The Horror Film

The Horror Film

Aaron Bennett

acbenett@umich.edu

(734) 302-0283

Independent Study

June 19, 2001

This course is designed to explore the genre of the horror film. We will explore the main

archetypes of the horror film. We will explore the evolution of the horror films through it's

beginnings in the German Expressionist films of the early 20th century to modern horror films of

aliens and inner demons.

Texts:

The Castle of Otranto. Horace Walpole

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Robert Louis Stevenson

A Modern Prometheus. Mary Wollenstonecraft-Shelley

Dracula. Abraham (Bram) Stoker

Films:

Don't Look Now (1973; dir. Nicolas Roeg)

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919; Robert Wiene)

Frankenstein (1931; James Whale)

Bride of Frankenstein (1935; James Whale)

King Kong (1933; Marion C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack)

Halloween (1978; John Carpenter)

Dracula (1931; Tod Browning)

The Horror of Dracula (1958; Terence Fisher)

Psycho (1960; Alfred Hitchcock)

The Exorcist (1973; William Friedkin)

Alien (1979; Ridley Scott)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956; Don Siegal)

The first book and movie introduce the class to Gothic Horror. The Castle of Otranto is the founding piece of gothic fiction. The spooky setting and events are made to feel closer to home by putting people the reader can identify with in the key roles. This genre leaves a lot to the imagination. The movie Don't Look Now is also very Gothic. Both of these works are set in

Italy. This is normally the setting for romantic love stories. This may be meant to mess with conventions and set a mood. Gothic fiction and movies are all about the mood. A movie is able to expand with colors, scenes, sounds and effects that a novel can't.

We then watch the German Impressionistic movie The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. This movie is all about the realm of our sleeping minds. The movie is very abstract and trippy. This movie introduces a monster but who is the monster? Our own minds?

The next movies that we see are James Whale's Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. The first one is a monster movie supreme. The use of lighting and sets set a very gothic and spooky feel. The second one introduces music into the mix to frighten us. We will pay attention to how this makes a difference in the total experience. This movie deals a little more with the humanness of the monster. The monster can't help being what he is. Are Henry and Dr. Pretorius the real monsters? These movies explore the relation of God and technology. We will explore how they work together and how they oppose each other. We will also talk about the framing device of the second movie and how it changes the prospective from the first movie. We will read the novel at the same time so we can see the story as it was originally envisioned. We will talk about the process of turning a novel into a movie and why things turned out the way they did.

We will next explore the horror of man's own mind. We will read the novella Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This is probably the greatest example of this type of horror. If I have time, I will show the Fredric March version of the movie as it is considered the best adaptation. We will watch the movie Halloween. We will talk about the horror of crazy humans. We will talk about sound as it is used in this movie to heighten the suspense. We will also watch King Kong. This is a great movie to show the horror of nature. I think it is essential that we see that Kong is truly the king of the island by watching him defeat all of the other animals. Kong is shown as a lovesick product of him. Again, who are the real monsters? Man or beast?

We will next take a look at the Dracula movies. If I have time, I would like to show

Nosferatu, Murnau's 1921 masterpiece. We will also read the novel at the same time as we did for Frankenstein. We will watch Tod Browning's version. This is the famous version that made

Dracula, and Bela Lugosi. We will explore the use of lighting to set the scene. The hypnotic eyes will be talked about as well. We will then take a look at The Horror of Dracula. This movie makes the sexuality of the vampire a little more toward thee forefront. We will explore how the different takes on the story effect the end feeling. Which scenes were cut, which weren't. How does the viewer react to these differences? What do you think they could have been trying to accomplish?

Any course in the horror film would not be complete without a Hitchcock movie. We will watch what many believe to be the pinnacle of his work, Psycho. We will explore his use of lighting, focus, camera angles, shadow, sound, editing, dialogue, non-verbal cues, and much more.

We will watch the anniversary edition of The Exorcist. We will explore the horror associated with religion in a secular society. If we have time, we will also watch Rosemary's

Baby.

We will then watch the original Alien. We will talk about the emergence of the feminine hero in the seventies (along with Halloween). For once women weren't just running around screaming, waiting for their white knight. They both do a fair share of this but, when it comes down to it, they must save themselves. We will talk about this new female power. We will talk about the attempt to show that a sexual creature can still be powerful (manly). We will also watch Invasion of the Body Snatchers. This is just a freaky movie. Aliens replace you with a body double while you sleep. This can keep even that hardened horror fan awake. We fear the unknown and we fear something happening when we are at own most vulnerable. An alien invasion while we sleep is a very creepy thing.

I would probably want to add some realistic murder movie such as Silence of the Lambs,

Henry: A Portrait of a Serial Killer, or Frenzy. There are plenty of movies that I feel should be

included but can't due to time restrictions. Some of them are:

The Wicker Man, Freaks, Seven, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Last House on the Left, Blair Witch Project, Carnival of Souls, The Shining- Kubrick, The Sixth-Sense, Friday the 13^th.

Further Reading:

"Analysis of ‘The Castle of Otranto'".

http://www.sprog.auc.dk/~motr96/marvin/www/library/uni/projects/gothnov.htm#S.6

Cannon, Damian. “Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari (1920): (aka The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari)”. http://www.film.u-net.com/Movies/Reviews/Cabinet_Caligari.html. Movie Reviews. UK. 1997.

Crane, Jonathan Lake. Terror in Everyday Life: Singular Moments in the History of the Horror Film. Sage Publications. Thousand Oaks, CA. 1994.

Dalgleish, David. "Close-Up: Frankenstein".

wysiwyg://146/http://subjective.freeservers.com/frankenstein.html. Feb. 9, 1999.

Viewed on 5/7/'01.

Dika, Vera. Games of Terror. Associated University Press, Inc. Mississauga, Ont. 1990.

“Don Siegel, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) 1HR 20 (LD/WS)”. http://chomsky.arts.adelaide.edu.au/person/Dhart/Films/InvasionBodySnatchers. Viewed: 6/19/’01.

Everson, William K.. Classics of the Horror Film. The Citadel Press. Secaucus, NJ. 1974.

Fleeman, Michael. "A new look at a giant of the Monster genre, director James Whale". Let's

Go Online/ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

http://www.jsonline.com/letsgo/movies/1110whale.stml. Nov. 10, 1998

Freeland, Cynthia A.. The Naked and the Undead. Westviiew Press. Boulder, CO. 1999.

Glut, Donald F. Classic Movie Monsters. Scarecrow Press, Inc. Metuchen, NJ. 1978.

Gottlieb, Sidney. Hitchcock on Hitchcock: Selected Writings and Interviews. University of California Press. Los Angeles, CA. 1995.

Guthmann, Edward. "Labyrinthine ‘Look' Is Back: Roeg's ‘73 thriller reprised at Castro".

San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate/cgi-

bin/article.cg...chronicle/archive/1999/01/01/DD81890.DT. Jan. 1, 1999.

Iaccino, James F. Psychological Reflections on Cinematic Terror: Jungian Archetypes in Horror

Films. Praeger Press. Westport, CN. 1994.

“Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)”. http://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~b2506017/sf/1.s.html. Viewed 6/19/’01.

Jensen, Paul M. The Men Who Made the Monsters. Twayne Publishers. New York. 1996.

Jones, Stephen; Kim Newman (editors). Horror: 100 Best Books. Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc. New York. 1988.

Laplaca, Tim. "‘The Exorcist' Exorcised". Horror-wood.com.

http://www.horror-wood.com/Exorcist.html. Viewed on 5/7/'01.

Lovecraft, H. P.. Supernatural Horror in Literature. Dover Publications, Inc. New York. 1973.

Meadows, Joe. “A Tale of Two Draculas: Universal’s ‘Dracula’ And Hammer’s ‘Horror of Dracula’”. http://www.horror-wood.com/horror.htm. Viewed: 6/19/’01.

Miller, William Max. "Browning's Dracula Reconsidered"

http://www.angelfire.com/id2/tower7/houseofwax/pages/dracula.html. Viewed 5/7/'01.

Miller, William Max. "James Whales House of Cards"

http://www.angelfire.com/id2/tower7/houseofwax/pages/tarot.html. 1999. Viewed 5/7/'01.

Miller, William Max. "Exploding the Self Destruct Lever Myth"

http://www.angelfire.com/id2/tower7/houseofwax/pages2/lever.html. Viewed 5/7/'01.

Miller, William Max. "The Doctor is In!"

http://www.angelfire.com/id2/tower7/houseofwax/pages/pretorius.html. Viewed 5/7/'01.

Naremore, James. Filmguide to Psycho. Indiana University Press. Bloomington, IN 1973.

Perry, George. The Movie Makers: Hitchcock. Doubleday. New York. 1975.

Powell, John. “The Horror of Dracula”. http://www.interlog.com/~jpowell/hd1.htm. Viewed: 6/19/01.

Prawer, S. S.. Caligari's Children: The Film as Tale of Terror. Oxford University Press. New

York. 1980

Richter, Ingrid, “Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”. wysiwyg://13/http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Set/9078/cindex.html. Viewed 6/19/’01.

Sanderson, Mark. Don't Look Now. BFI Publishers. London. 1996.

Setchfield, Nick. "The Man Who Fell to Earth: Nicolas Roeg Interview". SFX Magazine.

August 1999.

Waller, Gregory A. American Horrors: Essays on the Modern American Horror Film. U of

Illinois Press. Chicago. 1987.