Horror Film Research Articles

COVID-19'un Dili: Ölümcül, Korkutucu, Silahlar: Fenomenolojik Bir Araştırma

Objective: This study aims to reveal nursing students' perceptions of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) through metaphors. Material and Methods: One of the qualitative research approaches, phenomenology is used in this research. This research was conducted with nursing students who are studying at the health sciences faculty of a university between the dates of February 26 to March 26 2021. A questionnaire was prepared to reveal the mental images of 161 nursing students who accepted to participate in the research about the concept of COVID-19. The students were asked to complete the statement of 'COVID-19 is like ... because ...'. In the process of analysis and interpretation of the data, coding and sorting out metaphors, creating a theme, ensuring validity and reliability, and quantitative data analysis were performed, respectively. Results: Nursing students produced 73 valid metaphors about COVID-19. Metaphors produced by nursing students are generally divided into 7 themes. These themes are; It is listed as 'deadly, divisive, war tool, frightening, punishing, offensive, sticky and contagious'. Conclusion: Nursing students perceive COVID-19 as a death machine. The fact that the participants compared COVID-19 to monsters in fairy tales, horror movies and an enemy lurking in ambush is an indication of how much they feared COVID-19. It is predicted that planning for the development of effective coping processes in the curriculum of nursing students, who are health professionals of the future, will increase the quality of the care provided.

Abismos, espejos y ojos: el terror elevado a través de Jordan Peele

High terror is characterized by its minimalist stylization and profound themes that explore dark aspects of the human condition, diverging from the conventional resources of commercial horror cinema. Using the cinema of Jordan Peele as an example, this article seeks to delve into this cycle of films, deepening into their techniques and the meanings that are hidden beneath the terror narratives they unfold. Likewise, we propose that as powerful generators of meanings, this is something we find present in horror cinema throughout the history of the medium.

The Catholic Horror Show

Among horror films and books, The Exorcist has attracted a disproportionate amount of commentary from a variety of perspectives, ranging from gender studies and psychoanalysis, through to the histories of medicine and science. This article delves into two aspects of the book and film phenomenon to highlight its cultural significance, especially in the United States, and particularly among Roman Catholics. First, it investigates the background of the book and film and positions it within the type of ethnic melting pot Catholicism from which its author, William Peter Blatty, emerged and its vernacular beliefs about the devil and exorcism, focusing on the type of “Catholic supernaturalism” which Blatty drew on in writing The Exorcist and his own ambivalent relationship with this type of devotional Catholicism. Second, it examines the reaction to the book and the film amongst Catholic audiences, focusing on the extensive commentary provided on the film by several Catholic priests, all of whom found themselves pastorally and professionally challenged by the film’s impact in various contexts. It concludes by discussing how The Exorcist has become an iconic example of the dark side of the American Catholic imagination.

The horror genre in the world art. Iberian and Western folklore motifs

Modern cinema, including horror films, in search of artistic and commercial success, is persistently looking for successful projects, where the right path is certainly the right choice of characters and plots. The article deals with horror in game cinema, based on the motives of folklore and post-folklore. As an example, the use of images of monsters from the Iberian ethno-folklore, as well as other similar characters in other cultures, is analyzed. The advantage of such scenarios is their originality. Films based on them are guided by traditions, the artistic images of which develop organically in the collective memory of ethnic groups. In addition, invariants are formed that differ in a greater variety than those generated by the imagination of individual cinematographers. Such a direction of horror development is a possible way to overcome cliches in horror films as an essential direction of modern Western cinema.

Sound and Fury. Lending an Ear to Francis Bacon in The Shout (dir. Jerzy Skolimowski, 1978, uk)

The Shout (1978), directed by Jerzy Skolimowski, is a horror film that centres upon a man, Charles Crossley, capable of executing a shout so intense that its effects overwhelm those who hear it. As the film’s title suggests, acoustic phenomena are central to the narrative. Another key protagonist, Anthony Fielding, is an avant-garde composer. He experiments with various noises as he makes works of musique concrète. Photographic reproductions of paintings by Francis Bacon are displayed in Fielding’s recording studio and, on one level, symbolize his sources of inspiration. Bacon’s works, however, also inform the mise-en-scène of The Shout, comprising part of the fabric of the film. They are not simple props. In this essay, I will argue that the film’s aesthetic, including its soundtrack and mise-en-scène, should be understood as a form of art writing that imitates elements of Bacon’s aesthetic, an aesthetic I argue is queer and rooted in the artist’s interest in bdsm.

The Specter of Opacity: Sakha Indigenous Voice in the Ethnic Horror Film Ich-chi (2021)

The Specter of Opacity: Sakha Indigenous Voice in the Ethnic Horror Film Ich-chi (2021)

Acoustic and structural differences between musically portrayed subtypes of fear.

Fear is a frequently studied emotion category in music and emotion research. However, research in music theory suggests that music can convey finer-grained subtypes of fear, such as terror and anxiety. Previous research on musically expressed emotions has neglected to investigate subtypes of fearful emotions. This study seeks to fill this gap in the literature. To that end, 99 participants rated the emotional impression of short excerpts of horror film music predicted to convey terror and anxiety, respectively. Then, the excerpts that most effectively conveyed these target emotions were analyzed descriptively and acoustically to demonstrate the sonic differences between musically conveyed terror and anxiety. The results support the hypothesis that music conveys terror and anxiety with markedly different musical structures and acoustic features. Terrifying music has a brighter, rougher, harsher timbre, is musically denser, and may be faster and louder than anxious music. Anxious music has a greater degree of loudness variability. Both types of fearful music tend towards minor modalities and are rhythmically unpredictable. These findings further support the application of emotional granularity in music and emotion research.

Transnational Metacinemas

ABSTRACT: Transnational metacinema describes a range of films that depict film production across borders. The diverse corpus includes fictional works explicitly addressing the ethics of film crews working between nations, hybrid nonfictions that reflexively consider their own use of archival footage and re-enactments, cannibal horror films featuring documentarian protagonists, and Hollywood satires. This article considers themes of colonization and exploitation that traverse these examples. Each case complicates the sustaining, modernist notion that reflexivity disrupts viewing pleasure, inviting more politically aware spectatorship. Many examples promote self-awareness in the filmmaker-audience relationship at the expense of concern for the Indigenous and marginalized populations represented.

The World Turned Upside Down, Again: Hauntings of the English Revolution and Archaeologies of Futures Past in Contemporary British Films

In the 1960s and 1970s, the period of the Civil War and the English Revolution featured prominently in a variety of films ranging from the mainstream historical drama Cromwell to the independent Winstanley and the folk horror film Witchfinder General. Film-makers’ interest in the period at that time coincided with the cultural, social and political turmoil of 1968 as well as with the increasingly popularised revision of the period in Marxist historiography, such as Christopher Hill’s seminal book The World Turned Upside Down. Recently, there has been a renewed interest of British film-makers in Hill’s focus on the subcultures of the English Revolution, such as the Diggers, as well as in the aesthetics of earlier films about the period. This article analyses two contemporary films about the period, Ben Wheatley’s A Field in England and Thomas Clay’s Fanny Lye Deliver’d, and through historicisation and contextualisation within film, genre and media history seeks to understand the significance of their return to the historical material of the seventeenth century as well as to the style of their filmic models from the 1960s and 1970s. The article argues that the two films perform an ‘archaeology of the future’ (Jameson) that excavates utopian ‘futures past’ (Koselleck) in British cultural history as well as in British film and media history. By analysing Wheatley and Clay’s films as hauntological and archaeological texts, the article explores the potential of the cinematic image for engaging with national and film history as well as with visions of the past and the future.

THE INFLUENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY IN SUPERNATURAL BELIEFS THROUGH ENJOYMENT IN WATCHING HORROR MOVIES

The Malaysian film industry in the 21st century is overwhelmed with the production of various genres of films with the horror genre was seen dominating other genres in the industry. Amidst concerns by both the public and leaders on the effect on horror movies to the society, audiences seem to continue to enjoy watching horror movies as seen from the movie ticket sales trend in the market. This has raised a question on the factors leading to the enjoyment of watching horror movies and the effect on supernatural belief. The basic model of Suspense Enjoyment Watching Horror Movies developed by Zillmann (1996) and Zillmann and Weaver (1996) was used to identify the relationship between big five personalities and psychology towards supernatural beliefs through the influence of enjoyment. Specifically the study looks into the effect of the psychology factors namely (i) empathy; (ii) negative feelings; and (ii) positive feelings on supernatural belief through the mediating role of enjoyment. In the first phase of the research, data was collected to explore on the preferred horror movie genre among the audience. 36.1% of the respondents were in favor of the psycho thriller genre compared to eight other genres, such as horror, crime thriller, horror, action horror, drama horror, comedy horror and romantic horror. Based on the results in the first phase of data collection, Jwanita (2015) film was chosen to prime stimulus for the research. Interviews with the experts in the film studies were also conducted to support the findings. The next phase involved 317 Muslim adolescent audiences aged 14 to 23 from Kedah, Malaysia who agreed to take part in the research. Structural Equation Modeling, together with SmartPLS 3.0 software were used to analyse 23-research hypotheses developed. The results showed that there is a significant correlation between the three variables in psychology (empathy, positive feelings and negative feelings) with enjoyment. Further findings indicate on the significant mediating effect of enjoyment on the relationships between positive feelings with supernatural beliefs. The importance of enjoyment as a mediating factor is proven from the full mediation result between with supernatural beliefs. The forecasting model through SEM analysis showed a high goodness of fit (GoF) value of 0.832. The findings of the study can be used to extend the Model of Suspense Enjoyment in watching horror movies through scientific evidences and analysis.

Türk Korku Filmlerinde Kadının Sunumu: “Ötekilik” Kavramı Bağlamında Göstergebilimsel Bir Analiz

Cinema is a field of struggle that focuses on individual and mass experiences as a branch of art at the center of social memory. Thus, almost every cultural, economic, and social change and transformation are naturally evaluated within the spectrum of cinematic experience. At this point, the change of gender, that is, the roles of men and women have also been added to the film culture as a part of the complex cinematic experience and has even turned into codes repeated for years through some genres. In this context, horror cinema can be indicated as one of the strongest carriers of these ongoing cinematic experiences in the context of gender as it is often the result of a heteronormative perspective created in the accompaniment of male-dominated codes. Accordingly, it can be asserted that this cinematic point of view forms its own victims. In line with this argument, the main concern of this study is to discuss 4 different Turkish horror movie posters released in 2021 in the context of the marginalization of women's identity. In this direction, the movie posters have been analyzed with semiotics, and as a result, it has been observed that despite all feminist struggles in cinema and the art world, the mentality about women is still portrayed with a negative approach.

Computational Analysis of a Horror Film Trailer Soundtrack

Computational film analysis combines statistics, data science, information visualization, and computer science with the analytical approaches and domain knowledge of the study of film to frame and answer questions about form and style in the cinema. In this article I illustrate the visualisation and analysis of the soundtrack of the trailer for the Korean horror film Into the Mirror (2003). Using the spectrogram and normalized aggregated power envelope to show how the sound design of the trailer evolves over time and functions at different scales. I address a range of practical considerations relevant to the methods demonstrated here relating to the use of mono versus stereo audio files, the use of different sampling rates, and audio normalization. A supporting website with the code for the statistical programming language R used in this analysis is available at https://rpubs.com/nr62_rp33/CFA-into-the-mirror.

Strategi Komunikasi Pemasaran Film KKN Di Desa Penari Melalui Media Sosial

KKN di Desa Penari is a horror movie produced by MD Pictures. This Indonesian and Javanese language film managed to become the film with the highest number of cinemagoers in the history of Indonesian cinema with 9,233,847 viewers, replacing the film Warkop DKI Reborn: Jangkrik Boss! (Part 1) which released in 2016 with 6,858,616 viewers. Using a qualitative research method with a descriptive approach, this study aims to determine the marketing communication strategy for film KKN di Desa Penari through social media. The results of the study show that MD Pictures utilizes several social media such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter in promoting film KKN di Desa Penari. Social media is used to provide accurate information about film showing schedules, cinemas showing films, and how to buy cinema tickets online. Creating interesting social media content such as countdown, giveaway event, collaborating with external parties in the form of discount promos, testimonials from mass media representatives, public figures, and cinema goers who have watched the film KKN di Desa Penari, and building interaction on social media through making funny pictures/memes via the @kknmovie account.

The Black magic: An aesthetic analysis of its illustration in the sociohorteur film: Dachra

Throughout the history of the humanity, and not withstanding of the humankind; the black magic has always been, and is still, an ugly and frightening human folklore in many cultures, whatever would be their religions and beliefs ; and from which, they are still suffering until nowadays, due to its distinction with mysterious and suspicious practices that have been imprinted in the identity of mankind, as a point of contention that transcends different sects and races. Discussing such issue is deeply hated by most of the populations, due to the huge rate of horror and frightens it may push the interlocutors to feel: what if such an internationally suffering from problematic is treated through a motion picture? Would its receiving and comprehension be better and easier? And how would a horror movie be a film d’auteur, horror and social one at the same time? Will there be a difference in the way of receiving it by the audience? And would the fact of being predecessor and identificatory at the same time, positively influence its distribution? We will try to answer all those questions through our article that we baptise: The Black magic: an intangible cultural heritage in defiance of the human will-An aesthetic and analytical lecture of its illustration in the sociohorteur movie: Dachra made by Abdelhamid Bouchnak

Zombie-Themes Outbreak Films and World War Z (2013)

There are many subgenres and a diverse range of creatures in horror cinema. One of these creatures is the Zombie. The Zombie character in cinema has evolved through eras. The Zombie which, in the past, was presented as a creature resurrected after death in horror cinema began to be associated with virii and the apocalypse afterwards. Nowadays, the Zombie in the cinema are beyond the figure of a horror. As a matter of fact, many zombie-themed movies are presented as allegories of apocalypse or as outbreak-themed movies. What is the meaning of the zombies which are the subject of outbreak films? What cultural codes do zombies represent in outbreak-themed films? What does the changes in different adaptations of this myth mean in outbreak-themed movies? Zombies in epidemic films can be likened to slaves that are reprogrammed after a resurrection process. From this point of view, we are to evaluate the movie World War Z, and the data obtained is to be interpreted in our conclusion section.

"I Eat Boys": Monstruos Feminity in Jennifer's Body

The marketing strategy behind Jennifer’s Body capitalized on Megan Fox’s emerging status as a sex symbol. As a result of this, many reviewers criticised it for not fulfilling their male fantasies. Ten years after its release, Jennifer’s Body is now interpreted as a feminist story. This essay explores the limits and contradictions of these readings through an analysis of the depiction of female monstrosity in the film. It starts with the establishment of a theoretical framework on the representation of female monsters in horror cinema and of the monstrous teenage girl. The analysis will be structured in three parts. The first examines the use of irony and self-consciousness in the satanic ritual scene in relation to the film’s portrayal of male violence. The second part reads Jennifer’s monstrosity as a result of her neoliberal, over-sexualised femininity. The last section explores the relationship between Jennifer and her friend Needy, which makes both of them monstrous in their own distinctive manners. This essay posits Jennifer’s Body and its representation of the monstrous feminine as both a feminist denunciation of a patriarchal system and a perpetuation of the same clichés the film wants to subvert.

Fractured Reasons and Fractured Reason in I Walked with a Zombie

I Walked with a Zombie, a poetic horror film from 1943, enjoys widespread and intense admiration of a sort rarely bestowed on a “B” horror film from the studio era. Robin Wood (2003) sees the film as the genre’s finest and has observed that its treatment of the genre’s signal dichotomy of Superstition vs. Reason results in a series of expressive doublings within the film. This article amplifies Wood’s admiration by examining the film’s approach to music. Its soundtrack features the work of two composers. RKO’s Roy Webb offers the Western perspective of Reason while Haitian musician LeRoy Antoine provides the Caribbean perspective associated with Voodooism. By looking at the musical doublings in the film, this article argues that music functions in the film to further dismantle the posture of Reason. This film, more than any the author can think of from the era, criticizes the colonial project and dismantles the Western notion that any single perspective or explanatory model can lead to a sufficient understanding of human affairs.

White Horror in Bacurau

Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Bacurau (2019) was released to significant hype in Brazil and around the world. The film has been widely received as an interpretation of Brazilian society as plagued by the ravages of predatory global capitalism and U.S imperialism combined with the ineptitude and corruption of the national political class, leading to a fantasy of ultra-violent uprising by the people of the interior. Although the film was criticized from the political right and center as propagandist or as defending unacceptable violence, it has received little critique from left perspectives. In addition, numerous reviews and an increasing body of scholarship have noted that Bacurau draws on a variety of film genres such as the Western, science fiction, and horror to produce its highly reflexive text, but relatively little has been done to interpret its engagement with horror. This essay shows how Bacurau’s incorporation of resources from horror cinema reveals a problematic centering of whiteness within a project that presents itself as anti-racist.

Presentation and Interpretation of Power Dynamics within Character Transformations: Darren Aronofsky’s ''mother!''

The movie mother! is a psychological horror movie, written and directed in 2017 by Darren Aronofsky. The plot of the movie revolves around a couple living in an isolated house, as their serene lives become thrown into disarray by a series of bizarre events started by the arrival of a mysterious couple and many other strange guests. This movie is known for its representation of biblical symbolism, with underlying warnings of the inevitable self-destruction of human race through their historically repetitive torment of Mother Earth.The main topic of this article is going to be an analysis of the symbolic milieu of the movie, with special attention to the depiction of power dynamics of the represented (divine) feminine and masculine, as well as power relations of the characters, in general. In that process, we hope to understand the stages of their transformation, with regards to the question of the nature of their transformation - was it social or structural? Interpretation of the transformation and its nature, we also contemplate the nature of recognized process of othering in the movie, that relies on the root of the recognized power relations? All of these questions are explored through interpretation of symbolic communication, in which the architectural setting acts as a character "anchor" and a sustenance for its development, as well as the indicator and medium of its transformation.

Subverting Representation: African Americans in Horror Film

This article explores the slowly changing representation of African Americans in horror films. Scream 2 (1997), I Am Legend (2007), and Get Out (2017) are used as case studies to illustrate what little progression has taken place through the decades in relationship to African Americans on-screen in horror cinema. Topics such as stereotypical tropes, narrative conventions, themes of dehumanization, and racial oppression are investigated across each film to highlight representational similarities and differences through time.