Wednesday, 12 October 2016

Horror In The 90s!


One of the unseen demon
designs from Jacob's Ladder.
For movies in the 90s, there were many psychological thrillers - such as Jacob's Ladder, Se7en, and CUBE - that also included elements of body horror as the Cronenberg influence of special effects were coming to an end. 
The frantic head movements
made by the body horror technique.
In Jacob's Ladder, Lyne wanted the demons to be humanesque instead of biblical, and the birth defects caused by the drug Thalidiomide (alongside inspiration taken from David Cronenberg and his synthetic monstrosities) were the perfect starting place for his designs of the demons [1].Lyne also used a common body horror technique in which an actor is recorded waving his head at a low frame rate, resulting in some horrific imagery when played back [2].


Se7en, although not quite as extreme with gruesome imagery, also used body horror effects to show how each victim of the serial killer calling himself John Doe was made to look like one of the seven deadly sins. Directors in the 90s were taking inspiration from previous eras which used endless amounts of bloodshed and gore to make their horrors sickening - but instead used this grisly imagery only at the right moments (and in most cases to antagonize the villain of the movie even more to show the audience what frightful things they were capable of doing). While there were many movies still focusing on brutal deaths and torment, the 90s began to really target on having frightening yet complex villians (such as Hannibal Lecter, Max Cady, and Benjamin Willis)!
Hannibal Lecter ready to play some mind games. ðŸ‘€
Whilst most teen horrors stepped away from the psychological side of horror and mainly focused on slashers, there was also another continuation from the 80s that both younger and older audiences watched; the movie renditions of Stephen King's novels - with Misery being one of the more famous adaptions and, yet again, another case of an interesting antagonist. There were also some comedy horrors such as Frankenhooker which eventually led into more movies of this genre in the 2000s.
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2 comments:

  1. Mr Henton8 October 2016 at 16:02

    I am quite pleased with the information that you have provided in this presentation as it shows that you have conducted independent research to a proficient level.

    The use of images and gifs helps to bring the information to life although I would still have preferred to see you using a presentation tool such as Prezi in order to make your presentation a little more engaging.

    The 1990s saw a rise in the popularity of teen horror films but you don't make reference to this in your research. I think this is an oversight on your behalf as films such as 'Scream' represent a sea-change in the conventions of horror films and also in the audiences that film studios were trying to target.

    Can I ask whether or not you found information about teen horror films as a sub genre during your research and, if so, why you chose not to include this? Also, why did you choose not to use a presentation tool such as Prezi?

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    Replies
    1. Unknown10 October 2016 at 14:34

      My intention was to focus on the more psychological adult horrors in my research, as they involved more advanced effects and plots; although if I were to research further I would acknowledge the effects slasher films made in the industry. I will admit I was prejudiced about teen horrors having little substance to them - which caused me to avoid that area when researching - but I know realise it was a mistake to not have included movies that were so influential. The reason I did not choose Prezi is that I felt the format of a powerpoint-like presentation would distract too much from the research displayed, and saw making a blogger post as an appropriate way to present my work.

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