MA-Thesis
Transmitting Fear through the Screen
Aesthetics, Narratives and Media in Contemporary Horror Films
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Name:
Britt Kaandorp
Student number:
10170936
Date:
3 May 2015
Supervisor:
Dr. Marie-Aude Baronian
Educational programme:
Mediastudies: Film,
beroepsgeoriënteerde specialisatie
University:
Universiteit van Amsterdam
Word count:
23.441
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ABSTRACT
This thesis examines emotional experiences of the viewer when watching a contemporary horror film. It looks at various cinematic aesthetics that are able to evoke particular responses within the spectator. This thesis focuses on the case studies The Conjuring (James Wan, 2013), Paranormal Activity (Oren Peli, 2007) and Sinister (Scott Derrickson, 2012). These recent feature films are all productive in generating the emotion of fear within me, a response that is both bodily and cognitive. Found footage is a crucial aspect in this research. Paranormal Activity is a found footage horror film and Sinister is a film that has incorporated found footage into the diegesis. I will look at the way in which found footage is able to create a more intense and scary experience than horror films that employ a classical and fluent film style are able to do. Obviously, the narrative, the monster, the characters and their performances, are essential when it comes to eliciting a response within the viewer. However, the camera, the possibilities of the camera and the process of filmmaking turn out to be crucial in evoking an emotional response. Furthermore, screens are a salient motif in every case study, although in different ways. They add multiple cinematic layers to the film, which creates a fascinating and complex image. Due to the multiple layers, filmic boundaries become blurred. This occurs often in found footage horror films and in horror films that incorporate found footage. The monsters in Paranormal Activity and Sinister address the viewer at the end of the film. Because of the blurred boundaries, the monsters successfully challenge the screen that stands between our world and the world of the film. This creates a terrifying and overwhelming experience. In short, the three case studies aim to pull the spectator into the diegesis via particular cinematic aesthetics.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Film Stills Page 4
Acknowledgements Page 5
Introduction Page 6
Chapter 1: Spectatorship in Suspenseful Horror Films Page 13
§ 1.1 Emotional Responses Page 13
§ 1.2 Horror and Suspense Page 18
§ 1.3 Found Footage Horror Film Page 26
Chapter 2: Haunted House Stories Page 31
§ 2.1 Narrative and Opening Page 32
§ 2.2 Ubiquitous Presence of Media Page 35
§ 2.3 Demonic Entities Page 36
§ 2.4 Characters, Expressions and Performances Page 38
Chapter 3: Camera Functions Page 45
§ 3.1 Camera as Another Presence Page 45
§ 3.2 Camera as Third Protagonist Page 46
Chapter 4: Screens as Portals Page 49
§ 4.1 Mirrors in The Conjuring Page 49
§ 4.2 Recordings in Paranormal Activity Page 51
§ 4.3 Found Footage in Sinister Page 52
Conclusion Page 56
Bibliography Page 60
FILM STILLS
Film Still 1 Ellison watching found footage in Sinister Page 1
Film Still 2 Micah and Katie in Paranormal Activity Page 10
Film Still 3 Samara coming out of the screen in The Ring Page 27
Film Still 4 Opening shot The Conjuring Page 32
Film Still 5 Opening shot Sinister Page 33
Film Still 6 Opening shot Paranormal Activity Page 34
Film Still 7 Bathsheba in The Conjuring Page 36
Film Still 8 Bughuul in Sinister Page 38
Film Still 9 Lorraine in The Conjuring Page 39
Film Still 10 Christine in The Conjuring Page 40
Film Still 11 Carolyn in The Conjuring Page 41
Film Still 12 Katie in Paranormal Activity Page 42
Film Still 13 Ellison and his moving box in Sinister Page 43
Film Still 14 Micah and the camera in Paranormal Activity Page 47 Film Still 15 Micah talking to the camera in Paranormal Activity Page 47 Film Still 16 Carolyn visible in the mirror in The Conjuring Page 50 Film Still 17 Micah watching his recordings in Paranormal Activity Page 51 Film Still 18 Bughuul addresses the spectator in Sinister Page 52 Film Still 19 Ellison becoming part of the footage in Sinister Page 54 Film Still 20 Ellison becoming part of the footage in Sinister Page 54 Film Still 21 Katie addressing the spectator in Paranormal Activity Page 55
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For this thesis I would like to thank the University of Amsterdam for providing me with knowledge and insights regarding media, culture and film. The Bachelor Media and Culture and the Master Film Studies broadened my horizon within the field of media studies. The university gave me the chance to focus on aspects of media studies I found fascinating and interesting, while also stimulating me to develop myself as a scholar and deepen and broaden my knowledge and skills.
I also would like to thank Dr. Marie-Aude Baronian for her supervision, critical and constructive feedback and advice during the process of writing this thesis. She helped me with formulating my ideas and arguments and did so with genuine interest. Her guidance and knowledge were of great importance and she always encouraged me to keep working.
Mashya Boon has helped me structuring my thoughts. Together we brainstormed about my arguments and how I should transfer this onto paper. The conversations we had inspired me to keep going when I momentarily got stuck in my thoughts. I owe her thanks for this. She also gave me useful feedback regarding my writing-style, as did my fellow student and friend Eva Bakkum. Thanks to them, I could optimize this thesis.
I owe much gratitude to my parents, Theo Kaandorp and Marian Velzeboer, for giving me the chance to study in the first place. They value education greatly and always motivated me to keep learning and studying.
Finally, I would like to thank Eric Hoogland for being a sounding board and motivating me to keep improving this thesis. He encourages me to always be the better version of myself.
INTRODUCTION
“The cinema offers complex and varied experiences; for most people, however, it is a place to feel something.”
- Carl Plantinga and Greg M. Smith
Plantinga and Smith’s quote captures exactly why so many people enjoy watching films, myself included. Films have the power to make us feel happy, sad, angry, frightened, and much more. They are able to generate an emotional response within the spectators. Or at least, that is what a film aims to do. Consequently, the main goal of any horror film is to scare and horrify its spectators. But why would an audience want to be scared? In his book The Horror Film, Peter Hutchings claims that horror films offer us thrills, shocks and iconoclasm, which send us on a ruthless roller-coaster ride. A horror film can be seen as a fast journey that contains amusing and mighty sensations that generate a memorable experience within the spectator (Hutchings 82). This sensational experience thus makes a horror film appealing for the spectator. Hutchings explanation of the appeal for horror films captures precisely why I myself love to watch a good horror film. It is the promise of the adrenaline rush that lures me to the cinema to see the next horror film. The horror genre is always trying to generate a greater adrenaline rush and sensational experience within the viewer. Monsters become scarier, narratives are presented in new ways and special effects become more elaborate. The relatively new phenomenon of the found footage horror film is an outcome of this ongoing development. A found footage horror film is presented as filmic material that is discovered or found by someone, usually the viewer of the film. Logically, this footage contains frightening content. The footage is filmed by one of the protagonists to document a particular thing or event, mostly an evil presence. Handheld shots, direct sounds, an amateur look, presence of the camera and a voyeuristic viewing mode for the spectator are some of the typical aesthetics of a found footage horror film. The Do-It-Yourself aesthetics and amateur look of a found footage horror film make the film personal and subjective. Next to this, it looks like something everyone could have filmed with his or her cell phone or camera. Because of this, found footage horror films are linked to our own reality, which make them scary and overwhelming for the viewer. In addition to the found footage horror film, there are horror films that employ a mainstream film style but incorporate found footage in the narrative. In this case, it is mostly one of the protagonists who finds the footage and watches it. My focus lies on how horror films, and especially found footage horror films and horror films that incorporate found footage, are able to generate an emotional response via specific treatments of aesthetics and the narrative.
I want to make clear that this research and the books and articles that I read for my research are not about reception or reception studies, but about how a film can direct the emotions of the spectator. For instance, Passionate Views. Film, Cognition, and Emotion by editors Carl Plantinga and Greg M. Smith and Feeling Cinema. Emotional Dynamics in Film Studies by Tarja Laine focus on emotional responses, aesthetics and narrative theories. Passionate Views contains many essays by different scholars who shed a light on this subject. Jennifer M. Barker also deals with spectatorship in her chapter “Musculature”. Barker focuses on the musculature relationship between the viewer’s body and the film’s body. Similarly, Elena del Río writes about the relationship between different screens and the human body. She also addresses spectatorship, but goes further by looking at spectatorship within a film. Here, the concept of ‘mise-en-abyme’ is of importance, for this concerns films within films. Patricia Pisters, focusing on narrative theories, looks at the ways in which a film can involve the spectator in the narrative and its characters (Pisters 86). This is crucial for a film to generate any emotional response within the viewer. Noël Carroll deals with horror films and the emotional response they can elicit in his article “Film, Emotion and Genre” in Passionate Views, as does Laine in her book. However, they focus on significantly older horror films such as From Beyond (Stuart Gordon, 1986) and The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980). It is my aim to focus on contemporary horror films and a contemporary phenomenon within this genre, namely the found footage horror film.
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas’s book Found Footage Horror Films: Fear and the Appearance of Reality is one of the first books that solely concentrates on found footage horror films. She focuses on the genealogy of the found footage horror film, the development of the subgenre, the releases and franchises of the found footage horror films The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, 1999) and Paranormal Activity (Oren Peli, 2007), socio-political aspects when a found footage horror film is released within a particular national context, and the relation between independent and corporate film productions (5 – 6). Yet, she does not take a close look at the relation between found footage horror films and the spectators. Chris Packham also focuses solely on the found footage horror film in his article “The Rise of Found-Footage Horror”. Although Packham does touch upon the experience of the spectator, his text is mostly about the characteristics of found footage horror films. Thus, both writers do not pay close attention to the experience the subgenre can evoke within a spectator. Therefore, my emphasis will be on this particular aspect.
Hutchings claims that there has been a renewed interest in ghost stories in the early years of the 2000s, but that this interest seems to be short-lived (217). He names What Lies Beneath (Robert Zemeckis, 2000) and The Others (Alejandro Amenábar, 2001) as examples of this renewed interest. However, films like The Ring (Gore Verbinski, 2002), The Grudge (Takashi Shimizu, 2004), The
Amityville Horror (Andrew Douglas, 2005), Shutter (Masayuki Ochiai, 2008), The Uninvited (The Guard Brothers, 2009), Insidious (James Wan, 2010), The Possession (Ole Bornedal, 2012) and Jessabelle (Kevin Greutert, 2014) indicate that ghost stories are in fact still popular and prove that Hutching’s claim should be nuanced. In this research I will focus on this particular type of horror film, namely the supernatural and ghostly type. Moreover, supernatural and ghostly horror films contribute to the uncanny nature of films and photographs. Terry Castle states that photography is “the ultimate ghost-producing technology of the nineteenth century” (61). I argue that films, then, are the ultimate ghost-producing technology of both the 20th and 21st century. For this reason, I think the combination of horror films and the supernatural is fitting and relevant. Furthermore, in these kinds of horror films, suspense is of significant importance. The bloody and gory kind of horror film relies more on graphic violence than on suspense. The combination of suspense and horror creates a truly scary and horrific film text. The case studies in this thesis contain suspense and therefore I call my case studies suspenseful horror films.
Supernatural and suspenseful horror films can be qualified as uncanny. The diegetic world of the film is familiar, yet the happenings are strange. Our bodies and minds respond to this. Torben Grodal states the following in his article “Emotions, Cognitions, and Narrative Patterns in Film”:
Film viewers prefer to experience narratives that strongly activate the mind and body, that move and touch, that cue production of adrenaline and elicit visceral reactions. Such feelings and physical reactions are linked with narratives that offer stimulating cognitive problems and scenes of spectacle and intrigue. (127)
Thus, films with fascinating narratives are able to stimulate physical and mental senses. Grodal also points to the interaction between physical and cognitive reactions. This interaction that occurs inside us when we watch a film can be seen as a phenomenological experience. Tarja Laine and Vivian Sobchack, in their respective studies, focus on this phenomenological relationship. The phenomenological sensations within us, produced by films and their narratives, did not yet receive the attention it deserves in film theory (Grodal 127). According to Grodal, it is always important to study new types of horror films to see how they achieve activity in the mind and body and cause physical and emotional reactions. These reactions and activities in our mind and body ensure that we lose ourselves in the film: we forget everything around us and focus solely on what is going on onscreen. It feels like I am part of this fictional world. Or, to put it in Bernard Stiegler’s words: “We become immersed in the time of their flowing forth; we forget all about ourselves watching, perhaps “losing ourselves” (losing track of time), but however we define it, we will be sufficiently captured, not to say captivated, to stay with it to the very end” (10). I watch films because I want to be
entangled within the narrative. When a film is able to capture my attention, I become absorbed into the film. This is why I love watching films.
Moreover, the landscape of media and film is ever-changing. New technologies and phenomena such as modern cell phones, digital camera’s and small video camera’s are everywhere around us and will create new film styles and aesthetics. Can these changes add something to the horror genre? They also allow us to be filmmakers ourselves. Do-It-Yourself or amateur films challenge the professional film industry. A way of dealing with this phenomenon is by incorporating the DIY film and amateur look into professional films. The outcome of this development in the film industry, and particularly in the horror genre, led to a new subgenre: the found footage horror film. Heller-Nicholas gives an explanation for the popularity of the genre:
These films are exciting to watch not because their events may or may not have happened, but from the formal innuendo that if they did occur, this is how they might look, seemingly filmed as they are on the same ubiquitous consumer-grade technology that many of us have ourselves (home video cameras, mobile phones, webcams, etc.). (7)
My fascination with these films thus stems from the fact that it takes place in the same setting as the one I am living in. I recognize the DIY and amateur look in the film because it looks like something I could have filmed myself.
Horror films try to evoke fear within the spectator. To generate this emotional reaction, filmmakers employ specific filmic aesthetics. Found footage horror films try to elicit fear by utilising DIY and amateur aesthetics. These aesthetics are able to generate the feeling of horror and anguish. The Paranormal Activity film series (Oren Peli et al., 2007 – 2015) and numerous other found footage horror films, such as The Devil Inside (William Brent Bell, 2012) and [REC] (Jaume Balaguréo and Paco Plaza, 2007), have proved the popularity of this new subgenre in horror. The camera, which is an important element in these films, creates a paradox. The ubiquitous presence of the camera makes the film seem more genuine and real, as if the filmmaker, who is simultaneously one of the main characters in the film, really filmed everything. This contributes to the grip a film can have on the audience. At the same time however, the ubiquitous presence of the camera also points to the fact that the film is indeed filmed by the filmmakers, which demonstrates the artificiality of the film. Film still 2 from Paranormal Activity captures this paradox concerning the ubiquitous presence of the camera. The film focuses on Katie and Micah, who are recording their life to find out what is haunting them at night. This recording element in the film is especially important for the narrative and the characters and therefore constantly emphasized. The camera is visually present in this image. This contributes to the sense of authenticity surrounding the film. Still, it also points to the artificiality of the film since it emphasizes that this film is indeed recorded by someone.
The fact that the camera is present in this shot also shows that this film is a profound example of the ultimate ghost-producing technology. The protagonists are actually recording and therefore producing their own ghost story. Secondly, the mirrors are salient in this shot. They point to the different screens and layers in the narrative and the artificiality that actually makes the film more authentic. Mirrors show a reflection of reality. This is similar to films. A film is a recording of reality and, therefore, that recording is a reflection, or a mirror image, of that reality. This image directs our attention to Katie in the mirror. Consequently, we are watching a reflection (the film) of a reflection (the mirror). But, because reflections are representations of reality and because we know we are watching reflections, due to the camera and the mirrors, the film seems realistic and genuine. These different reflections are intertwined in one image. In other words, they become one filmic reality and this contributes to our feeling of being ‘there’ with the protagonists.
Classical and/or mainstream horror films try to pull the spectator into the story via their fluent film style. The editing and cinematography are used in a way that leads the attention away from the fact that the viewer is watching a film. There are also horror films that incorporate found footage in the narrative. These films are mostly about a protagonist who finds footage. This footage will then have a significant influence on their life. I will focus on what kind of horror film is most ‘productive’ in frightening the spectator and also maintaining his or her attention to the screen. Film still 2 from Paranormal Activity already shows that aesthetics and narrative elements prove to be important when it comes to eliciting an emotional response within the spectator.
My case studies will be The Conjuring (James Wan, 2013), Paranormal Activity and Sinister (Scott Derrickson, 2012). These three contemporary horror films are suspenseful and contain a narrative with supernatural aspects. The Conjuring employs a classical and fluent film style; the film tries to hide the fact that it is in fact a fictional construction by pulling the viewer into the story and not putting the emphasis on the camera. Paranormal Activity, on the other hand, is a found footage
horror film. Sinister dwells between these types of films. The film employs a classical film style, which is similar to The Conjuring. However, Sinister contains found footage in the narrative and diegesis of the film. Although the films differ from each other in terms of film style and aesthetics, they are all productive in frightening the audience.
I consider my case studies and my experience with the films the foundation of this research. In other words, my approach is bottom-up for the films and my experience of them are of foremost importance. I am a participant in the viewing experience, which means that I will actively watch and study my case studies. I will analyse the emotions the films generate within me and how they evoke emotions. My approach is thus mostly phenomenological for I will rely on my own conscious and bodily experiences when watching the case studies. Still, I will also employ the cognitive approach and make use of Romantic perceptions.
Because I will concentrate on emotional responses, the phenomenological interaction between the body and consciousness, as well as the interaction between subjectivity and objectivity, are major and meaningful elements. In Carnal Thoughts. Embodiment and Moving Image Culture, Sobchack argues that our own experience is central in film-viewing, meaning that it implies bodily activity and perception and the correlation between subjective and objective elements (Sobchack 2). In other words, all these elements are related and together form my response to what I am watching. Therefore, I will look at how objective and recognizable elements in film create subjective feelings within me.
A similar approach is to be found in Laine’s book Feeling Cinema. The next quote captures the way Laine looks at film: “Making sense of cinema as an emotional event requires making sense of oneself as a sentient subject, interacting emotionally with the film” (7). This points to our own feelings and emotions that are evoked when watching a film. Together they constitute our experience of the film. She places herself, a critical analyst, as a participant within the viewing experience. She looks at the research object in a critical, observational and attentive way, while also paying attention to her emotions during the cinematic event (Laine 3). This method could also be called Romantic and subjective in the sense that romanticism focuses on feelings during a viewing and/or hearing experience (Plantinga and Smith 4). Still, it is important that you remain aware that you are researching something on a scholarly level (Laine 7). It is obviously crucial to be aware of your own subjectivity. Furthermore, the claim that derives from this subjective experience should be supported by proper and objective arguments. This can be achieved by utilizing the cognitive approach, which is used by the different authors in Passionate Views. Plantinga and Smith mention that this approach is characterised by specificity in the analysis (3). In other words, every filmic element is closely looked at. Subsequently, this close analysis can constitute the objective arguments that support the
main claim. I argue that the combination of different approaches, namely phenomenology, romanticism, and cognitivism, is productive and useful in any research that considers the way in which emotions are generated by filmic elements.
The case studies are all productive in frightening me, but they are also very different, as I will demonstrate later on. Because of this, I wonder why exactly I find them scary. I started doing research and learned about theories and arguments that fit the experiences I had when watching these films. I will first elaborate on these theories so that the case studies are clearly positioned within a particular framework. In the next chapter I will elaborate on the subject of spectatorship, emotional responses, horror films and found footage. The following chapters will offer a close-reading of the case studies. I formulated three different themes that are significant in the case studies, namely haunted house stories, camera functions and screens as portals. Chapter 2 will focus on the theme of haunted house stories. I will concentrate on the narratives, the presence of media, evil entities, performances of the characters, moods and music. Chapter 3 will focus on the different camera functions. It turns out that the camera can be seen as another presence and as a third protagonist in the case studies. In Chapter 4, screens will be considered as portals. I will focus on mirrors, found footage and visual recordings that are present in the case studies. In these analyses, I will consider the experiences and feelings I had when I watched these films, the construction of the films and the theoretical framework I outlined in Chapter 1.
CHAPTER 1: SPECTATORSHIP IN SUSPENSEFUL HORROR FILMS
“We are part of cinema in its emotional eventfulness.”- Tarja Laine
This quote perfectly captures the experience of watching a film. As I already mentioned, we become immersed in the film; we are part of it. This ensures that we do not merely watch a film, but actually experience feelings and emotions. Filmic elements, like cinematography, editing, lighting and sound, are used and structured a certain way to make the spectator laugh, frightened or sad. This chapter looks at the way in which spectators respond to the film they are watching. The first part of this chapter will specifically deal with emotional responses in cinema. Bodily and cognitive reactions will be considered. It becomes apparent that the combination and interaction between bodily and conscious responses are significant. The relationship between the viewer and the film, facial expressions of the characters, clues and narrative elements, moods and music will also be discussed. Thereafter the focus will be on suspenseful horror films and the ways in which those films evoke emotional responses. I will consider the monster, narrative, emotional core, emotive address, sympathy and empathy, uncanny atmosphere and camera movements. The remainder of the chapter will be devoted to found footage and the found footage horror film. It explores the different characteristics and looks at different film styles from where this subgenre could have originated.
§ 1.1 Emotional Responses
When I watch a film, both my body and my mind respond to it. But more importantly, they respond together, in collaboration with each other. Without my mind telling me what is going on onscreen, my body will not react to it. Similarly, the way my body is reacting to a particular scene tells my mind what is going on and what I should think and feel. These responses interact and sustain each other. When I watch an emotional scene in a romantic film, I get emotional, both consciously and bodily. I know the story of the characters and understand why they are emotional; this is a cognitive realization. My cognitive awareness of the film ensures that I get consciously emotional. I also feel myself tear up when watching this emotional scene, which is a bodily reaction. This confirms that my cognitive reaction is an appropriate response to the emotional scene. And in turn, this cognitive reaction confirms that it is appropriate to be tearing up. In sum, cognitive and bodily reactions confirm and sustain each other. Plantinga and Smith write that emotions and cognitions tend to work together (2). According to cognitivists, emotions and cognitions make certain objects more salient
than others. Emotions help us to react quickly and direct the body and mind to evoke action (Plantinga and Smith 2). Laine also mentions that affective, or bodily, and cognitive, or cerebral, states are interwoven with each other during a cinematic experience (1). This interaction within the viewer can be called a phenomenological sensation. Carroll writes that affective states are central in the viewing experience, or even constitute the cinematic experience. Emotions colour the experience the spectator has of a film. Carroll notes that the body of the spectator reacts to the emotional feeling he or she is having. The cognitions cause the bodily changes in the spectator. Carroll claims that “emotions require cognitions as causes and bodily states as effects” (23 - 27). This is a phenomenological process that involves the spectator and his or her world and the film and the world of the film (Laine 1). Still, Laine makes a distinction between bodily sensations and emotional sensations. To use my example of the emotional scene, my bodily sensation would be me tearing up and my emotional sensation would be that I feel for the characters because I understand their story. According to Laine, affective appraisals are bodily changes. Emotional evaluation collects this affective appraisal and gives meaning to it and memorises it (Laine 2). Thus, when I am tearing up during the moving scene, I know that this is caused by the emotional state I am in. Laine argues that the focus should be on both elements. The combination of an affective appraisal and emotional evaluation is called the cinematic emotion. A film tries to keep the audience emotionally engaged by being an emotional product itself. Since people are emotional beings, the film is able to capture the attention and fascination of the viewer.
Alongside the phenomenological connection between cognitive and bodily states, there is the phenomenological relationship between the spectator and the film. Barker is interested in the way a film can blur the boundaries between the spectator’s world and the film’s world (72). She studies this via ‘muscular engagement’, which is visual. Barker argues that the spectator and the film are both muscular bodies and that they are in a muscular relationship with each other. This relationship is possible because the viewer’s body and the film’s body move in similar ways (Barker 73). The body of the film makes the same movements that a human can make, and the viewer, in turn, can mirror the muscular movements of the film (Barker 77). Because of this, the spectator can be at two places at once, namely here, in the physical world we inhabit, and there, in the world of the film (Barker 72). Through the aesthetic elements, the film invites us to be part of its world. This is why a film can capture us so fully. It makes us feel like we are part of the filmic world. The following statement points to why an audience can have such strong emotions and feelings when watching film: "The phenomenon of feeling, if not being, physically in two places at once is a hallmark of the cinematic experience” (Barker 83 – 84). This is why the spectator can become immersed in the film. An important and highly emotional and frightening scene in The Conjuring illustrates Barker’s claim
about the musculature relationship perfectly. One of the characters, the young girl Christine, wakes up at night and feels that something is wrong. She first looks under her bed. Via a point of view shot from Christine’s perception, we see the bedroom door slightly moving. Christine’s face is shown in the next shot. Thereafter, she sits upright in bed. The camera makes the same movement as she does, which causes a fast turning movement. Although this is somewhat disorienting, we still know it is similar to Christine’s movement and also movements we ourselves are able to make. This contributes to the feeling of being ‘there’ in the room with Christine. It ensures that the boundary between my world and the world of the film is blurred, for this aesthetic makes me part of the filmic world. I will come back to this scene and discuss it elaborately in the next chapter.
A similar argument to Barker’s is formulated by Elena del Río in her article “The Body as Foundation of the Screen”, in which she discusses the relation between different screens and the body (95). She claims that the viewer has to overcome the gap between him or her and the screen to form a proper relationship (del Río 106). This can be said about the spectator and the film, but also about the characters in the film that are watching something on a screen. This occurs often in found footage horror films. This situation can be called a ‘mise-en-abyme’, which means a film within a film. A mise-en-abyme adds more cinematic layers to the film and, consequently, creates an intriguing cinematic construction. This is especially interesting when analysing films that incorporate found footage into the diegesis, but still mostly employ a classical film style. In films like Sinister and The Ring, the protagonists watch found footage, just like the spectator, and they also react in a similar way. Due to the musculature movements in the footage within the film, the characters that are watching this footage develop a muscular relationship with it. They respond physically and cognitively. This is similar to the position of the spectator; he or she is related to the film and to the footage within the film. Due to this mise-en-abyme, there are two filmic layers in the film, which are connected to each other. This creates a complex cinematic experience. I will return to this argument in the following chapters.
The connection between the film and the viewer can also break. This can happen during disruptive moments, for example, when we are startled in a horror film. At that moment we realize that we are watching a film. The combination of overwhelming music, fast editing and a scary image, is able to cause such a ‘startling effect’. We are confronted with the filmic construction. After this startling moment, the spectator says to him- or herself that “it is just a movie” (Barker 88 – 90). This is of course disastrous for the emotional response that the film wants to evoke. Films have to find a way to deal with these disruptive moments. Horror films aim to frighten the viewer and thus have a lot of these moments that could break the connection with the spectator. A horror film can deal with this by maintaining and enhancing the tension instead of giving the spectator a moment to
breath after a terrifying scene. That way, the viewer remains uptight and his or her attention stays fixed to the screen.
Smith points out that emotions not only direct the way in which we respond, they also direct the way in which we gather information when watching a film (113). They guide the attention of the spectator (Carroll 28). This is the case in real life, but also in fiction films. In a supernatural horror film we look for clues that prove the presence of the monster and in a detective film we look for clues that reveal the mystery. The opening sequence of a film is important since it tells the viewer what kind of film he or she is watching. Cinematic aesthetics immediately set a certain tone. Consequently, they work as clues for determining the genre. Thomas Elsaesser and Malte Hagenar mention that opening sequences and scenes provide watching instructions for the spectator; the opening scene gives a sense of what the rest of the film will be like (42). Thus, the opening of a film immediately directs our attention and establishes a particular mood. When we recognize this mood, we look for more clues and stimuli (Smith 113). For example, the eerie mood that is established in a horror film will direct the attention of the viewer to frightful objects and events in the film, which will then help sustain the eerie mood. Moods and emotions are created and emphasized by the aesthetic style of the film. Smith names facial expressions, lighting, editing, cinematography, music, sounds, narrative situations and the mise-en-scene as important indicators of the mood and tone of a film (115). These filmic elements work together to guide our attention to particular aspects.
Carroll states that filmmakers direct the attention of the viewer by making salient what they want the viewer to notice. In fiction films, then, the viewer is guided by his or her emotions that are called upon by the film and thus by the filmmakers. The difference is that, in real life, we are only guided by our emotions. In fiction films the filmmakers obviously guide us, since they created the film in such a way that it makes us feel something (Carroll 29). In other words, certain techniques will help evoke certain emotions. Laine uses Carroll’s concept of a ‘criterially prefocused’ text to describe this. She explains that a criterially prefocused text directs our attention to specific details in a film, making some elements more salient than others (Laine 33 – 34). Carroll explains in A Philosophy of Mass Art that a criterially prefocused text will evoke the apt emotions in the spectator (264). He proposes that a criterially prefocused film can elicit an emotional response from the viewers if the audience is encouraged to feel concern for the developments in the story and the characters. If the film elicits an emotional response in the viewer, this involves creating an emotive focus in the audience. This emotive focus then guides the spectator in his or her viewing experience on a moment-to-moment basis (Carroll 33). By structuring filmic elements in a particular way, the film radiates certain emotions and emotional states. Laine goes even further by saying that films embody emotions and not just express them. Films have a specific structure, which she calls the
‘emotional core’ of the film. This emotional core is affective and interwoven with the cinematic experience (Laine 3). She also argues that without this affective quality, or emotional core of the film, the spectator cannot be engaged with what he or she is watching (Laine 4). The emotional core tries to capture and sustain the attention of the spectator. The spectator will not be interested in the film if the emotional core is not fascinating enough.
Another interesting point Carroll makes concerns the plausibility of the narrative. He argues that emotions are governed by criteria of appropriateness. For us to feel fear, we must believe that the situation or monster is dangerous and harmful (Carroll 30). In other words, the appropriate feeling when watching a scary monster onscreen is fear. If the monster meets the criteria to be fearful, the film is emotively prefocused and the attention of the viewer will get emotively charged. This shapes his or her expectation and anticipation of what is coming (Carroll 30). Thus, if the opening has captured my attention, the narrative has to be fascinating and plausible if the film wants to keep my attention. I will only find the monster believable as a monster if it is truly harmful and dangerous. This way, the film will evoke the appropriate emotion within me, namely fear. Taken together, this will create certain expectations in me that concern the remainder of the film.
Next to certain criteria that have to be met to create a particular emotion, sound and the combination of sound and visual imagery are of significant importance when it comes to eliciting emotions. This atmosphere is, logically, an important aspect of how the spectator perceives the film and what kind of emotions it evokes within him or her. Laine claims the following: “Every sound, musical or non-musical, can carry emotional information that is resonant in nature and to which our ears are attentive” (66 – 67). Thus, sound and music, in combination with visual imagery, keeps the attention of the spectator to the screen. Laine goes further by saying that sound and music invite the spectator to tune in with the film (67). By doing this, the spectator is both where he or she literally and physically is and within the world of the film. Sound is able to blur the boundaries between the world of the film and the world of the viewer. This is similar to Barker’s argument concerning the musculature relationship between the film and the viewer. The combination of visual imagery and sound obviously works best to blur the cinematic boundaries. Laine mentions that sound can blur these boundaries because it elicits particular emotions within the viewer, which keeps his or her attention to the screen. According to Jeff Smith, music and sound work as an emotional stimulus and can signify and enhance emotions within the spectator (147 – 148). It can also signify how the character is feeling, set the mood and evoke an emotional response (Smith 167). Hence, music is crucial when it comes to indicating what the character is feeling and also when it comes to generating a feeling within the spectator. Music enhances the combination of feelings of the character and feelings of the viewer. This makes the cinematic experience emotional. Furthermore,
Laine claims that sound and music are related to touch or tactility. In other words, we can actually feel sound in our flesh (Laine 80). Think of when you are frightened by a horror film because of the scary imagery and loud sounds; the sound or music enhances the horrifying image onscreen, which creates a fearful experience that you can feel in your whole body.
§ 1.2 Horror and Suspense
The defining trait of the horror genre is the aim to horrify the audience. Rick Worland argues that a horror film can evoke deep psychological fears in the audience (7). Horror films try to achieve this by taking over the spectator (Laine 12). However, this fear of being taken over is mostly irrational. In other words, the fear that we have for the monster in a horror film, on the condition that it is nonhuman, is irrational (Worland 12). This explains why the viewer must be fully engaged with the film to be truly scared. To understand how a horror film can achieve this, we must take a look at the suspenseful element in horror films.
Horror
There are many types of horror films. Think of supernatural horror, slashers, torture porn, psychological horror, zombie films, gothic horror, science fiction horror and action horror films. Indeed, the horror genre contains many subgenres and of course, these subgenres are often mixed and combined. For this reason, it is difficult to give an exact definition of the horror film. Hutchings states that horror films do not have a specific style, distinctive iconography or a particular setting. The genre of the horror film is profoundly eclectic (Hutchings 6). Although I do not intend to give an exact definition of the genre, it is useful to list some of its main traits. Maria Pramaggiore and Tom Wallis list some of the most important characteristics of horror films in Film. A Critical Introduction. One of the most important and crucial characteristics of the horror film is the monster, may it be human, a ghost, a demon or an inhuman creature such as a vampire or a werewolf. Furthermore, the authors argue that the first act focuses on the central characters in the narrative. The last act, or the climax of the film, mostly consists of the confrontation between the protagonist(s) and the monster (Pramaggiore and Wallis 383 – 384). This is the case in each of my case studies. Pramaggiore and Wallis also mention that the resolution of the plot often remains open in contemporary horror films (284). If the film proves to be successful, a sequel can always be made. Moreover, films of a particular genre share visual techniques. Pramaggiore and Wallis name low-key lighting, extreme camera angles, distorted lines and chiaroscuro as salient visual techniques in the horror genre (284). Still, these elements do not suffice for characterizing the salient aesthetics in contemporary horror
films. Not all horror films contain these techniques and yet they are still considered horror films. Found footage horror films are an example of this. However, it should be noted that the found footage horror film is a subgenre and a hybrid of different film genres, which explains the various aesthetics. I reject a generalisation of the horror film since it does not do any justice to such a diverse genre. Later on, Pramaggiore and Wallis argue that, as I previously insisted, horror can also be defined by the emotional response it elicits within the viewers, and not by conventions (386). This view is indeed much more appropriate to describe the horror genre.
Thus, all types of horror films want to elicit one particular emotion within the audience: fear. This particular emotion is the emotive address of a film and it is mostly obviously present in genre films (Carroll 34). According to Carroll, genre films are dedicated to evoking a specific set of emotions. If this emotion, fear for instance, is not being addressed, the film is unproductive. The criterion that has to be met for the viewer to feel fear is harmfulness (Carroll 38). The film thus must contain harmful prospects and situations. The monster embodies this harmful aspect. Monsters are harmful because they are a threat to the safety of the characters (Carroll 38). Hutchings points to the fact that a monster is only a monster when it is dangerous and harmful (34). And because of this, monsters are frightening. Later on, he also suggests that the sense of otherness is an important aspect of the monster. This otherness is a threat to the normal (Hutchings 96). Another characteristic of monsters is that they are disgusting because they are impure and not natural (Carroll 39 and Hutchings 35). I would insist then, that the monster embodies the emotive address in a horror film for it generates fear within the viewers and the protagonists. Laine makes a similar argument when she states that the emotional core of a horror film is evilness or malevolence (5). Since the monster embodies evilness, it is also the emotional core of the film. The emotional core is closely related to the emotive address of the film; they cannot exist without each other. Because the monster represents both the emotive address and the emotional core, the way a monster is designed and structured is crucial for the potential success of the film.
In many horror films, monsters represent the emotional core, evilness, by taking someone over or attempting to do this. Laine gives a number of examples of films that represent this, like The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Philip Kaufman, 1978) (14). However, contemporary horror films also embody this fear of being taken over. Insidious and The Amityville Horror are examples of films in which an evil presence wants to take over a character. Martin Buber mentions that, just as the characters are taken over and overwhelmed by an evil presence, we are taken over and overwhelmed by the film (44). For we are so immersed in the film, the narrative becomes overwhelming. In the end, this is what makes the horror film and the monster overpowering.
Other aspects that are often present in a suspenseful horror film are hope and curiosity. Hope has to do with the structure of narrative information and not so much with whether the main characters are sympathetic or not (Laine 28). We, the spectators, hope for a particular ending. Therefore, we keep watching the film to find out how the story will develop and end: we are curious. Laine explains that this curiosity turns into ‘morbid curiosity’ when hope is no longer important (28). Elias Baumgarten explains in his article “Curiosity as Moral Virtue” that in these cases, curiosity is inappropriate and therefore immoral and voyeuristic. During this shift, the spectator is keener to satisfy his or her aesthetic desire than his or her moral desire (Laine 29). This choice between aesthetic and moral desire is particularly easy if the protagonist is not very sympathetic or empathetic. Although characters are often of significant importance when it comes to hope and curiosity for the outcome of the story, a film can still be fascinating if the characters are not particularly likeable. For instance, the protagonist of Sinister is not someone who is very sympathetic or empathetic. And yet I am still fascinated by him and by the narrative. I will come back to this later.
Characters in horror films are, of course, often afraid of the monster that is haunting them. Hutchings argues that scared characters show the audience how to react to what is onscreen (149). Scared characters show us signs of fear via their actions and facial expressions. Thus, the reactions of the characters to the frightful event show the viewer how to react properly. Therefore, the performance of the actor plays an important role in how the spectator responds to the film. Similarly, Plantinga mentions in his article “The Scene of Empathy and the Human Face on Film” that scenes wherein the film focuses on the protagonists’ face communicate information about how he or she is feeling, but also, and more importantly, elicit empathetic emotions in the viewer (239). This is similar to the function of music in films, which I explained earlier. The emotion we see on someone else’s face is contagious. This is true in real life as well as when watching a film (Plantinga 242). Moreover, we sometimes mimic facial expressions (Plantinga 243). When watching a horror film, it is more likely that we experience the emotion of fear when the characters onscreen also experience this emotion and we can see this on their faces. The Conjuring, for instance, relies heavily on the performances of the characters. Their facial expressions do not only show us how we should react, they elicit fear in itself. This will be elaborately discussed in the following chapter. Still, Plantinga notes that the scene wherein the focus is on the character’s face is not sufficient for eliciting an empathetic or sympathetic response within the spectator. The narrative is the foundation for sympathy and empathy. This means that the narrative must first be properly structured and built. Besides, for a scene of empathy to work, the context must be morally proper and contain a good deal of information about the character in question (Plantinga 251 – 253). Only then the scene of empathy will work as it is supposed to. Thus, the viewer must first establish a relationship with the character
onscreen. According to Vittorio Gallese we can only share emotions with others when we have a relationship with them. He calls this the ‘shared manifold’: through the shared manifold the spectator can connect with the film and its aesthetic film style (Gallese 42). Plantinga nonetheless argues that an empathetic response depends on the film style (253). This means that the aesthetics of the film contribute to the relationship the viewer has with the characters. I emphasize that the aesthetics of the film and the shared manifold sustain, enhance and interact with each other. Still, only when the relationship between the viewer and the character is established, it is possible for emotions to be contagious. However, if we do not feel affinity for the protagonist, we can still find the film scary. We just do not feel fear for the protagonist.
Next to the narrative, the monster and the characters, the mood of the film is an important element of a horror film and crucial for evoking fear within the viewer. The film establishes the appropriate mood by using the proper visual and auditory clues. This can be sustained by incorporating, to use Greg M. Smith’s words, ‘emotional outbursts’ in the densely informative text that the horror film stands for (Smith 124). After an emotional outburst, the tension will build up again whereupon another emotional outburst will follow. This way the eerie mood in the film will be sustained and emphasized. This explains the characterization of a horror film as a ‘roller-coaster ride’. The interaction between moods and emotions shapes our experience of the cinematic event (Smith 117). A film is not able to generate a great response if the mood and emotions are poorly developed and structured. A horror film can only be scary and startling if the mood is well established and truly sinister.
Visual and auditory techniques establish and contribute to the mood and tone of the film. Consequently, they also contribute to the uncanny atmosphere, which is a meaningful aspect of the mood in a horror film. Although Worland does not address the concept of the uncanny, he does succeed in giving a proper definition of the term. Worland accurately captures the meaning of the uncanny atmosphere in a horror film: “[…] the horror film seems to exist in a fictional world at once highly familiar and quite removed from the everyday experience of most people” (16). Hutchings points to the German word where the word uncanny originates from, which is ‘unheimlich’. The term umheimlich points to something being simultaneously strange and homely. According to Hutchings, the English word uncanny lacks this resonance (69). A film can make sure that the spectator experiences an uncanny feeling because of the supernatural events in the narrative. Moreover, the uncanny can also be a process wherein secrets or memories come back to life. Hutchings adds that this is often dramatized via the house and the representation of the house in the film (73). This is all perfectly demonstrated in The Shining as well as in the contemporary film Insidious. The house, or rather home, of the family plays an important role in Insidious. The home is the place where the
family belongs and where everything ‘feels’ familiar. If this is also the place where the horrifying and demonic events take place, the home becomes a terrifying place, which, in the end, does not function as a safe haven anymore. When it becomes disrupted, the harmonious and innocent family also becomes disrupted. As the story of Insidious develops, the protagonists move to another house to escape from the terrifying happenings. However, this is in vain, since the frightful events do not stop. The new house occurs in a dream of one of the characters. This dream is visualized in an eerie and sinister way. The camera glides slowly through the dark house, the doors are creaking and a nervous voice-over is describing the dream. Although the house should be a safe haven, in this instance it is a frightful place. The climax of the film partly takes place in a different and rather ghostly dimension. The first house of the family is present in this other world. This time, it is even more uncanny than it already was and it presents one of the protagonists with frightening obstacles. It is clear that houses are important elements in Insidious. They contribute greatly to the ubiquitous uncanny atmosphere, since they are both homely and strange for the protagonists. This is especially true for the house in the other dimension, since the protagonist is simultaneously looking at his old house and yet he is not. Both for him and for the spectator, this is uncanny and unnerving.
Another visual aspect that is crucial in film is the camera, and more importantly, the visual possibilities it possesses. This visual aspect is able to capture and maintain the attention of the spectator. The Shining is a famous example of a film that explores the possibilities of the camera. Laine focused specifically on the camera in her analysis of The Shining. The camera follows the little boy Danny when he is cruising through the hallways in the huge and empty hotel where he lives with his parents. Laine claims that the camera is associated with a malevolent presence that is following Danny. Even in the opening sequence this is already demonstrated, for the camera follows the car that is driving to the hotel from high above, like a haunting presence (Laine 13). This camera technique in The Shining functions as a so-called ‘pure point of view’. Laine explains that this is the POV of a presence and not of a person, which is the case when the perceptual POV is used. The pure POV is threatening and scary because it is beyond our control. We share the POV with an evil presence through this camera technique (Laine 20). This is disturbing for the spectator. Hutchings adds that this kind of POV shot adds more suspense to the situation onscreen (197). This cinematic technique is used in many horror films, for instance in The Conjuring and Sinister, which I will demonstrate later on.
Another technique that is often used in horror films is the combination of a POV shot with a reaction or response shot. This way, it appears as if the spectator is seeing the same way as the character does (Murray Smith 417). Laine claims that, because of this, the spectator becomes aware of the emotions and perceptions of the character (25). Due to the immediacy of this process, it is
overwhelming for the spectator. It ensures that the spectator is ‘there’ with the character (Laine 26). This is similar to Barker’s phenomenological statement that a film can ensure a muscular relationship with the spectator through filmic aesthetics. Clearly, every cinematic aesthetic aims to pull the viewer into the world of the horror film, for that is the place where the frightening events are most terrifying.
Suspense
Because the case studies in this research are, what I call, suspenseful horror films, I will now look at some characteristics of suspense. In Passionate Views, Carroll claims that suspense is future-oriented (43). This means that a narrative or situation can only be suspenseful if the outcome is still unclear, since this will be revealed in the future. Another important element for a situation to be suspenseful is probability. Something is only suspenseful if the outcome that the viewer prefers is not probable (Carroll 43). For a film to be suspenseful, then, the outcome must be unclear and improbable. Furthermore, the viewer must care about the narrative and the characters. If the spectator does not feel any concern, he or she would not be interested in the film and consequently he or she would not feel any suspense. To obtain the attention from the viewer, the filmmaker plays with morality. If a character is presented as morally correct, his or her views and perceptions are accepted by most people and therefore also by most viewers. This way the spectator feels connected to the characters for they share similar views and perceptions. To put it differently, we feel allegiance for them (Carroll 44 – 45). If we follow Carroll’s view, morality, a future-oriented outcome and improbability are the criteria for a film to be suspenseful and fearful.
Often, the empathy and sympathy the viewer feels for the characters are crucial for eliciting a response. However, Laine argues that cinematic emotions are not the same as the empathy and sympathy that the spectator feels for the characters (Laine 5). You could say that a spectator can be emotionally engaged with a film without necessarily feeling sympathy and/or empathy for the characters. Laine claims that a suspenseful film sometimes relies more on story information and the flow of the narrative than on feeling affinity for a character (28). Pisters also states that the structure of the narrative adds suspense and keeps the attention of the audience to the screen (79). I agree with these statements for I can find stories fascinating while not feeling affinity, sympathy or empathy for the characters. For instance, the main character in Sinister, Ellison Walt, is not exactly a character you easily feel affinity for. Nevertheless, Sinister is suspenseful due to the structure of the story and the monster.
Although improbability, morality and a future-oriented outcome are often present in suspenseful films, there are also suspenseful films that do not contain these characteristics. A film
that does not contain these elements, and yet is very suspenseful, is Rush (Ron Howard, 2013). This film does not support Carroll’s claims about what makes a film suspenseful. But it does support Laine’s statements about cinematic aesthetics and emotions. The film tells the true story of two legendary Formula One racing drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda. During the course of the film, we focalize alternately with Hunt and Lauda. The characters are intriguing, which is why I keep watching intently. However, they do not necessarily evoke sympathy or empathy within me. There are scenes in which the characters are sympathetic, for example the scene wherein Hunt beats a journalist who asked Lauda a nasty and immoral question about how his wife responded to his burnt face. Although Hunt and Lauda are enemies on the racetrack, Hunt shows his moral side by standing up for his colleague. Still, these small bits of morality do not dominate the film. Rush thrives on the rivalry between Hunt and Lauda, which is constantly highlighted by the exciting Formula One races as well as the provocative conversations between the two in which they challenge each other. Here, of course, the drivers do not come across as empathetic or sympathetic. The film contains many suspenseful scenes wherein the two protagonists race against each other and try to win the world championship. The music, the sound of the engines, the slow-motion shots, close-ups and extreme close-ups of the characters and different parts of the cars a few moments before the race, build up the tension enormously. When the race starts, the music explodes, as well as the sounds of the engines. The slow motion shots make place for fast editing and we can see close-ups of the protagonists as well as occasional POV shots. This aesthetic structure generates cinematic emotions and contributes to the tight grip the film has on the audience.
Next to the future-oriented outcome that characterizes suspense, Carroll claims that probability and morality are important elements in a suspenseful film (Carroll 43). However, Rush is a biographical film, meaning that the viewer can know the outcome of the story. Moreover, this film is not about morality and the protagonists do not embody morally correct people. Thus, I argue that a film can be suspenseful for the spectator even when he or she knows the outcome and even when the characters do not embody morality per se. Since the aesthetics of the film evoke a feeling of suspense in the viewer, this also explains why you can still feel suspense when watching a film that you have already seen.
Another element that can create suspense in a horror film is the moment when the evil monster is revealed. According to Worland, the audience watches a horror film to see the monster. But the moment when the monster is revealed is paradoxical. On the one hand we are fascinated by it and on the other hand we fear it (Worland 9). It depends on the ability of the filmmaker, the aesthetics and the structure of the narrative, whether the reveal will be productive in frightening the viewer or not (Hutchings 128). If all this is done in a good way, the monster can be extremely
terrifying. If it is not, the reveal can be a disappointment for the spectator. Unfortunately this happens often. The Possession and Jessabelle are two recent examples of suspenseful horror films that contained a ‘disappointing’ monster. Moreover, the evil creature in Jessabelle was made explicit too soon which, in combination with the disappointing appearance, did not do any good to the narrative and the suspense. To avoid this from happening, some filmmakers choose to not show the monster at all and instead address the imagination of the viewer. This is the case in The Blair Witch Project and the Paranormal Activity-series. But if we follow Worland’s claim that the spectator wants to see the monster and therefore watches the horror film, we must say that these films should be a disappointment for the audience, since the monster is not shown. However, these films are suspenseful and well received among the targeted audience. This statement thus does not correspond with all horror films. Nonetheless, it is possible to make the monster explicit without losing the suspenseful and frightening atmosphere. Director James Wan is able to maintain this in The Conjuring after making the monster explicit. He even enhances the suspense and fear by doing so.
As I already mentioned, filmic elements that contribute immensely to suspense are music and sound. Unexpected sounds, which are regularly present in horror films, can indicate an unknown and potentially dangerous presence; it tells us that something is wrong (Hutchings 129). Sound and music often embody a presence in horror films, which adds suspense to the moment. The low rumbling sound in Paranormal Activity, for instance, signifies the presence of the evil entity. Besides, this sound is the only non-diegetic sound in the film, which makes it even more significant and noteworthy for the spectator. The sound adds suspense to the scene and we are simultaneously curious and frightened. We anxiously gaze at the screen to see what will happen. The importance of sound becomes even clearer when you turn off the sound when watching a horror film. The suspense and eerie atmosphere, as well as the frightening shocks, immediately become rather silly and not scary at all. Hutchings mentions that sound has the ability to create the startle effect (134). The sudden sound can startle the spectator even more than the image does. A combination of a gruesome image and a startling sound obviously works best to scare the spectator. Sound and music can evoke emotions and thus contribute to the emotional response. Hutchings also addresses silence and quietness. These powerful sound effects signify that something is about to happen (147). The moment before an emotional outburst, the music often stops and everything becomes quiet. We listen intently, hold our breath and wait anxiously. Then, the combination of dramatic music and a terrifying image startle us enormously, even though we knew that something was about to startle us. This is perfectly demonstrated in Insidious. The scene in which one of the characters describes her eerie dream is scary, but not yet dramatic. Instead, it builds up the tension. I can see this in the nervous faces of the two protagonists who are listening and I can feel it in myself. Then, the music
fades away and we hear a crackling sound that we associate with the malevolent presence, for we heard it only moments before when the monster was near in the dream. The next shot contains the frightening monster. The shot is accompanied with loud music and a terrifying growl. This combination of eerie images, close-ups of the characters, a well-developed atmosphere and music and sounds creates an overwhelming startle effect.
§ 1.3 Found Footage Horror Film
Suffice is to say that horror has been a popular genre for a long time and still is today. According to Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell, even low-budget horror films without any known actors can be successful, which was proven in the 2000s (671 – 672). They name a few films to demonstrate their point1. A film they do not name is Paranormal Activity, which actually is a textbook example of a highly successful and popular low-budget horror film without well-known actors. Another example of a successful low-budget horror film without any known actors is The Blair Witch Project. This film was brilliantly promoted online, months before its release. The website made it seem as if the story was real. Worland states that the film style of The Blair Witch Project heightened the feeling of truth and reality that surrounded the film (114). This, of course, contributed to the mysterious and eerie aura of the film. The Blair Witch Project became highly popular and was the beginning of a wave of found footage horror films that followed a few years later. A found footage horror film can be made with a low budget. Therefore, this kind of film is ideal for filmmakers that still have to prove themselves in the industry. Although a lack of budget can work against the filmmakers, a found footage horror film turns this in one of the main selling points of the film, along with their unprofessional look (Thompson and Bordwell 691). Thompson and Bordwell state that these DIY films can be seen as a counter-reaction to mainstream cinema (692). However, because of the popularity of the first found footage horror films, I argue that the subgenre has become part of mainstream horror and mainstream cinema.
There are also horror films that incorporate found footage in the narrative and the diegesis. The Ring and Sinister are mainstream horror films that contain found footage. This footage is crucial for the course of the narrative. Worland remarks the blurring boundaries between media and reality in The Ring (116). The film contains a strange and eerie videotape that seems to be the cause of multiple deaths. Journalist Rachel investigates this video because it seems to have something to do with the death of her niece. She finds out that Samara, the young girl that appears in the video, is
1 Thompson and Bordwell name Saw (James Wan, 2004), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Marcus Nispel, 2003), Halloween (Rob Zombie, 2007) and The Grudge as examples of low-budget horror films that proved to be successful. Respectively, the budgets of the films are estimated at $1,2 million, $9,5 million, $15 million and $10 million (IMDb).
