Conspiracy Thriller Films

• Salt
• Bourne Identity
• JFK
• From Hell
• Enemy of the State 

Convention - Always a mystery to solve but protagonist always face problems and scandals in order to solve the mystery.

Bourne Identity - In the 'Bourne Identity', the mystery is that a man is trying to find out about his identity, all he knows is that his name is Jason Bourne, however whilst discovering about his identity, he finds out that someone is tracking him done and is not happy that he is alive. This tells us that whilst trying to discover his identity, he is facing problems and that is someone wants to kill him.

From Hell - In 'From Hell', two men are investigating on a serial killer who targets prostitutes. Fred Abberline and his partner Peter Godley try to solve this mystery, as to why this man is killing prostitutes however whilst solving it before Abberline's love Mary, he comes across many problems and more difficulties towards the investigation.

JFK - In 'JFK', Jim Garrison re-opens the files of the assassination of President Kennedy and takes a close look at it. He then starts investigating which he shouldn't be doing as a lot of authoritative figures are involved and because of this, it may cause a problem in his investigation.

Convention - Based on historical events and real life people 

Salt - In 'Salt', the conflict shown is between Russia and the U.S. As because the Russian president was killed, the Russians send an agent to get back at the U.S. However the CIA believe that one of their agent is working for the Russians and then gets track down. This shows that it is based on historical events.

JFK - This is based on the assassination of President Kennedy who is an authoritative figure. Jim Garrison tries to investigate the reasons for the assassination as it was someone with a lot of power. This shows that it is based real life people because people in power or in a high status often get killed.

Enemy of the State - In the 'Enemy of the State', a lawyer Robert Dean runs into his old pal who secretly slips in a disc without him knowing. After his pals death, everyone wants to get to that disc as it contains footage of a political assassination but Robert does not know what it contains. This shows that it is based on real life people as authoritative figures often get assassinated.

Convention - Authorities involved in the mystery 

Bourne Identity -  In this the CIA are involved in the assassinations as they don't want anyone to know about their plans. Also because of the assassinations which is planned by the masterminds, the CIA, Jason gets trapped between it and is hard for him to escape.

Salt - The CIA agents that are involved in the conflict are trying to hunt down the Russian spy but they do not know  that Ted Winter who is supporting Evelyn is actually the Russian spy but in disguise. This is shown when he sets off missiles into Mecca so that people turn against the U.S as that's what Russia wants.

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Successful Horror Films - Part Two

Successful Films From 1960-2005

1. The Exorcist 
2. Scream
3. The Evil Dead
4. Night Of The Living Dead
5. Shutter

Primal Fears 

Conventional Fears - Fear on being preyed upon

The Exorcist - Fear of being preyed upon is being shown in this film and this is because the little girl Regan, who is possessed and if anyone comes near her she attacks them violently as to which people don't stay in contact with her as they don't want to be harmed.

Scream - The same fear goes for this film too and that is the fear of being preyed upon. This is shown in this film because a teenage girl who has been stalked and whose class mate that has been killed feels that she is the next target and she is. This means that the serial killer will go after her and now she knows, she will try to escape.

Characters 

Conventional Characters - Child/children often involved 

Scream - A child who is someone's classmate gets killed by a serial killer, the character which is conventional shown here is the child and it shows that in horror films, a child or children are often shown or included as it reflects the social fears.

The Exorcist - The main character in here is a little girl who is Regan, the reason why she is a conventional character is because she is a possessed child. In horror films there are possessed child/children's and this is because it reflects on today's society and the socio-economic society.

Plot Events 

Conventional Plot Event - Someone is always attacked by a stranger, ghosts or demons or anyone linked to the past.

Scream - One main event is that a person is always targeted or is being stalked. This is often shown in films that strangers, ghosts and zombies always have preys and they always have someone to chase after and when they get to them, they kill them. This is one of the typical conventions shown in horror films.

The Evil Dead - The main event in this film is that the group of friends go to an abandoned and isolated area and demons come after them and start to target them by starting off with a girl who gets raped by trees.

Night of the Living Dead - A couple pays a visit to their fathers grave, but then one of them gets attacked by stranger and after they are attacked, it starts leading to other unexpected things.

Shutter - This film also has a typical plot event which is that someone always finds something related to the past and to find out about it, they would always get attacked in some way or another as they would want to be kept away from the truth. This is often shown in lots of horror films maybe because the past plays a big role in the present.

Successful Horror Films - Part One

Successful Film From The Past Decade 

• The Devils Backbone
• Antichrist
• The Descent 
• Session 9 
• [Rec]

Primal Fears

Conventional Fears - Fear of being preyed upon and fear of paralysis

The Devils Backbone - Fear of being preyed on is shown, as a person from the orphanage tells Carlos that the ghost decides who to kill and when to kill them. This creates fear as Carlos does not know who the ghost is after and so is scared that he might be the ghosts next prey.

Antichrist - Fear of paralysis and loss of control, this is shown in the horror film because after the couple lose their son, they stay in a cabin in the woods where there is a darker side of nature and as the wife is already in depression due to her sons death, she loses control when nature takes its course and things go bad to worse.

The Descent - Fear of being preyed upon, shown because the group that were in the cave were being chased by zombies and demons as to which they were scared if they might get preyed upon. Fear of paralysis was shown too, as it was a very defined cave they couldn't move much and escape.

Characters

Conventional Character - Mentally disturbed characters 

[Rec] - Another character is someone who is shown mentally disturbed and distressed, this is shown when a young TV reporter and her cameraman go and found out about it as the thought it would be a trapped lady but turned out to be a mentally disturbed woman. Often shown in horror films that someone is psychologically unwell.

Antichrist - The mother, after losing her son, turns mentally unwell and goes into depression, this is a typical character as in horror movies, people who are mentally unwell have disturbing things happening to them or making things happen similarly to [Rec].

Conventional Characters - Characters who often are involved with the past/ history

Session 9 - The characters that are shown are that a persons files are opened and then their past is reopened too and to discover that people find ancient coins but then disappear. There's always characters that have their past involved in the disturbing things that are happening as to which it becomes a convention of the horror films.
The Devils Backbone - A person from the orphanage tells  Carlos about the past incidents that has happened in the orphanage and how the ghost kills targeted people. Similar to Session 9, a character is involved who is linked to the past or knows about it and tells the main characters about it.

Plot Events

Conventional Plot Events - Couple, family or a group of people go to an abandoned house or forest and characters get trapped and not able to escape.

The Descent - The typical plot is that the group of friends go to an isolated and abandoned cave where unexpected things starts happening which is also similar to Antichrist as the couple goes to the abandoned forest. Another plot is that people often get trapped and here the group of friends get trapped in the cave and cannot get out.

[Rec] - Another typical plot is when the TV reporter and her cameraman are trapped in a building with a mentally disturbed woman and then things started going weird and freaky. This is typical in horror films as many people do get trapped and that starts to make them panic and then disturbing things happen. 
Antichrist - After the couples son dies, they move into the woods which is isolated and abandoned and they have been hearing weird and disturbing things about it and this is when nature unfolds everything. A typical event that happens in horror films which is that a family or a couple always move into a haunted,isolated or abandoned area.

Differences

The Devils Backbone is a Gothic horror film which means that there are more different ranges of conventions as the other films have different sub genres within it just like this film. One convention would be to include the goth language or culture within the horror itself.
Session 9 is a psychological horror film which means that there would always be a character involved that is mentally disturbed and that would be one of the main conventions compared to a Gothic horror film.
The Descent is a British horror film which means that within the horror film there would be British norms and values embedded to it and this would show British history. For example when the group went to a historical cave, that would link to Britain as it is associated with the history.
[Rec] is a Spanish horror film which means that all the background of the characters would be quite similar as the main culture of the film is the Spanish culture. Which means within the horror film there would be Spanish traditions and guidelines which maybe portrayed differently in the horror film.