Week Three: Asian Horror: Vengeful Spirits

     Looking back at the different types of horror we've studied over the past three weeks, I think Asian horror is easily the scariest. Though the monster and vampire films we watched in class could get pretty spooky, this unit was the only one that's actually creeped me out thus far. Asian horror plays on something that frightens me: ghosts and spirits. Though I don't believe in ghosts, they still give me the creeps. Something about the mysterious, the unknown, something that cannot be easily explained is extremely unsettling. I've noticed that even back in the earlier days of filmmaking, Asian cinema played on the subtler side of scary, whereas western culture went all out. While the west was busy building giant, spooky castles filled with cobwebs and disfigured creatures (which just scream "WE'RE TRYING TO CREEP YOU OUT"), Asia played things cool and kept their stories just unsettling enough to get under your skin.
     In fact, while watching "Pulse" during class, I actually had the urge to turn away at certain points. Not because I was scared of monsters or gore (we can all handle a little blood and guts), but because the way the film was shot left the audience just waiting to be spooked. The director did an awesome job of keeping us in suspense. Sometimes he would build the tension and keep building it, but never give us a jump scare to release the suspense. This just made the few jump scares that did appear in the film, much much scarier. For example, the scene in which the main character is asleep and his computer powers on by itself and a pixelated image of a figure sitting with a bag over his head appears, leaves us sitting there thinking WHAT. Even the first film we viewed, "Kwaidan", gave us glimpses into the unsettling subtlety of Asian horror. Sometimes strange can be much scarier than scary. 
     Asian horror also had a slightly different view on good versus evil when compared to that of western cinema's. While western horror made it very clear who was good and who was evil, Asian horror left us wondering "is this person really evil or is it just the situation life has placed them in? Is this just the way they are?" For example, in "Kwaidan", we aren't really sure if the female spirit is evil or good. These questions are what keep the audience coming back for more.

Week Two: Vampire: Love and Pain

     I can still remember the first time I was introduced to vampires. My family sat huddled around the television in our living room one night once the trick or treaters had gone, watching some sort of black and white Halloween special. A man with slick black hair, fangs, and a cape slowly rose from a coffin and said "I vant to suck your blooooood" in some sort of funky Transylvanian accent. It didn't faze me then as a four-year-old, nor does it faze me now. I've never truly understood why vampires are considered to be within the horror genre. This could be due to how the interests of the modern audience evolve. Though the vision of a bloodsucking vampire may have spooked audiences then, it barely affects people now. I've never met anybody with a fear of vampires. Though these creatures may not horrify modern day audiences, people's interest in vampires has peaked.
     Vampires have seemed to change drastically as the years have gone by. When vampires first came to light, they seemed to be nothing more than bloodsucking monsters. It was difficult for audiences to sympathize with these characters since they seemed to have no emotion besides bloodlust. As years have passed though, writers and filmmakers have decided to view vampires from a new angle; they want us to love them and empathize with them . . . almost pity them in a way. Vampires have transformed from monsters into people who were born this way and can't help it; it's not their fault that they were born with a hunger for blood. This empathy has gone so far that it's gotten to the point of strange fetishes. I can't tell you the number of teenage girls I've encountered who rave about wishing they had a vampire boyfriend. While at work, I overhear plenty of conversations about this subject matter. These discussions can range anywhere from the innocent middle schooler wishing Edward Cullen was in love with her, to things far more sexually explicit. Whoa.
     After "Twilight" became wildly popular, everything seemed to become vampire themed. From t-shirts, to books, to television shows, to movies, I couldn't go anywhere without coming face to face with a pair of fangs or a pale, smoldering teenage boy with swoopy hair. Frankly, I'm glad the age of the vampire is coming to an end . . . it was really beginning to suck the life out of me :)

Week One: Frankenstein

I didn’t grow up watching horror movies, nor did I really develop an interest in exploring the genre until just recently (about two or three years ago). With a younger sister in the house, the scary movies were few and far between; Harry Potter was as spooky as it got. Though I’m no expert when it comes to Gothicism, I have most definitely seen enough to recognize the clichés sprinkled throughout each film. In fact, before even taking this class, I had begun to grow tired of the reoccurring elements that we find in horror films time and time again. Once you begin to recognize the commonalities in the gothic genre, your reactions to the “scary stuff” goes from this:

to this: 

As we discussed in class, every horror movie seems to have a similar plot. While the classic black and white horror films rely on monsters, mad scientists, and castles full of cobwebs to spook their audiences, modern movies seem to rely purely on jump scares and attractive actors screaming. Though separate in scaring tactics, all horror movies seem to feature a common thing to some degree: a gothic heroine.

Even if this heroine appears to be nothing but a ditzy damsel in distress at first glance, eventually she begins to think and fight for herself and others. As women became more well read, they began to feel the need for a heroine that they could relate to, someone they could root for. In fact, Gothicism may very well be the main reason why we see so many female heroines today. You see, in horror films, women are forced to stand up for themselves; it’s life or death. In other genres such as fantasy or science fiction, the need for self-protection may not be there. On the other hand, in horror movies, everyone (including the damsels) tend to end up being forced to fend for him or herself. Thus, the gothic heroine was born.

This feminine hero has grown more and more common as the years have passed. With the rise of feminism in this day and age, the ratio of female protagonists almost seems to outweigh the number of male protagonists. Such characters include Tris from the “Divergent” series, Katniss from “The Hunger Games”, and – although she’s not the lead character – Hermione becomes quite the heroine in the “Harry Potter” series. These female protagonists can thank the gothic heroine for their rise to fame.