Personal film review

The Omen is a Horror/Mystery/Thriller which was produced in 2006 and was directed by John Moore.  The film is based around a man called Robert Thorn; he is informed at the start of the film that his wife Katherine has just lost her baby. Father Spilletto suggests he adopts another new born that lost his mother. Robert does so and names the boy Damien. Over the years Katherine realises he is evil and they are told he is the devil. They are shown evidence he is the anti-Christ and travel down to Megiddo to try and stop the boy.

The male hero in the movie is Richard Thorn where as his wife Katherine is the female victim and their son Damien in the Psycho killer. In the movie they use a lot of different key techniques such as montaging and parallel music which was used at the start of the movie when they showed Damien’s childhood. Collision cutting is used in the start of the film as well when the nanny hangs herself at Damien’s birthday party. Low key lighting and creepy, enclosed locations are often used at the same time in this movie such as in graveyard and the Priest’s home. Body horror is used much; one of the main uses of body horror is when the priest gets killed during the thunderstorm. Close-ups are used in the movie to show stress and upset, this is done when Katherine is in the hospital. The film ends with an open ending; this is because Damien is still alive at the end of the movie. The theme/ideology for this film I think is based on the fear of death to family; even though Damien is horrible his parents want to protect him.

One of the scenes that impressed me in the film is when the Nanny commits suicide; the collision cutting in this scene goes from slow to fast which draws you in. Another scene I liked from the film also uses collision cutting, this is when Richard is having a nightmare. I think that the collision cutting in this scene creates tension and slight confusion. The use of children in horror is unsettling; they always seem to look innocent as they are a child and this makes the audience have a connection which makes you feel worse when they kill someone. I would have liked to use this in my horror trailer but it would have been difficult to find a child to act.

Evaluation Screening

Personal film review

Stitches is a Horror comedy which was directed by Conor McMahon and was released in 2012. Stitches is about a Clown who comes back from the dead to haunt those who took his life 6 years before at a 10^th birthday party. The film has generic horror characters the main character Stitches is the Psycho Killer of the film, the male heroes are Tom and Vinny both of these boy have dark hair which fits the generic horror conventions. The final girl also fits the generic horror conventions, she is a dark hair called Kate, whereas the female victim in stitches is Sarah who is a blonde haired girl who is portrayed as a ‘slut’.  Generic horror conventions are well used in this movie, body horror is used a lot in the movie, and one example of this is the death scene of Stitches the Clown he falls on the knife sticking out of the dish washer and then pulls it out which releases a flow on blood on to 10 year old Tom. Another example of body horror being used is Sarah’s death scene; Stitched throws an umbrella through her eye which brings her eye out on to the tip of the umbrella. Enclosed creepy are used mainly throughout the film, as it is mainly set in Tom’s house at night or the graveyard. Both Contrapuntal music and Parallel music is used in the film, Contrapuntal clown music is played when Vinny’s ‘genitals are ripped off’ at school. Whereas Parallel music is played in the graveyard when Tom sees the clowns with the painted eggs when he was younger.  Lots of different types of shots were used in the film such as point of view shots; these were used whenever someone looked through the telescope in the tree house. Another type of shot used was close-ups, these where used a lot to create tension and show different emotions, an example of close-ups being used is after Tom falls down the stair after being chased by Paul dressed as Stitches, this was used to show Toms extreme fear of clowns. The flash backs are shown via montaging in the film an example of this is when Tom looks at the tree house and it flashes back to his birthday. The film contains a lot of scene with low key lighting, such as when Stitches rises from the grave and walks forwards, low key lighting is used this way to show the mood of the scene and to make it feel eerie. The ending of this film is an open ending, this is because there are 3 teens remaining and Stitches egg gets fixed at the end of the film.

The film was made in 2012 is up to date for context. The film shows how children grow up quicker in maturity since the 2000’s. The clown’s performance shows this as the 10 year olds do not find stitches funny and instead decide to play pranks/ torment him. This is also shown in the sequence 6 years later. The teenagers (16 years old) have also shown that people grow up quicker since the 2000’s as they drink, smoke and have premarital sex at the party. The film is also up to date with institutional context; the movie contains a lot of gore which correlates with people becoming more comfortable with gore so more movies are become more extreme to be able to keep the audience entertained/scared. Compared to movies made 30 years ago such as Dawn of the Dead (1979) the gore has become more realistic and more intense.

One of the scenes that impressed me most in this film is when Pauls head lands in the water, the slow motion effect used with shot is very effective. The face emerging out of the face at the end of this shot is unsettling because of how gradually it is shown. Another shot I was impressed with in the film is when Sarah gets killed, the detail of the body horror in the shot is well done and again the slow motion makes the scene more powerful. I would have liked to use slow motion kill shots in my trailer but I don’t think it would have worked with the pacing of the trailer. This film helped me decide that I wanted to avoid the comedy side of horror because it is really hard to portray correctly without the film seeming ‘cheesy’.

This image is from the film STITCHES, it is from the scene where Sarah gets killed by Stitches the clown. This scene contains a lot of body horror, the scene starts off with Sarah kicking her high heel into stitches neck and it then heeling over. She then tries to run away from him, this is where he throws the umbrella through her eye. This shot is in slow motion which gives the body horror used a dramatic gore effect. The scene uses low key lighting which gives the scene an eerie feeling from the start. Sarah is shown from a high angle when she tries to kill Stitches; this is shows that she has no power compared to Stitches. Contrapuntal music is played over the top of this scene; instruments like violins are used for this music to try build tension. 

This scene is where they escape from America and sail off on Steve’s boat. This ending goes against generic horror convention, as one of the final men is black and one of the final girls is blonde, this is not often seen in horror movies as strong white men are final men and dark hair women are final girls. This scene suggests an open ending to the movie as you don’t know what is going to happen afterwards, this leaves room for a sequel later on. 

This scene is from after they escape and have crashed one of the buses. This scene shows Ana as a strong female character. This is uncommon for horror movies as it goes generic horror conventions, the final girl who is a strong leading female is usually dark haired. This goes against Andre Bazin’s  ‘ The Genius of the  System’ as he believes that horror movies do so well not just because of the Auteur but because of generic horror conventions used in nearly all horror films.  Body horror is used a lot in this scene as it is towards the end of the movie and most people are zombies or are dead. Body horror is used when Monica dies via a chain saw accident; it is only show briefly as deaths that are not zombies are shown in great detail in Zombie films as you relate to the characters as they are normal people. 

This scene from DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004) is when they are in escaping from the zombies when they get into the mall.  The fast moving monsters are featured at the start of the scene running towards the survivors; fast moving monsters are used more often in the modern day horror film as they are scarier because they can keep up with you. In the scene leading up to the elevator there is a lot of non-direct screams and dialogue this is done to create a fear and panic.  Contrapuntal music is played once they are secured in the elevator, this goes against the mood of the scene and breaks the tension built up by the rush of the scene just before. 

This scene from DAWN OF THE DEAD is when the bikers start to raid the mall. Stephen is angry at what the bikers are doing and tries to take action. This is shown by him saying ‘It’s ours, we took it’, this is a way that Romero is trying to show consumerism / greed.  Later on after this scene Stephen dies, due to his greed and his desire to protect the mall by shooting at the bikers.

This all leads back to Peter saying, ‘They’re us, that’s all, when there’s no more room in hell the dead will walk the Earth.’ Stephen should be the hero in the movies as he his tall, good looking and has a high paying job, but Peter is the real hero in the movie. This links in the Romero as an “Auteur,” he often doesn’t use generic horror conventions for his character with in his movies. He explores using different types of people as main characters, such as Francine as the final girl. She is a blonde, pregnant final girl; this is unusual to see in a horror as the final girls are usually dark haired strong willed women. He does this to surprise the audience.  He also does this in DAY OF THE DEAD, where Bub the main zombie of the film turns out to be the real hero.

During this scene 70’s action music plays over the top, this is parallel music as it goes with the feelings of the scene. Medium and long shots are used throughout, so you can see the expressions and reactions on the characters' faces but still see the actions which are going on.

This scene from DAWN OF THE DEAD is when one of the bikers gets eaten by the zombies. This scene contains a lot of body horror and was a shock and thought to the audience due to the time. This level of body horror used in the film was very detailed and led to the film being released as “Unrated” in the USA. In the UK, some shots (such as the child zombies being shot) were also cut by the BBFC.  Yet it is still violent body horror, which was allowed to be experimented with more now since the Hay Code was lifted 11 years before the release of the film.

The creator of the special effects - Tom Savini - took inspiration from what he saw at Vietnam, this helped as the gore was used to grab people’s attention. He also used real cow entrails to accurately depict the horrors of body being ripped apart.

Close-ups are used in this scene mainly on the zombies' faces and the body horror, this is done so you can see the expression and emotionless of the zombies as they eat their victims. One key moment is when there is a shot in this scene of a zombie holding then letting go of the biker’s hand, this shot is close-up and is used to create emotion and the feeling that they have “motorised” actions of feelings, something mentioned by Dr.Roach earlier in the film.

This picture from DAWN OF THE DEAD (1979) is when they start collecting supplies from the mall. In this scene Romero is trying to debate the concept of consumerism and he is trying to put across the message that people are money and possession obsessed.  In this scene even though they are surrounded by zombies outside the mall and have no need for cash, they are still drawn to money and possessions. Romero has put contrapuntal cheesy mall “musak” over the top of this scene to show the consumers' way of life and to show they are acting as if nothing is going on in the world outside of the mall. Peter at the start of the scene says ‘you never know’ while taking the money, this shows that they still have hope for the future. As they leave the bank after taking the money they walk through the sectioned queue area. Even though they don’t have to as if it is out of habit, in a similar way to the zombies as they wander around the mall with the desire the still shop.

This scene links to Romero’s as an auteur as in each of his films he relates to the context of when he produced them. In this film he focuses on malls as in this time malls started become a big thing with in America and other countries. Whereas NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) is based around racism and DAY OF THE DEAD is based around American Government being obsessed with the military. Romero bases his moves on the context of the time that people choose to ignore. 

This scene from PSYCHO is where Arbogast gets murdered by ‘Mother’.  From the start if the scene parallel music is played to create tension. Collision cutting is use in the scene, it starts off moving very slow along with the music then when mother appears the music and scene gets quicker. Point of view shots are used a lot him this scene to make you feel more of a part of it. There are two points of views with in the scene, one from Arbogast when he walks into the house and then one from ‘Mother’ as Arbogast falls down the stairs. Handheld camera also is used in this scene during Mother’s point of view; this is used here so that the scene seems more hectic. Like Marion’s murder scene body horror is use as you see his face get slashed twice, but you don’t see the knife go into Arbogast which is using restricted narration at the bottom of the stairs. The Hays code stopped body horror from going over the top at the time as it was a way to censor movies; it was abandoned 8 years after Psycho was released.  Arbogast is viewed from a high angle throughout this scene, showing he has little power now, whereas the knife is viewed from a long angle showing power, the knife also shows male power as it is a phallic weapon

This scene from PSYCHO is Marion’s murder scene in the shower, where she is killed by ‘Mother’. This picture from the scene is lit by back lighting so that a silhouette is only shown; this is done so you can’t see the face of the killer. When the killer is first seen by Marion parallel music is played to make the scene more dramatic. Marion is killed by a phallic weapon; phallic weapons show male power and strength. Using a phallic weapon also is a way of showing Norman’s sexual frustration that was caused by his mother telling him that women are bad and so is sex. This scene is the first bit of body horror we see in the film, even though we don’t see the knife go into Marion blood is still shown. Collision cutting is use during this scene, it goes from fast shots and music while Marion is being stabbed to slower shots and music once the murderer leaves, this is done to create confusion and dramatic effect. This shows Hitchcock’s “auteur” influence as he uses collision cutting in various films that he has directed, such as The Birds. “Auteur Theory” was a concept originated by Andrew Sarris in his essay “Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962.” In this clip, we can see Hitchcock’s auteur status in the way he cleverly uses collision cutting. In the 1920s, when Hitchcock was learning to make films, he was particularly inspired by Soviet Montage films like Battleship Potemkin (1924). The scene uses a lot of close-ups to create confusion while Marion is being murdered; close-ups are also used afterwards to create tension.  

This scene from PSYCHO is when Norman and Marion talk in the office; this scene is lit by low key lighting to create larger, creepy shadows. Norman is shown at a low expressionist angle for the first time in this scene which shows a higher and creepy power. The birds on the wall are birds of prey, this is to symbolise that Norman kills women as he ‘stuffs birds’. In this scene Norman changes quickly when Marion mentions his Mother, the angle of Norman changes at this point and the lighting casts a shadow on to his face to represent the bad side of him. This shows his personality changing into his ‘mother’. When Norman changes in this scene there are more close ups used so you can see the expression on his face

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