Theoretical Approaches to Horror Films

Why do we enjoy horror films? If anything that happens in horror happened to us or to anyone we knew, we would be essentially, horrified. If the film we were watching was real footage we wouldn't want to watch it anymore. And yet, the films that are accompanied with the tag line 'based on a true story' are that much more exciting to us. Put it in those terms and it feels very sadistic. Some theorists have decided to explore this concept and come to the conclusion as to why horror is such a popular genre amongst an audience.

Noel Carroll
Carroll's 'Big Idea' was based on the philosophy of horror. We are both attracted and repulsed by horror, he says; with gore we are intrigued by the transgression and also repulsed by the act of it. POV shots in the eyes of the killer allow us to identify with the killer, a concept that is both interesting and disturbing. A few years ago, vampire films were at an all time high, bringing in a sure amount of revenue. This is down to how we respond to vampires, we either fear them or fancy them (although this is down to the production- Robert Pattinson's Edward clearly not akin to Nosferatu.) We cannot stand looking yet we cant help ourselves i.e. Carroll's Attraction/Repulsion theory. This to me is perhaps the best understanding of our love of horror- watching through our fingers making it that much more thrilling.

Laura Mulvey
Mulvey is a renowned theorist of who's male gaze theory has created lots of attention. This theory is evidently visceral in the horror genre. We as a viewer are constantly watching media through the eyes of a male, whether that be consciously or subconsciously, and therefore all media is catered to this ideology. The objectification of women is a common occurrence, and often seen when someone, normally the killer, is spying on her, such as in Halloween and the Hostel franchise. This also picks up upon the idea that through the killers POV we are sympathetic. There is, however, the trope within horror of the POV suddenly switching to through the eyes of the 'final girl.' We end up wholeheartedly rooting for the last character alive, who is often enough a female. A specific which comes to mind is a favourite of mine, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) where the girl comes out of the final battle alive, leaving leatherface to wallow in self misery. This is an interesting concept in itself, as with every other genre we are normally in the shoes of a male- unless its a romance, of course, to which we are faced with the Bridget Jones stereotype of single at 30 being an awful concept with finding a man being the only solution. Even in sub genres of horror such as fighting zombies or aliens we are in the view of a man. So is it then that if the protagonist is being put in an awful situation and not prevailing as the crime fighter are we put into a woman's shoes? Or is this idea one that shows women as powering through and coming out on top, even when faced with a chainsaw bearing mad men and his bizarre family. Whatever the opinion is, the idea being that we watch horror merely to get some cheap thrill by watching through the male gaze is disconcerting to me, and one I definitely do not adopt.

Freud/Masahiro Mori
The Uncanny Valley is a theory I am deeply interested in. Around a year ago I watched a documentary on Artificial Intelligence where this idea is mentioned. I find it interesting due to the fact that is an unconscious thing that we almost all feel, and applying it to our media is that much more interesting. The term that we are all aware of 'uncanny' comes from the mind of Sigmund Freud that something is strangely and unnervingly familiar. As mentioned I came across the term 'uncanny valley' down to my interest in AI and robotics. Mori coined the term, and uses it to describe how humanoid robots/replicas appear as eerie or disturbing to us. In our ever increasingly modern society, robots are sure to soon become a reality, however ones that act, talk and look like humans should in my opinion, be left untouched.

In film/media, this can be seen in certain animations that cause a certain response by an audience. The Polar Express, while a favourite, does have some bizarrely realistic animation that you cant help but feel a little on edge because of it. This isn't something I really picked up on as a 6 year old, but in recent watches has really stuck out. The facial expressions and characteristics are so perfectly down to a T that it is disturbingly strange.

One that to this day still terrifies me, is Beowulf. Unsurprisingly the animated adaption of an old English poem didn't do too brilliantly in the box office, but to which my dad thought would be brilliant to take 7 year old me to see on the big screen. We had to leave the cinema early down to my screaming and crying and while I still refuse to watch it again, the strange likeliness and uncanniness is something 7 year old me was not accustomed to and hugely weary of.

Jung

Jung takes on a darker theory, and proposes that 'the shadow' is a projection of all we fear and dislike placed onto an external figure. The monster in horror films is actually the black side of someone's self personality and a personification of the worst parts of all of us. I think is an interesting theory and while I do think that in some cases this is clearly true; The Babadook being a representation of depression, and in a more modern film 'Lights out' Diana is the tortuous past that the character, and therefore all of us, has faced. However I don't believe this to be entirely true. Sometimes monsters are simply just scary, and ultimately there to do its job: scare us. The deformed alien like creature, or shadow in the dark merely plays on our fear of things going bump in the night and the unknown.

Carol Clover

Clover opens up an intriguing argument in her position that horror films instead allow teenage males an illicit opportunity to revel in their feminine side. This is the opposite of Mulvey's view in a sense and puts it on its head by insisting that the male gaze wherein the female characters are exploited and serve as the lone survivor, works in a somewhat positive way. The genre asks male audiences to identify with the female protagonist and delve into that side of themselves and thus create a positive perception of women, rather than the genre being simply branded as sexist. I do not particularly agree with this viewpoint however, and see it as an attempt to move the genre away from sexism instead of simply labelling as it so commonly is. This is a nice idea but one that I do not believe applies, a lot of the time the women are simply used as sexual ploys to keep the attention off of the male characters for a short while.

Adam Lowenstein

Lowenstein believes that Horror in itself is a cinematic spectacle, with the combination of music, special effect, camerawork, gore etc. making it an appreciation of the art form rather than just darker motives. This in my eyes is hugely generalised and cannot be applied to all within the genre, perhaps even most. The Shining is a stand out film in general and therefore stands true, but the human centipede? Not so much. Its a rarity for me to watch a film that fits under the heading 'horror' and think to myself "wow, this really combines the best forces of production in order to create a stand out piece of media, horror in itself truly is art."

Cynthia Freeland

She believes that the gore we see on screen tends to be so ridiculous and over the top that they create a 'perverse sublime.' We are not forced to imagine the scenario happening to us or be affected on an emotional level, but merely to enjoy on an aesthetic level that only brings us entertainment. Horrors that are too realistic tend to just disturb rather then entice, we prefer our movies to have a glass screen between us and the action.