this day. In silent hill this seems to be a main theme to the film, without the fire the town wouldn't of had been evacuated, and the small 'religious' cult would not have formed. 
In the actual underground fires of Centralia, the town was evacuated, and only a handful people remained, even though the risks where extremely high of becoming seriously ill from the deadly fumes.


The story of silent hill pans out even more, it seems as if when the air raid sirens rang, silent hill turned into a hellish place, strange characters such as pyramid head, and horrible goings on start to happen. 


A theme of this film could be religion- this is because of the underlying religious tones- such as the cult, the devil, the orphanage that sharon came from was run by nuns.
Tideland(Gilliam, 2005)
This film i wouldn't label the main genre as horror, because it isn't your average horror film- i would say that the main genre is fantasy and sub genres to be horror, phycological and could also be argued that it is a western to- it has the themes of a western, set in america, not set on a ranch though- but what looks to be a ranch sort of area. Also the father figure wears a cowboy hat(iconography of a western). 
Tideland is a unconventional horror film, due to it being quite child like with themes of phycological horror thrown in too- this film is quite messed up as you will know if you have ever seen it. A little girl is subjected to a life that is moulded around her parents taking drugs. She is deeply involved in her parents life, preparing their heroin for them and looking after them when they are on 'vacation'(her code word for her parents being in a higher state of mind because of the drugs). Because she is looking after her parents as if they are children she escapes from her life by playing games on her own intensely imagining that whats she thinks is really happening. You can tell that she is a lonely little girl and finds friends in the most weirdest of places, a few dolls heads that she puts on her fingers and talks to them as if they are real people- you think this is a bit of child play at 1st- her imagination is taking over, but it seems to be a lot more sinister than you 1st think. 
Her mother dies, and her father decides in his state of mind that he and his daughter are to go and live at his mothers house (who has deceased many years ago). She finds that when her father dies her world becomes even more secluded and weird. Even though her father dies of a heroin overdose on the chair in the living room of the house she still treats him as if he is on 'vacation' and still includes him in everything she does. She meets a few strange people along the way, a brother and sister who aren't your average people. Dell is the carer of her brother dickens since their mother have died, dickens is a young adult who has learning difficulties and forms an extremely stance friendship with Jeliza- Rose. This friendship as strange as it seems is more of a childhood fantasy than of real life, dickens and Jeliza-rose go on adventures with each other and it seems as if she has a crush on dickens. This film when i watched it disturbed me, because it made me feel uncomfortable with the lives that these people led, but i suppose this can be linked in with the Horror theme of the film, disturbing content is often referred to as a genre of horror. 
As naive and as 'playful' as this film seems it is scary at the same time- can people actually get away with these things that they are doing in this film, are peoples lives actually this messed up? I don't think so, thats why i would say the main genre of this film is fantasy- made up fiction, shown to be light hearted but in fact can disturb the watcher, this is where horror comes into it. As i said at the beginning of this analysis this isn't your conventional horror film, but does have solid themes of it running ALL the way through. 
A Nightmare on Elm Street (Bayer, 2010)

This is the 're-imaging' of Nightmare on elm street. This film is quite gory and definitely can be labelled as a slasher horror film. 


The remake if this film can be put described as a teen slasher horror film, what i mean by this statement is that it has been done before and it fits within a selection of horror films that will include, final destination, Halloween, Friday the 13th and the list could go on. 


This film has an underlying theme of dream throughout it, the character Freddy Kruger visits his victims in their sleep, which is the only place that he can capture them. I like the idea behind this film, because even though there are many teenage slasher films out there, this one stand on its own with the dream theme.


Jacob's ladder(Lyne, 1990)

'If you're frightened of dying and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away, but if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels freeing you from the Earth.' Jacobs Ladder
This film is based on supposedly true events, after the Vietnam war soldiers where supposedly put on a programme and given a drug called 'the ladder' to try and alter their minds to prevent flash backs of the war, they also thought that this would be an anti-depressant but in actual fact what the soldiers were given was LSD. LSD as a lot of people know is a hallucinogenic and the person who is taking it experiences hallucinations- in a lot of different cases of people who took LSD they also experienced flash backs years later, it also stays in the body for up to 40 years.
This film i have watched because i feel that it will tie in with my film, due to the hallucinations- even though theses things jake is seeing are drug induced, he does not realise this, he thinks that a night when he was in the army something happened, but he and that he is being possessed. Along his journey he contacts other people that he was in the army with when he was in Vietnam, one of them is convinced he is going completely mad that he commits suicide. At the funeral of the man who committed suicide jacob finds out that the majority of the people he was in the army with were experiencing the same thing, so they deicide to get a lawyer on the case, and then things start to unfold that the army was guilty of something, but then all of jacob's army friends started to back out of the case. I am going to leave it there with describing the film.
This film could be argued to have a few main genres such as horror, War, phycological, and some may argue that it has a sort of gangster theme to it to with the army posing as the gangsters.
This film is visually frightening, there is gory bits within it, and there are scenes where people may find disturbing, the hallucination scenes, so this makes jacob's ladder a horror film.


I also think that this film has a religious theme, talking about the devil and angels- also being possessed too.


There aren't many horror films that are like this and you could say that Jacob's ladder is one of a kind.
I want to make my film similar to jacob's ladder as i feel this is a good example of a horror film that doesn't necessary need the same iconography as slasher film, or a ghost film, it is going to be to obvious and the same as everything else, but jacob's ladder is scary in the way that this 'actually' happened to people, solders 'where' put on a drug programme to minimise their flashbacks from the war, but this didnt work- eventhough the US government denied the solders went on this programme, there is a lot of evidence against it.
Night of the Living dead (Romero, 1968)
This film is the first of five. A fallen satellite has fallen from the sky and people are reacting to the radiations from it, which is causing people to turn into 'the living dead' feasting off of unaffected corpses, and therefore spreading the 'decease' throughout the nation. An abandoned house starts to fill up with people that are trying to avoid the 'living dead' and are trying to plan an escape route that turns out to be deadly.
This film for the day would've been terrifying, in the terms of this unsettling film has a lot of scary events within it, including the grave yard scene, in which a brother and a sister go and visit their fathers grave, the brother is playing with the sister trying to scare her by saying the man who is approaching them is after her, the suspicious man grabs the woman, this is a scary part of the film because it is unexpected, this already has you hanging on the edge of your seat. 


Also this film, even though it couldn't of been changed, the black and white hightens the experience of watching this film because it is so cold and bleak, also the music is extremely scary too. 
Awake(Harold, 2007)
this film isn't of the main horror genre but i decided to look at it because it has elements which i want to incorporate within my film.
These elements are of the 'sleep paralysis'"anaesthetic awareness" of the main character not being able to move whilst on the operating table, obviously i wont be using the operation aspect for my film.

Awake is about a millionaire heart transplant patient waiting to have an operation. He is in love with what seems to be a girl who would do anything for this guy, but his mother does not agree with this relationship for some unknown reason. 
The main character Clay is moved up the donor list in the hospital by a doctor who has befriended him. 
Everything seems as if it is going well for Clay, he gets married to his fiance, with the doctor friend present and then they go to the hospital for Clays heart transplant. 
His mother does not agree with her son being operated on by this particular doctor and wants him to be treated by the best- she brings a doctor friend along to try and convince him otherwise, but Clay thinks he can trust his friend and goes ahead against his mothers will. 
It starts to unfold that not is all it as it seems in the operating theatre, the anaesthetist puts Clay to 'sleep' but Clay does not go under, he is in a state of 'sleep paralysis' where he can hear everything that is going on around him, but can not speak or move. He over hears the conversation between the doctors and nurses in the theatre saying that they are going to kill him basically to get all of his money- the wife of Clay is also in on the scam- she will receive all of Clays fortune. Clays wife is going undercover as his wife, but she in actual fact is a nurse at the hospital, conning him out of his money after his deliberate 'death'. 
There is a lot more to this film but i want to analyse the bit i have just spoken about.
Awake is a crime, thriller drama with elements of horror too, so you could actually say that a sub genre (not stated) is horror- due to the horrific scenes during the operation, but instead of the usual iconography of the horror genre, there is nothing really ghoulish or gory about it, so therefore this films sub genres could be psychological horror.