Horror films; the last link between excitement and insanity. Our need for horror and the thrill of fear feeds our unconsciousness. Over the past century, the horror genre has evolved from the original Frankenstein in 1931, to Jaws in 1975. The horror style has changed, as well as the viewers appreciation has changed. It seems as though present day teenagers are not captivated at all by the classical horror films of this century. As a society we obsess on murder, death, and destruction; "the fun comes from seeing others menaced - sometimes killed-(King 648). The media glorifies these events and those individuals who are the cause, take for example the long followed lives of Charles Manson or Adolf Hitler. These are extremely evil people, yet we are so interested with their lives. How often is there something positive that is mentioned on the 6 o'clock news? It seems as though, that unless someone died or a building burned, people just wouldn't be interested. Stanley J. Solomon had a great view on why people are attracted by horror films, "our hidden wish to attempt everything and to survive unaltered, to get murdered without being murdered.""(671) Unfortunately, due to many of these aspects, the postmodern generation seems to be immune to violence and the classic horror genre. Classical horror films have become ineffective to the postmodern generation. Original horror movies do not promote fear in one's conscience, but acts more as a comic relief due to its content.
Horror films have gone unnoticed for about 20 years through the eighty's and ninety's. It is not the fact that people of this time weren't interested by horror, but simply that they wanted something new, exciting, and not predictable. Jay Boyar mentions that postmodern teenagers are fed up with the same old repetitive clichés (657). The old horror films consisted of too many fake, and unrealistic scenarios.
Horror: Can We Live Without It? ... What makes a good horror flick? ... (Solomon) In the best horror films, the source is either destroyed completely or left with the possibility of resurrection. ... There are situations that are classic in almost all horror movies. ... So does that mean we need this horror experience in our lives? ...
In my understanding of the gnosis and how it differed from the Orthodox teachings of Christianity deals with the resurrection of Christ. What was written about his resurrection opened the door to varied interpretation of what the disciples saw and felt. ... One of the early Christian writers Quintus Septimus Florens Tertullianus who was the initiator of ecclesiastical Latin defined the orthodox position: as Christ rose from the grave, so every believer should anticipate the resurrection of the flesh. ... Even Stephen King's current hit horror novels, "Desperation and The Regulators...
It was a glorious resurrection, from the tomb of slavery, to the heaven of freedom- (Douglass 299). ... In a letter to his former master, Douglass wrote, "I intend to make use of you as a weapon with which to assail the system of slavery "as a means of concentrating public attention on the system, and deepening their horror of trafficking in the souls and bodies of men- (Letter 20). ...
I remember the horror of the streets as the planes crashed into the twin towers last September. ... The beloved disciple, unlike the others, believes in the resurrection in the light of Jesus" absence. ... The very first believer in the resurrection, the first to believe in the triumph of God, came there by the same path that you and I do by not seeing the risen Christ. ...
African American tradition of social protest, and presence, and the resurrection of authentic history, seem to make the novel the root of postmodern fiction. ... Beloved brings back many memories, especially those that are related to the horror of the slave ships. ... The family has to deal with its death and the resulting horror that remain in their memories. ...
"Some horror had come almost to the surface and was about to burst into flames The world wavered and quivered and threatened to burst into flames" (15). These images of flames and horror serve as a metaphorical hell-on-earth, which Septimus hopes to escape. ...
With reference to a nightmare on elm street and scream discuss Wes craven's use of generic conventions Wes craven has made many successful horror films although his most famous ones are a Nightmare On Elm Street, which he made a sequel to called Wes Cravens the New Nightmare which is much better than the other sequels but not as good as the original In 1996 he finished scream, which is also a very successful film and like a Nightmare On Elm Street it spurred on sequels although craven directed all the Scream Trilogy he only directed two of the seven, nightmare on elm streets. ... C...
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a tale crafted two centuries ago "to awaken thrilling horror," is a story that speaks to deep fears and desires that lie at the heart of our response to biological science, tracing the history of the development of biological science and how it has been received and understood by the public in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. ... He is, perhaps, too logical and rational to believe in the mysticism of Christ and the Resurrection, and prefers the simplicity of "truth" and "beauty" in the cold equations of science. ...
A Pyramid is an enormous machine that helps the king go through the wall of the dead, achieve resurrection and live forever in the happiness of the gods. ... Several pharaohs died before their pyramids were completed, perhaps a cause of embarrassment or even horror among the populace. ...