Need some ideas for my school paper on horror

[Staal]

Hi everyone.

We've been assigned a sort of "head" paper at my second year of college. The class is danish and the topic were whatever we wanted.

So naturally, with horror movies taking up most of my spare time, I wanted to do it on horror.

Now, I spoke with my teacher regarding ideas for this kind of paper. My initial thought was to compare a classic horror movie to a modern one.

I was thinking of The Birds vs. something new like The Strangers to show how "the killer" has gone from being zombies/dracula/birds/monsters to people that could have been your neighboor.

What's your thoughts on this? Any other ideas for movies to compare?

[Staal]

Now, I'm starting to run out of ideas on which horror films to see.

So basicly, I need suggestions.

Movies I like are "The Strangers", "Vacancy", "Shrooms". For some reason, even though most people do not like these movies, I find them to be the most scary.

Anybody got any ideas for movies that are sort of the same?

[Ferox13]

I was thinking of The Birds vs. something new like The Strangers to show how "the killer" has gone from being zombies/dracula/birds/monsters to people that could have been your neighboor.

But thats no true. You could compare 'Psycho' to 'Cloverfield' and say how the killer has gone from being people that could have been your neighboor(sic) to zombies/dracula/birds/monsters..

Or you could compare Birds to Birds 2 and say that the monster are still zombies/dracula/birds/monsters...


How about a study on how 'Torture porn' is a media contruct used to pigeon an already maligned genre.

Or how there is less dogshit in John Waters recent films.

Or why its easy to join a forum online to get ideas rather than think for your self..

[Despare]

Originally Posted by Ferox13

But thats no true. You could compare 'Psycho' to 'Cloverfield' and say how the killer has gone from being people that could have been your neighboor(sic) to zombies/dracula/birds/monsters..

I was thinking the same thing...

Compare Nosferatu to Freaks just for fun.

[urgeok2]

how about the relation to horror films with whats going on socio-economically in the world..

[ChronoGrl]

Originally Posted by Staal

I was thinking of The Birds vs. something new like The Strangers to show how "the killer" has gone from being zombies/dracula/birds/monsters to people that could have been your neighboor.

I know it's been said, but, that... isn't true at all.

sigh

Human Monsters have always been present in cinema - And they ALWAYS "could have been your neighbor." Not novel of the 21st Century.

Black Christmas
Peeping Tom
Tenebre
Psycho
Halloween
Alice, Sweet Alice
Etc.

There's no transition here. Human Monsters existed AND Inhuman Monsters existed. There's no transition between the two.

Maybe pick a subgenre of horror and compare it to itself - The progression of the Slasher, for example...

Take the movies above and compare them to Ils, Inside, The Strangers, Halloween (remake), etc.

Or, as Urge mentioned, more relevant would be how horror movies reflect current socioeconomic times. How do horror movies reflect our collective conscious of fear?

Originally Posted by Ferox13

Or why its easy to join a forum online to get ideas rather than think for your self..

What?! THINK FOR YOURSELF?! :eek: Now THAT is a truly horrifying concept. Go talk about that.


WHY is it that n00bs join and just TAKE TAKE TAKE - WHAT'S IN IT FOR US?!?!?!?!?!?!

[Staal]

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

I know it's been said, but, that... isn't true at all.

sigh

Human Monsters have always been present in cinema - And they ALWAYS "could have been your neighbor." Not novel of the 21st Century.

Black Christmas
Peeping Tom
Tenebre
Psycho
Halloween
Alice, Sweet Alice
Etc.

There's no transition here. Human Monsters existed AND Inhuman Monsters existed. There's no transition between the two.

Maybe pick a subgenre of horror and compare it to itself - The progression of the Slasher, for example...

Take the movies above and compare them to Ils, Inside, The Strangers, Halloween (remake), etc.

Or, as Urge mentioned, more relevant would be how horror movies reflect current socioeconomic times. How do horror movies reflect our collective conscious of fear?





What?! THINK FOR YOURSELF?! :eek: Now THAT is a truly horrifying concept. Go talk about that.


WHY is it that n00bs join and just TAKE TAKE TAKE - WHAT'S IN IT FOR US?!?!?!?!?!?!

Thank you very much for an answer instead of a flame.

I was actually not aware, that the horror genre had not changed in this way. I always thought it had.

Anyways, i'll try to look into your suggestions. Thank you :)

Oh, and to that other guy. Thinking for myself does not rule out being inspired by the opinion of others?

We didn't get where we are today by keeping our thoughts to ourselves.

[missmacabre]

I did an interesting little paper on the evolution of horror movies and the roles of women therein not too long ago. I can pull up a link if you like. I still need to type it out for everyone anyway.

[neverending]

I dunno- I think Staal's instincts were pretty accurate- even if his time frame was a bit off.

Except for a few examples from German silents- M & Cabinet of Dr. Caligari- early horror films WERE pretty much monster based- Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman, Mummy- all theway up to the 50s. You can find isolated examples here and there- 1931's Maniac, for example, or Freaks. Monster films were certainly the dominant form of horror in this era.

It wasn't until the 1960s, with films like Corman's Poe adaptations (and many other Corman films- like Bucket of Blood) that we start getting human monsters as a dominant force. There's a reason many film historians point to Psycho as the first truly modern horror film.

You want to write this paper accurately, contrast Dracula and Psycho.

[Despare]

Originally Posted by neverending

I dunno- I think Staal's instincts were pretty accurate- even if his time frame was a bit off.

Except for a few examples from German silents- M & Cabinet of Dr. Caligari- early horror films WERE pretty much monster based- Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman, Mummy- all theway up to the 50s. You can find isolated examples here and there- 1931's Maniac, for example, or Freaks. Monster films were certainly the dominant form of horror in this era.

It wasn't until the 1960s, with films like Corman's Poe adaptations (and many other Corman films- like Bucket of Blood) that we start getting human monsters as a dominant force. There's a reason many film historians point to Psycho as the first truly modern horror film.

You want to write this paper accurately, contrast Dracula and Psycho.

To say that modern horror is "based on human monsters" is completely wrong though. Yes there were more films that portrayed that side of horror coming out around the 60's and beyond but what of the Hellraisers, Nightmare on Elm Streets, Candymans, Friday the 13ths, The Thing, Romero's "of the Living Dead" series, and countless other creature/monster/supernatural based horror films that were released after Psycho? Horror trends seem to change from year to year as far as marketability goes and the genre shifts its focus constantly.


If Staal was saying The Birds was the pick for a classic horror how could Psycho be a modern filck?