Planning & Research
Horror Film Directors
David Cronenberg - ‘also known as the King of Venereal Horror or the Baron of blood’ was born in Toronto in Canada. Cronenberg gained popularity with his film Scanners (1981) which was one of his horror films that he directed. ‘Scanners’ is a horror/ Sci- Fi genre film; it was written and directed by David Cronenberg and stars Jennifer O'Neill, Stephen Lack and Patrick McGoohan. The film is about scientist’s sending out people with telepathic ability to hunt. This is one of his films that started his career because of the head exploding and telepathic visuals in the film ‘Scanners’. The other horror films that he has directed are Dread Zone (1983), The Fly (1986) and VideoDrome (1983). David is known for his use of mutation, by a parasite, or by particular medical conditions, use of dark backgrounds and his films often include explicit carnage, also frequent references to the Flesh or the New Flesh.
George. A. Romero - is an American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." Night of the Living Dead (1968) is one of the films that he directed along with his friends who chipped money in to produce a zombie horror film which became one of the most celebrated American horror films of all time. ‘Night of the Living Dead’ is about people trapped in a rural farmhouse while it is being attacked by the dead. This film had inspired people to make other horror films like ‘Night of the Living Dead 3D’ in 2006, which was directed by Jeff Broadstreet and contained a different storyline. The other horror films that George. A. Romero directed are:
· Season of the Witch (1972)
· The Crazies (1973)
· Dawn of the Dead (1978)
· Land of the Dead (2005)
· Diary of the Dead (2007)
· Survival of the Dead (2009)
As you can see the amount of Zombie horror films he has made, you can understand why people may call him the "Godfather of all Zombies." In most of his films his trade mark features are Often features radio or television news broadcasts playing in the background, zombie films with an underlying social commentary, Films often contain extreme carnage with make-up effects by Tom Savini and Strong minority and female characters
Wes Craven - is an American actor, film director, writer, producer, perhaps best known as the director of many horror films, particularly slasher films, including the famed A Nightmare on Elm Street and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, featuring the iconic Freddy Krueger character, the Scream films, alongside The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, The Serpent and the Rainbow, The People Under the Stairs, Vampire in Brooklyn, Red Eye, and My Soul to Take. In 1996 Craven reached a new level of success with the release of Scream. The film, which sparked the phenomenal trilogy, was the winner of MTV's 1996 Best Movie Award and grossed more than $100 million domestically. The ‘Scream’ films are about A killer known as "ghost face" begins killing off teenagers, and as the body count begins rising, one girl and her friends find themselves contemplating the "Rules" of horror films as they find themselves living in a real-life one. Wes Craven has certain trade mark ideas that he like to use in all of his films and they are
· Family issues, specifically family breakdown
· His characters often use elaborate booby traps, to capture the villain
· Often features strong female characters
· His unglamorous depictions of sadistic and realistically brutal killers
· His protagonists are often ordinary characters caught in extraordinary and Horrific circumstances
· Brutal and graphic depiction of violence
· Villains are often deformed and monstrous looking
· His horror films often contain important social issues (e.g. The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes)
· Children in his films are often deformed or brutally murdered, often by the main villain
Horror Film Conventions
In the horror genre there are many conventions that every film director must consider and think about and they are:
·Setting – Setting in the horror genre is very similar in most films for example, most films are set in a rural environment like small areas or small towns.
·Dark Scenery- Dark scenery is a common factor in horror films as they shoot scenes in a horror film to implement the fear factor, they choose to do this to meet the aims and targets set for to make a successful horror film.
·Location – as said most feels can be set in a rural environment but also can be set in a urban environment. One film that shows this is Resident Evil: Afterlife a zombie horror film. This is mainly set a rundown city. When it comes to the horror genre there are so many locations that are commonly used in horror films such as countryside’s, barns, woodlands, farms, dungeons, haunted and abandoned houses, abandoned hotels and motels; graveyards and cemeteries; basements and attics, underground stations, all these locations and setting connote being isolated or alone.
·Lighting- Lighting is a main factor that contributes to the horror genre, without lighting it won’t create the certain mode the director needs for the film which will lead then lead to the film not being a success. There are different techniques when it comes to lighting for example, Low key and High key lighting. The difference is that low key lighting is used to create suspense and also create different moods. Horror films normally use low key lighting to hide things within the dark and allow the chance to use sounds and quick cuts to explode on the screen to make the audience jump.
·Characters- Another factor that contributes to the horror genre is the victims involved especially the ‘final girl’. The ‘final girl’ normally has a unisexual name e.g. Billy, Sidney, Alex, Ashley etc. This character will normally be the ‘good girl’ character in the film and this would separate her life from her friends lives because she won’t have sex, do drugs and drink alcohol.
·Other characters types occur a lot in horror films such as, the good or bad policeman. Science fiction characters such as ghost, zombies, werewolf and demons. Furthermore having characters with human psychotic disorders, such as psychopaths, ‘weirdo’s’ and stalkers.
·Iconography- Iconography is used in horror films a lot and many conventions come from this. Symbolic images e.g. Iconography recurs throughout the history of the horror film genre and normally include:
David Cronenberg - ‘also known as the King of Venereal Horror or the Baron of blood’ was born in Toronto in Canada. Cronenberg gained popularity with his film Scanners (1981) which was one of his horror films that he directed. ‘Scanners’ is a horror/ Sci- Fi genre film; it was written and directed by David Cronenberg and stars Jennifer O'Neill, Stephen Lack and Patrick McGoohan. The film is about scientist’s sending out people with telepathic ability to hunt. This is one of his films that started his career because of the head exploding and telepathic visuals in the film ‘Scanners’. The other horror films that he has directed are Dread Zone (1983), The Fly (1986) and VideoDrome (1983). David is known for his use of mutation, by a parasite, or by particular medical conditions, use of dark backgrounds and his films often include explicit carnage, also frequent references to the Flesh or the New Flesh.
George. A. Romero - is an American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." Night of the Living Dead (1968) is one of the films that he directed along with his friends who chipped money in to produce a zombie horror film which became one of the most celebrated American horror films of all time. ‘Night of the Living Dead’ is about people trapped in a rural farmhouse while it is being attacked by the dead. This film had inspired people to make other horror films like ‘Night of the Living Dead 3D’ in 2006, which was directed by Jeff Broadstreet and contained a different storyline. The other horror films that George. A. Romero directed are:
· Season of the Witch (1972)
· The Crazies (1973)
· Dawn of the Dead (1978)
· Land of the Dead (2005)
· Diary of the Dead (2007)
· Survival of the Dead (2009)
As you can see the amount of Zombie horror films he has made, you can understand why people may call him the "Godfather of all Zombies." In most of his films his trade mark features are Often features radio or television news broadcasts playing in the background, zombie films with an underlying social commentary, Films often contain extreme carnage with make-up effects by Tom Savini and Strong minority and female characters
Wes Craven - is an American actor, film director, writer, producer, perhaps best known as the director of many horror films, particularly slasher films, including the famed A Nightmare on Elm Street and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, featuring the iconic Freddy Krueger character, the Scream films, alongside The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, The Serpent and the Rainbow, The People Under the Stairs, Vampire in Brooklyn, Red Eye, and My Soul to Take. In 1996 Craven reached a new level of success with the release of Scream. The film, which sparked the phenomenal trilogy, was the winner of MTV's 1996 Best Movie Award and grossed more than $100 million domestically. The ‘Scream’ films are about A killer known as "ghost face" begins killing off teenagers, and as the body count begins rising, one girl and her friends find themselves contemplating the "Rules" of horror films as they find themselves living in a real-life one. Wes Craven has certain trade mark ideas that he like to use in all of his films and they are
· Family issues, specifically family breakdown
· His characters often use elaborate booby traps, to capture the villain
· Often features strong female characters
· His unglamorous depictions of sadistic and realistically brutal killers
· His protagonists are often ordinary characters caught in extraordinary and Horrific circumstances
· Brutal and graphic depiction of violence
· Villains are often deformed and monstrous looking
· His horror films often contain important social issues (e.g. The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes)
· Children in his films are often deformed or brutally murdered, often by the main villain
Horror Film Conventions
In the horror genre there are many conventions that every film director must consider and think about and they are:
·Setting – Setting in the horror genre is very similar in most films for example, most films are set in a rural environment like small areas or small towns.
·Dark Scenery- Dark scenery is a common factor in horror films as they shoot scenes in a horror film to implement the fear factor, they choose to do this to meet the aims and targets set for to make a successful horror film.
·Location – as said most feels can be set in a rural environment but also can be set in a urban environment. One film that shows this is Resident Evil: Afterlife a zombie horror film. This is mainly set a rundown city. When it comes to the horror genre there are so many locations that are commonly used in horror films such as countryside’s, barns, woodlands, farms, dungeons, haunted and abandoned houses, abandoned hotels and motels; graveyards and cemeteries; basements and attics, underground stations, all these locations and setting connote being isolated or alone.
·Lighting- Lighting is a main factor that contributes to the horror genre, without lighting it won’t create the certain mode the director needs for the film which will lead then lead to the film not being a success. There are different techniques when it comes to lighting for example, Low key and High key lighting. The difference is that low key lighting is used to create suspense and also create different moods. Horror films normally use low key lighting to hide things within the dark and allow the chance to use sounds and quick cuts to explode on the screen to make the audience jump.
·Characters- Another factor that contributes to the horror genre is the victims involved especially the ‘final girl’. The ‘final girl’ normally has a unisexual name e.g. Billy, Sidney, Alex, Ashley etc. This character will normally be the ‘good girl’ character in the film and this would separate her life from her friends lives because she won’t have sex, do drugs and drink alcohol.
·Other characters types occur a lot in horror films such as, the good or bad policeman. Science fiction characters such as ghost, zombies, werewolf and demons. Furthermore having characters with human psychotic disorders, such as psychopaths, ‘weirdo’s’ and stalkers.
·Iconography- Iconography is used in horror films a lot and many conventions come from this. Symbolic images e.g. Iconography recurs throughout the history of the horror film genre and normally include:
- the haunted house (forbidden chamber)
- Symbols of death
- The disfigured face or mask
- The screaming victim (in modern horror ‘the final girl’
- The phalic murder weapon: knife, stake, chainsaw
- Binary oppositions of good and evil eg Dracula/Van Helsing
- Darkened places where the ‘monster’ lurks: woods, cellars
- Blood and body parts (body horror)