Similar Horror Movies

The Woman in Black

Director: James Watkins

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hinds, Liz White, Shaun Dooley

Arthur Kipps is a widowed lawyer whose grief has put his career into jeopardy. He is sent to Crythin Gifford, a remote marketing village, and to the desolate and secluded Eel Marsh House to sort out the affairs of a recently deceased eccentric. But upon his arrival, it soon becomes clear that everyone in the town is keeping a deadly secret and that there's a reason as to why Eel Marsh House is so secluded. Although the townspeople try to keep Kipps from learning their tragic history, he soon discovers that the house belonging to his client is haunted by the ghost of a woman who is determined to find someone and something she lost...and no one, not even the children, are safe from her vengeance. If she is seen a child is killed in a horrific way; unfortunately for the townspeople, during Kipps' work the Woman in Black is seen many times.

The Conjuring

Director: James Wan

Cast: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Lili Taylor, Sterling Jerins

In 1970, paranormal investigators and demonologists Lorraine and Ed Warren are summoned to the home of Carolyn and Roger Perron. The Perrons and their five daughters have recently moved into a secluded farmhouse, where a supernatural presence has made itself known. Though the manifestations are relatively benign at first, events soon escalate in horrifying fashion, especially after the Warrens discover the house's macabre history.

The Babadook

Director: Jennifer Kent

Cast: Hayley McElhinney, Noah Wiseman, Essie Davies

A troubled widow discovers that her son is telling the truth about a monster that entered their home through the pages of a children's book and begins haunting the mother and son and even goes as far as possessing the mother's thoughts and actions giving them a more malicious side. The mother has to try and fight the monster away and save herself and son, however, no one escapes The Babadook.

Sinister

Director: Scott Derrickson

Cast: Ethan Hawke, Nicholas King, Clare Foley

True-crime writer Ellison Oswald is in a slump; he hasn't had a best seller in more than 10 years and is becoming increasingly desperate for a hit. So, when he discovers the existence of a snuff film showing the deaths of a family, he vows to solve the mystery. He moves his own family into the victims' home and gets to work. However, when old film footage and other clues hint at the presence of a supernatural force, Ellison learns that living in the house may be fatal.

Supernatural Horror - Characters (individual)

Supernatural Horror Film - Characters (INDIVIDUAL)

Characters play a large part in supernatural horror to make the film scary to watch.

Supernatural horror is the act of paranormal activity, physic occurrences or 'magic'. This is beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature so is found disturbing and horrifying to people.

So, in a supernatural horror film, the characters we expect to see are ghosts, demons or invisible beings that have a paranormal aura about them. We also expect to have a real-life human being in the film, which is our flash back to reality; these are usually the characters in the film which are victimized by the supernatural.

There is always a protagonist in a supernatural film who has a role of either being victimized by the supernatural occurrence or in the film to save the victim/s. There is also always an antagonist, which is used as the plot device, and has a nasty and malicious aim to hurt or put others in danger. The antagonist in a supernatural horror is usually the ghost or devil in the film. 

In our group idea for the storyline, we decided to include three human characters and one paranormal presence as this opens up opportunities to show the people being victimized by this figure; making the film intimidating and scary for viewers to watch.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (2007) is a good example of a supernatural film which involves both supernatural and human beings. This is the story of a couple who recently move into a house and are often visited by a paranormal figure. The film shows them becoming increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence. The main characters involved in this film are:

	Katie Featherstone		Katie
	Micah Sloat		Micah
	Mark Fredrichs		Psychic
	Amber Armstrong		Amber
	Ashley Palmer		Diane

There are five human beings in the film which create the creepy, realistic idea to the film. However, the main character of all is the paranormal 'demon' which is mostly active at night and poses threat to the two main characters Katie and Micah.

THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999) is another example of a supernatural horror.
The film tells the fictional story of three student filmmakers who hike in the Black Hills in 1994 to film a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair Witch. The three disappear, but their video and sound equipment (along with most of the footage they shot) is discovered a year later. The creepy "recovered footage" left is the film the viewer is watching. The idea of the three student film-makers being human is again, another snapback to reality 
and makes the whole 
film even more terrifying as it makes the viewer question the possibility of similar occurrences happen to them. 

Supernatural Horror Films- Characters (Individual)

Throughout supernatural horror there is certain characters that are often portray in different ways but with the same personality throughout. They are significant to the genre and are often associated to it. All characters besides the supernatural antagonist are usually dressed in normal clothes to portray their innocence in the film.

The Leader/Hero
There is often a character who the rest of the group tends to follow or even just the character that one that others tend to lean on. They often come up with the ideas and try and get the others to survive. They are often male with a stronger build and even though horror doesn't often have any hero's or good triumphing evil he often tries to protect the others and tries to be the less emotional of the group whilst supporting the others. However in more recent films there is more female leaders becoming apparent which is challenging the stereotype. An example of a leader is Ellison Oswalt from Sinister.

Female Victim
Most horror films have a female victim who will take part in an accident and are shown in distress with a need of protection. They are often portrayed as a 'dumb blonde' and she is usually killed at some point in the film in a gruesome way. They will also be used to portray fear throughout the audience as as they often jump and over react making the audience jump along with them. An example of the female victim is Sue Snell from Carrie.

Hysterical Character
They are usually female and are mostly used to build suspense in the film often leading to their ultimate demise. She often becomes hysterical after there first sighting of the supernatural being which has usually lead to the death of one of her friends. The mother from The Others is an example of a hysterical character.

The Supernatural Being
This can take many different forms but some of the most iconic are vampires, werewolves, demons, ghosts or possession. They will often be undefeated due to their healing or large physique. The supernatural element gives the impression of the unknown which plays on the fear of many of the audience members. This strikes fear in the audience the most and allows the audience to react more. Samara in The Ring is an example of this.

The Couple
These are usually the first characters to be killed as they are distracted by one another so they don't even see the killer coming towards them. This usually leaves the audience on edge as they can see what is going to ultimately happen however they can't do anything to stop it. An example is Barry and Claudette in Friday the 13th.

The Outcast
This can either be a nerd who is accepted by the group after their long ordeal that they go through together although at the beginning the aren't accepted by many of the other characters until they have saved their lives. They often are wearing glasses and just a stereotypical 'geek'. During the film Split the character of Casey is the social outcast of the film.

The Non Believer
They are often a male character that ignores the signs and attempts to convince the others that nothing is going on usually leading him to be one of the first to be killed. The audience will lean on this as a crutch however when he is killed the audience will lose their sense of security.

The Children
Most supernatural horror films will involves some sort of child which can either be part of the protagonist group or the antagonists. Often they are the least likely to die as the rest of the group try to protects them. They give the audience a sense of innocence and leaves the audience feeling protective over them. The children from the The Others are an example.

Supernatural horror sub genre

Supernatural Horror

Introduction

Supernatural horror is a sub-genre for the widely loved film genre, horror. Elements of a successful supernatural horror movie are ghosts, spirits, demonic/religious events and possession. Supernatural horror films tend to consist of jump-scares throughout the film as well as tension and suspense. Good and famous examples of supernatural horror are; The Others (2001), The Uninvited (2009), The Conjuring (2013) and Sinister (2012).

Characters

Bathsheba ~ The Conjuring

Bathsheba Sherman, born Thayer, was born in 1812 and was claimed to have been related to Mary Towne Eastey, one of the many executed for witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. In 1863, Bathsheba married a rich farmer under the surname "Sherman" and gave birth to a child. When he was a week old, her husband caught her attempting to sacrifice her baby to the Devil. Exposed, Bathsheba climbed to the top of a tree, proclaimed her love for Satan, and cursed all those who would take her land. Bathsheba then hung herself, committing suicide. Bathsheba's spirit continued to reside in the land, haunting her former homestead. True to her curse, Bathsheba would haunt the families that would move into her house. Bathsheba would torment the family continually, and finally possess the family's mother and kill the children before forcing the mothers to commit suicide. The spirits of Bathsheba's victims continued to reside in the house, along with her, living in constant fear of her curse.

Bughuul ~ Sinister

Bughuul, also known as The Bogeyman or The Eater of Children, is an ancient pagan Babylonian deity who consumes the souls of human children. Bughuul would possess children and kill their families and by consuming their souls, Bughuul is able to sustain his mortal force and sustain his ghostly ever-presence. Bughuul would possess one of the family members and kill the others whilst living inside the killing child. After the murders Bughuul would paint the walls with the blood of the murdered family and paint the symbol of his presence. After the murders have been complete and Bughuul has fed, he would then take the possessed child and disappear into the camera used to film the murders and wait for his next victim to stumble on the tapes.
Mister Babadook ~ The Babadook

The Babadook usually appears as a towering, shadowy figure wearing a black coat and hat, with long, claw-like hands and a pale frightening face. The Babadook haunts whoever reads its poem and hides inside a pop-up book that mysteriously appears in random homes. As its prey becomes more frightened, the Babadook becomes more monstrous. When its prey become frightened they often try to burn the book, however, the book cannot be destroyed and the more you try to resist the Babadook the more it’ll haunt you. The hauntings of the Babadook begin to take over its victims minds and it can even possess its victims and follow out murderous attacks. A way to survive the Babadook is facing your inner demons which attract it and feed it, whilst the Babadook can’t actually be destroyed if you face your fears and inner demons the Babadook can’t haunt you.

Storylines

The ConjuringIn 1971, Roger Perron and his wife Carolyn move to an old farmhouse in Rhode Island with their daughters. Soon they are haunted by noises and ghosts and Carolyn meets the famous paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren. Ed and Lorraine investigate the house and discover that it is haunted by a malevolent, satanic witch. The investigation shows that the witch sacrificed her seven-day baby to Satan and has possessed other mothers that lived in the real estate to kill their children. The history discovered shows that the witch is the dark spirit of the wife of the farmer who used to own the house, he discovered she was into demonic and satanic rituals and always tried to sacrifice her child to satan. The wife died by cursing the land decreeing that she will haunt whoever lives and steps foot on the land and will especially possess the mothers, she then hangs herself. True to the curse, Bathsheba the witch possess Carolyn and tries to kill her youngest daughter, fortunately Ed and Lorraine use all of their powers to stop the witch, save the family and perform exorcisms to condemn Bathsheba back to hell.

Sinister
True-crime writer Ellison Oswalt moves himself and his family into a house where a horrific crime took place earlier, but his family doesn't know. Ellison stumbles across videos of brutal murders in the house and begins researching the crimes so that he can write a new book about it to help his flailing career. Ellison thinks he’s struck a goldmine but instead he’s struck a gateway for a pagan demon to unleash hell. During his research, Ellison discovers pagan symbols and a ghostly figure in ever video- a ghostly figure that comes to life and haunts his family. Bughuul is unleashed with a hunger for possession, the pagan demon possess Ellison’s daughter and through her kills the Oswalt family filming the sequence so that it can be added to the collection. Bughuul then takes the daughter and disappears into the video the murder to keep the child, feed, and wait for his next victims.

The Babadook

Amelia, who lost her husband in a car crash on the way to give birth to Samuel, their only child, struggles to cope at being a single mum. Samuel has a constant fear of monsters and demands a story every night before bed to help sleep. One night Samuel picks an unknown book called Mr. Babadook that Amelia didn’t even know they had, this mysterious book turns out to be a dark sinister book telling the story of an evil monster that lurks in the shadows of the house. Amelia is even affected by the book and its dark tale, although the book’s story turns out to be a foreshadowing of the ghostly apparitions that begin to happen in Amelia’s life. Amelia starts to see the Babadook and she begins to grow mentally ill and weak so desperately tries to destroy the book. However it cannot be destroyed and things only get worse. The Babadook almost tears Amelia’s life apart until she learns to face her fears and face the Babadook, the Babadook is defeated when Amelia’s stands up to it instead of fearing it. However, the Babadook cannot be defeated only hidden and ignored...and the book lives on, on a new shelf.

Settings/Locations

The Conjuring

The Conjuring film is based on the haunting of the Perron family in Harrisville, Rhode Island however the actual movie itself is filmed in North Carolina. The film used a range of different locations for the varian scenes of the movie but predominantly stuck to EUE/Screen Gems Studios and different locations dotted around Wilmington, North Carolina. The University of North Carolina Wilmington was one of the sets used for filming and the scenes were shot during the Spring Break which allowed the campus to be free for filming with students helping out as extras. The film was shot in chronological order to the film and the filming took Warner Bros to many different locations in Wilmington across the 38 day filming length.

The Woman in Black

The ghostly, eerie, frightening Eel Marsh House in The Woman in Black was portrayed through the redecoration of Cotterstock Hall near Oundle, Central England. Essex also held the location for the Nine Lives Causeway that led up to the spooky house. In the beginning, James Watkins planned on filming the horror film in 3D but this idea was later scrapped. The Woman in Black is a British film and was filmed all over the country, locations including Oundle, Essex and the Yorkshire Dales. When search for the perfect Eel Marsh House Watkins scoured the country to find a building that could bring his imagination from paper to screen and eventually stumbled across the beautiful Cotterstock Hall which in actual fact the producers degraded it and tore parts down to give the old, broken, gothic appearance to add to the scare factor. The garden itself was transformed from a pristine award winning lawn to a tangled, overgrown decaying forest full of weeds, statutes and rusting gates that Watkins and his crew planted. Moving onto the interior and different windows were placed in as well as different eccentric furniture and forgotten room designs to emphasise the gothic aspect of the film.  

The Babadook

The primary location for shooting The Babadook was Adelaide, South Australia and Jennifer Kent shot most of her film in the Australian city as city state funded most of the film as it would promote the Australian city. The main house in the film where all the haunting happens was a special house that was built for the film to bring the eerie Victorian feel to the horror film. The film was originally designed to be filmed in black and white to bring a heightened feel to the film however Kent eventually changed her mind. She then worked with Alex Holmes and Radek to design the film’s sets specifically to give the movie a claustrophobic feel. Differing from the black and white style, Kent used gels on the camera lens to give the movie its final colour.

Sound/Music

Psycho

Despite the fact this piece isn’t actually Psycho’s theme song it is instead Psycho’s most iconic piece of music. The sharp, screeching violins matched with short, speedy cuts emphasise the terror from the scene and the rising tension. Furthermore, the screeching violins emphasise the scare factor and give off a piercing and uncomfortable sound. 

The Exorcist
Being one of the most iconic films of all time; the music and theme song for this infamous horror film is equally as iconic. The score was originally rejected by director William Freakin but the score is perfect for the film and adds to the creepy feel given off by the film. The cold tone and pitch from the piano gives a horrifying and uncomfortable atmosphere surrounding the film and the horror of the Devil’s power is brought through by this eerie score.

The Omen

The deep base tone in The Omen’s score gives off a religious and ritualistic feel to the horror film. With Damien, the main character, allegedly being The Devil’s child and has the ability to see dead people the religious theme to the score conveys this and eerie echoing sound of the ritualistic verses and orchestra create an uncomfortable side to this demonic horror.

Iconography

A supernatural horror film guarantees ghosts or poltergeists, a demonic or religious past or symbol that has conjured up the spirit that haunts the family in the film as well as ghost hunters who practice ouija boards and seances to try and rid the malevolent spirit before condemning it to hell. A lot of horror films at the moment are focusing on the religious aspect of horror and closely looking at pagan deities or cases of demon worshippers who conjure dark spirits that result in hauntings. A popular choice for producing a horror film is basing it on a true story; with exaggerated hauntings for added fright factor and successful scares, James Wan bases his horror films around the true cases of Ed & Lorraine Warren; films such as Annabelle, The Conjuring 1 and 2 have all been based around their work. Following on from Annabelle, dolls appear to be a popular choice of prop for horror films along with shadowed setting and religious symbols. All of these attribute towards a, nowadays, popular and successful scary supernatural horror film.

Supernatural Horror Films- Storylines (Individual)

Supernatural horror always include an element of a mysterious presence that people don't know about and are confused by. It tries to deal with the unknown and questions they bring up which often causes a religious element to the story.  The ending is usually a circular structure ending up with the main character dying which is usually the cause of the creature from the movie. Supernatural movies are often suspenseful which is a major part of the story line as it will contain jump scares and emphasis the unknown. Some key points of a story line during a supernatural horror is;

Demonic Possession
This usually involves a vengeful spirit that decides to use a human body to us as their puppet. It usually involves a couple that moves into a house and it is usually a child that is possessed to add to the element of shock.

Witchcraft
This usually involves a town that has an old legend of some kind that involves an old woman who has some sort of past that means she has a vengeance with the people of the town. Usually during this story line several people will be killed before they discover what is going on and it usually ends with the protagonist being killed.

Exorcism

This ties in with the demonic possession story line with a child being posses where people will try various ways to try and exorcise the demon. This story line often ends up with several characters  dying toward the end of the film. 

A Ghost or Presence Of A Ghost
This involves a spiritual figure attached to a certain object or location however it is mainly just a house which it tends to haunt. There is often a horrific backstory behind the ghost such as The Others as the main characters are ghosts however they don't know that and it turns out they died during the war.

The film will often include someone that doesn't believe in the supernatural things going on around them whilst some will go mad because they can see or do things that others can't. A common theme is that the film will have an aspect of revenge from the vengeful spirits which will make the structure of the film as it will give the spirit or creature a motive to begin.

A main part of the supernatural horror films is that it builds tension with eerie and evocative worlds. To do this it often includes hidden features such as a figure in a mirror or someones silhouette hid  behind the protagonist. It makes people believe in the supernatural because of the natural settings such as houses or woods.

History of Horror

The film genre horror is one of the biggest and most popular style of movie nowadays. It dates back to the beginning of film itself and shortly after the advent of motion picture technology in the late 19th century, filmmakers began to explore the horror genre. 

Before the genre of horror was explored through film, it was included in some famous books by gothic writers including Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker. 

1890 - 1920s 
But in relation to film, The House of the Devil, is often credited as being the first horror movie; released in 1896. Although America was home to the first Frankenstein and Jekyll and Hyde movie adaptations, the most influential horror films through the 1920s came from Germany's Expressionist movement, with films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu influencing the next generation of American cinema. 

THE 1930S
In the Hollywood studio system of the 1930s, there was one studio that would be responsible for horror films in this decade – Universal Pictures. Universal really grasped the idea of horror around this time, kicking off what is known as the Universal Gothic horror cycle: 

Their first hit was Dracula, directed by Tod Browning and lensed by UFA cinematographer Karl Freund starring the Hungarian Bela Lugosi in 1931.

THE 1950S
From there, with the recent discovery of sound in film, horror became progressively more popular and easy to portray in films. Monsters started to feature in films in the 1950's like the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms in 1953, Creature from the Black Lagoon in 1954 and of course the Japanese nuclear monster Godzilla also 1954.

THE 1960S - THE 1980S
From the 1960s on there was an explosion of styles surrounding the horror genre as it gained both in popularity, Prestige and freedom once the restrictive censorship of the Production Code was abandoned in 1964. The introduction of natural and realistic horror also emerged around this time under the influence of Norman Bates; for the first time blood was seen on television which was a shocking revelation to audiences. 
Steven Spielberg’s Jaws in 1975 made creature horror a large business.1979’s Alien by Ridley Scott successfully mixed horror and science fiction. Spielberg returned to horror with 1982’s 'Poltergeist' working with Tobe Hooper to shoot a creative and popular ghost story. By the end of the 1980s horror had become so reliant on gross-out gore and buckets of liquid latex that it seemed to have lost its power to do anything more than shock and then amuse.

THE 1990S
Ever since Norman Bates's taxidermy collection in Psycho (1960), audiences have shown popular interests in that of the psychopathic serial killer. Psycho, like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,Silence of The Lambs, American Horror Story:Asylum and numerous others, takes inspiration from the murders committed by Wisconsin serial killer, Ed Gein.

2000s ONWARDS
Between 1999 and 2004 there was a slight decrease in the popularity of horror films; considered to be because of recent social events including the 9/11 terrorist attack. However, by 2005, the horror genre was as popular as ever. Horror films routinely topped the box office, yielding an above-average gross on below-average costs. From 2005 onwards the main theme of horror has been in the style of realism. Films involving plane crashes, paranormal experiences etc are now in demand and have been for many years. 

The Basic History of Horror

The Basic History of Horror

Horror is one of the most recognisable genres of film, with several key features that happen during every film which will capture the audience’s attention and terrify the audience along the way. The horror genre has many subsections including paranormal and the sci-fi section of genre. Often films are hyped before vanishing again which is referred to as the boom and fade cycle. It often has a low budget requirement yet everyday horror is changing its way of presenting itself to audience.

The deliver thrills to the audience and can sometimes help get across a true story behind the horrors that have happened to people. There are various different subgenres of horror;

  Ø  Action Horror for example Resident Evil

Ø  Body Horror for example Cabin Fever

Ø  Comedy Horror for example Scary Movie

Ø  Gothic Horror for example Dracula

Ø  Physiological Horror for example The Ring

Ø  Science Fiction Horror for example Alien

Ø  Slasher Films for example PSYCHO

Ø  Paranormal Horror for example The Poltergeist

Horror has been a genre since before films began starting with the classic books such as Dracula and all the way back to ancient myths such as Medusa. The first horror films started in around 1896 with the first horror film on record Le Manoir du Diable. It isn’t much over three minutes however it contains all the iconography of horror such as bats, the devil and other creatures.

Horror films were made with sound in the 1930’s with the music and people talking to bring even more suspense to the movies however they were still using traditional stories such as Frankenstein and Dracula to gain ideas.

After the war Hollywood began to make more Horror films to try and establish the genre of horror to all over the world in around 1940’s. Films such as Werewolf of London (1935) and Hungry like the Wolf Man (1940) fed on people’s fears at the time and slowly became successes with domestic audiences.

Between 1940 and 1950 large changes were made to the Horror genre with the monsters becoming more horrifying with things that would horrify most audiences. The aim was to thrill people with an action front behind them. The films included more films including mutations. In these years films such as Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) and The Mummy (1959) became highly popular featuring two different mutations.

The 1960’s the public thought of very different things for horrible due to the awful things that happened in these years such as the Manson Family murder. Instead of thrilling audiences horror was now uses to scare people and make them scared. Highly popular films such as PSYCHO (1960) and The Birds (1963) that show presences watching people and waiting to strike leading to people being scared of their own shadows.

Somewhere in 1970 horror movies earned some of the highest profits of the year. They looks at the fears of children and feed on them by making families scared of each other. It shows how children can be scary to certain audiences and do awful things to people and how the enemy is in your own home. Films such as The Exorcist (1973) which was voted the best horror film of all time and Jaws (1975) came out in this year which were just some of the classic horrors of all time that came out in this year.

1980’s were the year of special effects for horror with technical advances allowing the films to become more distorted and realistic with the special effects allowing them to make the monsters more realistic leading to more fear in the audiences. With popular films such as The Shinning (1980) and The Thing (1982) it was close with the success of the previous decade.

The 1990’s followed the gore from the 1980’s and it continued with his theme despite shocking audiences instead of thrilling them. It was now that horror began to become over familiar with audiences. This generation found the scariest thing to be psycokillers leading to this generations films such as Scream (1996) and Silence of the Lambs (1991).

Through the 2000’s film makers struggled to make films that were acceptable after the many horrific events. By 2005 the horror movie was back to being popular and usually topped the box office despite the monsters being changed leaving the industry with films such as Final Destination (2000) and Woman In Black (2012).