Abstract
In this article, we attempt to unravel the family-based haunted house film patterns in both Malaysia and America. Certain types of tropes and attributes have been used by horror filmmakers over the years to define the family motif-pattern of haunted houses in the media. Some of these elements have undergone change over time but most of them still adhere to the rules that constitute the family-based haunted house film patterns based on two Malay films and two American films. These rules were compared and contrasted by applying a combination of two theories which were formulated by Propp and Bailey. Application of these formulas has resulted in the findings of twelve plot functions as examined in this article. Upon analysis of the corpus, it has also been found that there are 10 existing attributes of a haunted house. The findings suggest that the haunted house film pattern is not merely a motif but it is also able to exhibit a number of themes which are considered prominent in haunted house films such as the Manichean clash between good and evil. The convergence and divergence between the Malaysian and American horror flicks show that cultural and religious practices govern the ways in which good and evil are expressed. Keywords: family; patterns; structure; Haunted House; gothic; horror
Highlights
Elements of the haunted house across the horror genre can be traced back to as early as the 18th century as displayed in Gothic literature of European and its Western counterparts
Before The Exorcist, there was no trace of the exorcism-possession motif in classical family motif haunted house films, and this example can be seen in The 13 Ghosts in 1960 which was directed by William Castle
The twelve plot functions reveal the structure of the plot in the chosen corpus even though it initially reveals that the millennial family-based haunted house film is structurally straightforward in manner there are little flashbacks in re-telling the audience about the dark and evil history of the house
Summary
Elements of the haunted house across the horror genre can be traced back to as early as the 18th century as displayed in Gothic literature of European and its Western counterparts. Bronte’s Wuthering Heights (1847) is a good example; Catherine plagues Heathcliff in the childhood home that was the location of their heart-breaking love story Another haunted house that hosts a torturous relationship is in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher (1839), while other important examples include Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables (1851) and De Chomon’s La Maison Ensorcelee (The Haunted House; 1908). Dale Bailey (1999) examined the haunted house formula in American popular fiction Using his insight, this article will focus on four haunted house films in which two are of Malaysian origin, Congkak (2008) and Flat 3A (2010) while the remaining two are of American origin, The Amityville Horror (2005) and The Conjuring (2013). These films will be used to identify gothic patterns and attributes that show elements of their convergence and divergence
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