Category: Unit 06

In Stephen King’s essay “Why We Crave Horror Movies” he talked that people are enjoy horror movies, some of them want to show that they are brave, some other people want to get excited and have fun. For example, people will pay money to ride a roller coaster, they would also love to pay money to watch a horror film. However, the most important one will be that people need to watch horror movies to keep that insanity locked up in society. He gives some argumentative strategies and literally decides to prove his thesis. Also, Stephen King states that “I think that we’re all mentally ill…” He says that people watches horror to keep one’s under control. “It deliberately speaks to all that is worst in us. It is morbidity unchained, our most base instincts let free, our nastiest fantasies realized…and it all happens, fittingly enough, in the dark.”  King tries to make the case that people all have fears and some of them has the dark sides. King expalians that a horror movie shows the worse and horrorable part of people and lives, giving people a sense of experiences and feelings of the things we are unknown but we have thought about somehow.

Stephen King’s statement that we are all mentally ill sounds strange and hyperbolic, however, mental illness is not what we thought that are needed to be treat in hospital, it more like to be describe as stress and emotional needs, or whether our actions interfere with daily task and are acceptable responses to demands and opportunities. We are all capable of crossing the line between acceptable and unacceptable actions that determine being classified as sane or insane. Horror movies give people the chance for us to have the emotional experiences and even the consequences of insane actions. this is just like some people love to feel the death so they would love to do dangerous sports.  Another interesting point os that  horror movies appeal to all that is worse in us. Horror films cause these sudden, temporary emotions and reactions, all of these are not influencing people’s daily lives after we leave the theater.

 The article “The curious appeal of horror movies” talks about why there is a market for horror market, for example, there are some directors are focusing on horror films and there are people who loves horror films more than others. In the article, the author compare horror films with excited games. both of them create a sense of catharsis and people expect certain sensory stimuli by watching it. For the audiences who are watching horror film, they care not only the stories but also how they feel during the film, they are looking for exciting, anger, fear and even screaming. Also, people like to  feel the tension which is similar with the effects from the action films.  clearly, people seek to take a journey that makes them feel the dangerous but at the same time, they know that they are safely sitting in the theater or the living room in their home. 

Carroll has said in the article “Why Horror” :”it is not the tragic event in itself that imparts pleasure, but rather, the way it into the plot” (Caroll 277). it does’t necessarily look at what is the part of horror movies that are appealing, but why. This is apparent when they conclude, It captivates them to engage in the film to want to know what is happening, the story line, the action and the resolution. I think horror film is a type of film that more create an atmosphere to give people to escape from the reality and enjoy the freedom and even release the stress that they are holding. some people may ambivalent about should they show their real feelings or actions or should they hide them. horror films give them a space to stay.

Work Cites

Carroll, N.(2002). Why Horror? In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (Eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., pp. 275-294). New York, NY: Routledge.

King, S. (2005, 03). Why We Crave Horror Movies. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 03, 2005, from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Why-We-Crave-Horror-Movies-50806.html

Lucy, O. (2003). The Curious Appeal of Horror Movies. N.p., n.d. Web.Retrieved September 9th, 2013, from http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/09/the-curious-appeal-of-horror-movies

“A mood music sounds makes the scenes slowly so that some unusual events will be waiting”, this is a great analysis of the Non-diegetic sounds, which is also wildly used in horror films. The background music is one of the example. In Buffy, the director use music many times, it usually combine with lights effects and the whole atmosphere would change, this also promoting the plot development and catch people’s mood.  On the other hand, the diegetic sounds are more like to occur to suits the need of story. they are actor’s actings, the sounds that come from the screen space. These are the differences between these two sounds, one is for add effects, and another one is for create the story and lead audience to the plot of the film. after apply these sounds in a horror film, the atmosphere has already create and catcher people’s curiosity. At this point, camera just follow actors’ move and show the perfect horror scenes.

At the beginning of  the Buffy episode, the aesthetic of horror includes all the elements of horror film : the sounds, the lights and the moving camera. When the girl are called by the teacher to lay down on the desk, things started to be little bit unusual, this attracted the audience to pay attention. Then the man  kissed the girl,   at the same time, camera zoom in their faces. Then the girl opened eyes and found out the lights are down, A terrorist atmosphere of music starts, She feels strange as the same time with the audience, camera moves with her and there is a cild voice sing a song and when the girl saw the child, the scream starts. This is a complete scene of horror film. In the scene, mise-en-scene is represented clearly with the acting of the characters,  First of all, the professor told the girl to lay down in front of the classroom , and then tell the man to ” be a good boy” these unusual actions give people a message that something strange is going to happen. The strange conversation between actors increases the feeling of unease, and this feeling only grows as the scene progresses. When Buffy heard what they said, her face looks little bit scars, this also shows that the danger is coming. Non-diagetic sounds: the  main characters didn’t talked about anything normal, but the background music started right after the lights down, this has big effects , the background music is one of the example of non-diegetic sounds add a horror effect. Usually,  at the end of the music, something strange would happen. This non-diegetic address the horror feeling. The Diagetic sound will be the voices of characters, for example, in  this scene, the voice of the little child’s singing. After the lights down, Buffy heard the singing from the outside of the classroom, she feels scared and follows the voice, at this point, audience would have already get into the horror atmosphere.