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.