These films are: - Psycho (1960) - Man Bites Dog (1992) - American Psycho (2000) - and Gone Girl (2014) Psycho, Man Bites Dog, American Psycho and Gone Girl are all considered Psychological thrillers. They all have similar sub genres consisting of of Slasher, thriller, horror and mystery. Through analysing these films, I can demonstrate my earlier point that the prison genre can be delivered in a variety of ways, reflecting the society’s attitude and cultural and political differences at the time. Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock not only did it revolutionize the horror genre but it also played a huge part for psychological thrillers. Psycho’s plot structure played on the expectations of the audience by repeatedly introduced sympathetic protagonists, then killed them off.
There were also mannequins that were tied and posed as if they were degraded or tortured. The director of the film had a great job for using some strange things with storyline and time. 9. The Beyond (1981) The Beyond was an Italian surreal horror movie that was directed by Lucio Fulci. The plot of the story was about a haunted hotel that had a gateway leading to hell.
Now, because of this film, Gaslight (or Gaslighting) is known as “an extremely effective form of emotional abuse that causes a victim to question their own feelings, instincts and sanity, which gives the abusive partner a lot of power” (The National Domestic Violence Hotline). The term gaslighting has been transformed to mean what it does today due to the effectiveness of the film directed by George Cukor. This effectiveness was achieved through the usage of systematic cinematic photography, character development, and powerful performances by the actors. Though the cinematic shots of Gregory’s menacing shadows, and creeping hands enhance the sinister nature of his character. It is the dialogue and mannerisms that make the film successful.
Alfred’s Psycho was one to shift classic form of horror and lead to transformation of horror conventions. The horror genre used to involve “monster movies” where man battled with supernatural creatures. Hitchcock however portrayed the ‘monster’ as a soul living in the head of Norman bates. Psycho, taken from its name has psychological horror. The motivation of this production was to simply entertain people, giving them the fear experience they want.
Stan Maria The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Proto-Indie Phenomenon In his article, The American Nightmare – Horror in the 70s, Robin Wood tries to take the American horror movie and put it in a suggestive context, both historically and socially, exemplifying trough movies that made history by their violence, gore and the shock they created to the mental matrix of the society living in that age. He believes that trying to define those ages as the Golden Age of the American horror film is a brave thing to do, using comparisons for each of their characteristics: more gruesome, more violent, more disgusting, and perhaps more confused. He also believes that the core of the movie itself – the disturbance – is a crucial thing shared exhaustively
You may know about slasher films but did you know that it was influenced by the Italian giallo genre? Slasher films typically involve a violent psychopath stalker murdering several youthful people, usually with bladed tools whilst, Italian giallo films are inspired by horror thriller books sold in Italy in the mid-20th century. Viewed separately, as two individual genres, they both are very similar in their use of camera shots. The use of first-person shots from the killer’s point of view gives the addition the front row seats to the kill and hidden the killer identity. Close up shots emphasized on the victim's emotion and to objects that will play a part to the murderer psych.
These events’ inclusion are important due to the context and understanding that they grant readers unfamiliar with the text. Persepolis begins with an introduction to the Iranian Revolution, and the fall of the Shah. Satrapi shows us the burning of the Rex Cinema, an example of the Shah’s oppression (10/11). This is effectively showcased with a splash panel, which depicts the ghosts of those who died in the fire (15/2). This imagery is powerful - the deaths and pains of those inside are unimaginable; despite the difficulty in portraying this, Satrapi is able to communicate this through the illustrated facial expressions of the ghosts, along with the ghosts running towards the exits of the cinema.
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film Psycho redirected the entire horror genre, and in doing so dismantled the prudent 1950’s societal barriers of cinema. Although unseen for its potential by the large studios of the time, Psycho became one of the crowning achievements of film history. While based partially on a true story of murder and psychosis from Wisconsin, the widespread viewing of this tale made way for a new era of film and ushered in a new audience of movie goers. The use of violence, sexual explicitness, dramatic twists, sound, and cinematography throughout this film gave Hitchcock his reputable name and title as master of suspense. In 2018, reviews of films often are headlined with “the book was better.” But, in 1960 there was no such thing
As its name suggests postmodernism refers to a reaction to, as well as a certain rejection of modernism which contained an ‘optimistic belief in the benefits of science and technology to human kind’ (Hayward, 2000). Although postmodernism can never be clearly defined there are specific characteristics and techniques used in films that are attributed to the postmodern style of film-making. The film Natural Born Killers (1994) directed by Oliver Stone contains explicit examples of postmodern textual devices and the opening scene will be used as a case study illustrating the effectiveness and functions of such stylistic practices. In terms of visual techniques and cinematography the scene contains an intended reflection of a media consuming society. The first thing we hear is the song ‘Waiting for the Miracle’ by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer Leonard Cohen.
Body and Captivity in The Skin I Live In Almodóvar’s “The Skin I Live In” is the one different and outstanding thriller film which surprises the audience by the narration, which is interweaving of past and present and the unexpected ending. The highlighted point of this film is “body,” and “captivity.” Almodóvar uses the theory “Docile Bodies” written by Michel Foucault’s to presenting the theme of body manipulation, and provides cinematic techniques to present and reinforce the theme of captivity of this film. “Docile Bodies” is one chapter of Foucault’s work Discipline and Punish. In this chapter, Foucault talks about the body being disciplined. He gets the idea of the docile body when he was reading “a particular historical moment in eighteen centuries and reforms in practices of punishment—in which bodies became texts on which to inscribe dominant ways of doing things” (Stacey).