The sense of fear in Horror films-Why do some movies succeed while others fail to
strike fear into the hearts of their audience? Is it when the movie was made? Is it the attention
to detail? Is it the quality of props? I don't believe any of these reasons can make a horror film
succeed or fail. Take Psycho for example. It was released in 1960 and used chocolate syrup
for the blood. Was it successful?
Consider three of some of the most successful horror films ever made-Psycho,
The Shining and Scream, and then compare them with three horror films that were not as
successful in creating a sense of fear-Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and Night
of the Living Dead. One thing that separates the first three films from the second three, and
that arguably makes some horror films successful and others not is how realistic the movie
is.
Take a look at the killers/villains. Psycho's Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), The
Shining's Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) and Scream's Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich). All
three are realistic characters, and at first all appear to be normal,non-threatening people.
They are characters the audience can relate with. Perhaps the sense of fear is created by the
audience knowing that people such as these killers may actually be walking among us. The
most terrifying thing is reality, and what can happen in reality.
Now take a look at the movies that were not as successful. Friday the 13th's Jason
Voorhees, Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Kruger and Night of the Living Dead's
zombies. What do these characters have in common? They are all fictional and unrealistic.
As scary as they, or their movies may be, I believe the fear they can create is limited.
Norman Bates, Jack Torrance and Billy Loomis can strike fear into the audience
because they are based on real people, while Jason Voorhees, Freddy Kruger and the
Zombies are not, and therefore the audience can't relate to them, at least not to the same
extent.
Not only do the characters in Psycho, The Shining and Scream seem realistic, even
the actual killings and the plots of the movies themselves are more realistic. For example,
Psycho's legendary shower scene is more realistically possible then Freddy Kruger attacking
you in your dreams and then therefore will more likely frighten you, the viewer. Pay
attention to the killer's physical abilities. Norman Bates, Jack Torrance and Billy Loomis
have the same physical strengths as most of the audience, but as for Jason Voorhees and the
Zombies, they are the walking dead and have the strengths people do not have. This even
more so makes these characters more unrealistic.
By studying the plots, it's found that the more realistic they are, the more fear can be
created. Take The Shining for example. The plot is of a man, Jack Torrance who takes a job
as a caretaker of an old ski lodge up north which is closed for winter. Being isolated for that
length of time, he starts having mental problems and attempts to murder his family. This
movie has proven to strike fear into the audience. The film Night of the Living Dead has a
very simple and unrealistic plot. Due to some astrological occurrence, the dead come back to
to claim human victums.
In another successful horror film, Scream, the characters, murders and plot are
realistic as in Psycho and The Shining. Instead of focusing on adult characters, teens
take centre stage. For the same reasons, Scream succeeded. However, one thing Scream
does that neither Psycho nor The Shining had was comic relief. Comic relief is rarely
found in horror movies, and is almost non-existent in older films. In addition, adding comic
relief in a horror film is hard to do effectively. Scream does this successfully with one-liners
and mockery of unsuccessful horror films such as Friday the 13th and Halloween.
The majority of horror films that try and mix in comic relief often fail because it is
such a hard combination to use. An example of comic relief actually taking away from a
horror film would be in 1994's Tales from the Crypt. In a way this made the movie less of a
threat and eased the sense of fear.
Another thing that Psycho, The Shining and Scream all have in common, and
which I also believe help these films succeed as horror movies is the suspense they create.
They are not full of pointless murders with lots of gore and high body counts. All three films
make you think, make you relate to the situation and keep you in suspense. "Red herrings"
are often used. These are false leads, where the film purposely throws you a curve to
make you think something is or isn't going to happen. In Psycho, Marion Crane (Janet
Leigh) is the character focused on for the first half of the film, and traditionally this character
turns out to be the hero figure. But in Psycho this character is unexpectedly killed off. In
Scream many false clues are given to hide the identity of the murderer and at the same time
makes you think everybody is a suspect. Not only are these just horror movies, but they have
a lot of suspense. In the Friday the 13th movies suspense is non-existent. As with other less
successful films the murderer is already known, sometimes even before the film as begun.
The plot too is given away time after time and takes away any possibility of suspense even
being created. Some may say the classic horror movies are the more successful in creating a
frightening atmosphere while others may argue that the new wave of horror films surpass the
classics. But in reality, time doesn't determine the success of the film. Psycho and Night of
the Living Dead prove the success and failure of the classics as Scream and Tales from the
Crypt do the same for the new films.
The purpose of this essay was not to prove that films like Friday the 13th,
Nightmare on Elm Street, Night of the Living Dead and Tales from the Crypt were not
successful, as they were all good movies. The purpose was to prove that some horror
films are more successful than others at creating a sense of fear. Various techniques as
outlined in this essay lead to more success in creating fear.