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Film Research Paper Topics: Tips & Ideas to Use as Inspiration

Updated 11 Mar 2024

The most challenging part of writing a research paper might be picking the right topic. Choosing one that’s interesting, compelling, and thought-provoking is critical for engaging the reader and showcasing your knowledge.

Thanks to decades of moviemaking, there are tons of film research paper topics to choose from, so it can be a bit overwhelming to lock in on a single one.

That’s why we’ve put together a comprehensive list of ideas that you can use for inspiration. Let’s dive in.

Most Interesting Film Essay Topics

When brainstorming a topic for your film research paper, it’s vital to pick something you’re passionate about. That’s how you’ll be able to put your best foot forward.

These are some of the most exciting topics that are certain to summon your inspiration muse.

The Evolution of Female Protagonists in Action Films
The Impact of Global Cinema on Hollywood
Analyzing the Auteur Theory in Modern Cinema
The Role of Soundtracks in Defining Movie Genres
The Influence of Neo-Noir Aesthetics on Contemporary Filmmaking
Virtual Reality in Cinema: A New Frontier or a Passing Trend?
The Representation of Artificial Intelligence in Science Fiction Movies
Cultural Stereotypes and Their Perpetuation in Animated Films
The Psychological Effects of Horror Films on Audiences
The Renaissance of Musical Films in the 21st Century
Exploring the Cinematic Portrayals of Historical Events
The Rise of Independent Films in the Streaming Era
Color Theory in Film: How Palette Choices Affect Emotion
The Depiction of Mental Illness in Modern Cinema
The Use of Long Takes and Their Impact on Storytelling
The Evolution of Superhero Movies: From Niche to Mainstream
The Significance of Costume Design in Character Development
Analyzing the Shift from Film to Digital Cinematography
The Role of Propaganda Films in Shaping Public Opinion
The Ethics of Documentary Filmmaking: Truth vs. Narrative
The Influence of French New Wave on Contemporary Directors
The Portrayal of LGBTQ+ Characters in Mainstream Cinema
The Cultural Impact of Biographical Films
The Art of the Film Sequel: Expansion or Exploitation?
Cinema as a Tool for Social Change: Case Studies
The Representation of Race and Ethnicity in Hollywood
The Phenomenon of Cult Films and Their Dedicated Fanbases
The Impact of Censorship on Creative Freedom in Film
Exploring the Use of Non-Linear Narratives in Storytelling
The Role of Film Festivals in Discovering New Talent
The Challenges and Triumphs of Adapting Literature into Film
The Dynamics of On-Screen Chemistry: What Makes It Work?
The Influence of Cinema on Fashion Trends
The Significance of Opening and Closing Shots in Films
The Evolution of the Teen Movie Genre
The Role of Archetypes in Film Genres
The Impact of Global Locations on Film Production and Storytelling
The Use of Silence as a Narrative Tool in Cinema
The Portrayal of Villainy and Moral Ambiguity in Film
The Legacy of Silent Films and Their Influence on Modern Cinema
The Depiction of Space and Time Travel in Science Fiction Movies
The Art and Technique of Film Editing: Creating Rhythm and Pace
The Representation of War in Cinema: Glory vs. Horror
The Influence of Social Media on Film Marketing and Audience Engagement
The Role of Animation in Adult Storytelling
The Impact of 3D Technology on the Viewer's Experience
The Portrayal of Relationships and Love in Romantic Comedies
The Use of Allegory and Symbolism in Film to Reflect Society
The Challenges of Filming in Extreme Conditions
The Future of Cinema in the Age of Streaming Services

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The Birth of Cinema: Exploring the Lumière Brothers' Contribution to Film
George Méliès and the Invention of Narrative Cinema
The Evolution of Silent Film Techniques and Their Modern Legacy
Charlie Chaplin: The Impact of The Tramp on Global Cinema
The Role of Women in Early Cinema: Pioneers Behind and in Front of the Camera
The Transition from Silent to Sound Films: Technological and Artistic Challenges
Expressionism in German Cinema: A Study of Visual Style and Its Influence
The Rise and Fall of the Studio System in the Silent Era
Early Animation Techniques: From Gertie the Dinosaur to Steamboat Willie
Cross-Cultural Influences: How Early Cinema Traveled Across Continents
The Hays Code: Censorship and Its Impact on Hollywood Storytelling
Technicolor Dreams: The Introduction of Color in Hollywood Cinema
Film Noir: Origins, Characteristics, and Key Figures
The McCarthy Era: Blacklisting and Its Effects on Hollywood
The Rise of the Director: Auteur Theory and Its Proponents
New Hollywood: The 1970s Renaissance and Its Lasting Influence
The Blockbuster Era: Jaws, Star Wars, and the New Business of Cinema
Independent Cinema Movement: Breaking Away from Hollywood Norms
The Digital Revolution: CGI and the Transformation of Film Production
Global Cinema: The Influence of Hollywood on World Cinema and Vice Versa

Research Paper Topics on Music in Films

Music in films can tell a captivating story, evoke a world of emotions, and create a unique experience that lingers on long after you’ve watched the end credits. It often becomes as iconic as the films themselves, especially when it comes to musicals. Here are some captivating film research paper topics on music.

The Evolution of Film Scores: From Silent Cinema to the Digital Age
The Role of Music in Establishing Film Genres
Iconic Film Composers: The Musical Styles of John Williams and Ennio Morricone
The Impact of Jazz on Film Noir Soundtracks
Musical Motifs in Cinema: Creating Character and Narrative Depth
The Influence of Classical Music on Modern Film Scores
Diegetic vs. Non-Diegetic Music: Shaping Viewer Perception
The Use of Popular Music in Films: Cultural Context and Impact
Music as a Narrative Device in Animated Films
The Psychological Effects of Film Music on Audiences
The Art of the Film Musical: Evolution from Stage to Screen
World Music in Cinema: Exploring Cross-Cultural Soundscapes
The Rise of the Film Soundtrack: From Background to Bestseller
The Function of Silence: When the Absence of Music Tells the Story
The Process of Scoring for Film: Collaboration Between Directors and Composers
Adapting Opera and Ballet for the Film Medium
Horror Film Scores: Techniques for Creating Tension and Fear
The Legacy of Disney's Musical Films: Shaping Generations
Music Video Aesthetics in Narrative Filmmaking
The Role of Music in Documentary Films: Enhancing Realism and Emotion

Riveting Horror Film Research Paper Topics

There are quite a few scary and suspenseful horror movies that can keep viewers at the edge of their seats. Analyzing the overall genre or some of the greatest directors’ masterpieces and techniques is certain to enthrall your reader. Here are some gripping horror film research paper topics you can use.

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The Evolution of Horror Cinema: From Gothic to Modern Psychological Thrillers
Monsters and Myths: Cultural Significance of Horror Film Antagonists
The Impact of German Expressionism on American Horror Films
Social Fears and Horror Films: Reflecting Societal Anxieties Through Cinema
The Final Girl Trope: Gender Dynamics in Slasher Films
Horror and Comedy: Analyzing the Success of Horror-Comedy Hybrids
The Rise of Found Footage: Authenticity and Fear in a Digital Age
Censorship in Horror: The Battle Between Artistic Freedom and Social Responsibility
The Influence of Literature on Horror Cinema: From Mary Shelley to Stephen King
Horror Film Festivals: Cultivating Communities and Defining the Genre
Sound Design in Horror Films: Crafting Fear with Audio
Lighting and Color in Horror Cinema: Setting the Mood Without a Word
The Art of Suspense: Building Tension in Horror Films
Practical Effects vs. CGI in Horror: Preserving the Tangibility of Terror
The Role of Setting: Isolated Cabins and Urban Nightmares in Horror Films
Auteur Theory in Horror: The Signature Styles of Hitchcock, Carpenter, and Craven
The Psychology of Jump Scares: Manipulating the Viewer's Anticipation and Fear
Horror Film Sequels and Remakes: Innovation or Exploitation?
The Use of First-Person Perspective in Horror Films: Immersion and Disorientation
Horror Across Cultures: How Different Societies Scare Their Audiences

Compelling Monster Essay Topics

Movie monsters are often terrifying fictional creatures, but they sometimes represent human nature and our deepest fears as well. Let’s explore some of the more fascinating film essay topics on monsters.

The Evolution of the Vampire Myth in Literature and Popular Culture
Monsters as Metaphors: Analyzing the Symbolism Behind Literary Monsters
Frankenstein's Monster: A Reflection on Humanity and Creator Responsibility
The Role of Dragons in Eastern vs. Western Mythology
Hybrid Monsters in Mythology: Exploring the Fear of the Unknown
Duality of Werewolves: Exploring the Beast Within Human Nature
The Influence of Greek Mythology's Monsters on Modern Fantasy Literature
Grendel in "Beowulf": Monster as a Social Outcast
The Loch Ness Monster: Myth, Hoax, or Unexplained Phenomenon?
Monsters in Children's Literature: Fears, Morals, and Imagination
The Psychology of Horror: Why Do We Enjoy Being Scared by Movie Monsters?
Zombies as a Cultural Phenomenon: From Haitian Folklore to Global Apocalypse Obsession
The Representation of Artificial Intelligence as Monstrous in Science Fiction
Kaiju Films: The Appeal of Giant Monsters in Japanese Cinema and Beyond
The Monster's Perspective: Sympathy for the Devil in Modern Media
Aliens and the Fear of Invasion: Analyzing Extraterrestrial Monsters in Film
The Role of Monsters in Video Games: Beyond the Antagonist
Body Horror: The Monstrosity of the Human Form Transformed
The Slasher Villain: Serial Killers as Monsters in Horror Films
Monsters and Heroes: The Thin Line Between Antagonist and Protagonist in Comic Books

How to Pick a Good Topic for a Film Research Paper

If none of these film research paper topics have inspired you to write your paper, here’s what you can do to find new ideas:

Make a list of your favorite films or filmmakers - Movies you’re passionate about or filmmakers you admire the most are a great place to start.
Choose a specific historical period - If you’re interested in a specific period in film history, you can analyze that time’s movies, themes, techniques, etc.
Pick a film genre - Focusing on a specific genre from the get-go might help you narrow down your list of ideas.
Research different ideas - The more ideas you research, the higher your chances of finding the right topic. You should conduct thorough research on all the ideas, exploring the available literature, media platforms, published research papers, and other credible sources.
Come up with a specific topic - Armed with relevant information, come up with a specific topic that interests you the most. Make sure it isn’t too broad so that you can go into detail and provide real value.
Narrow down your focus - Narrowing down your topic to one or two ideas is key to writing a high-quality paper. Make sure it’s not too narrow so that you can keep the reader engaged.

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HORROR MOVIE AESTHETICS: Thesis Presented

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This article counters the widespread assumption that film is exclusively a medium of showing, presentation or appearing by emphasizing the importance of the viewer’s act of imagination. At the center of attention is the aesthetic principle of omission, suggestion, and completion in film – in other words, cases in which a conspicuous elision and filmic evocation set in motion an act of sensual imagining on the viewer’s part: The viewer’s visual and aural imagining fills in and enriches what the film’s visuals or its soundtrack both conceal and allude to at the same time. The essay may also be seen as a first step toward a poetics of omission, suggestion and completion, as it discusses altogether ten strategies of how to omit and suggest. Examples of visual and aural completion come from films like Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s Tartuffe (1925), Fritz Lang’s M (1931), Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove (1964), Werner Herzog’s Heart of Glass (1976), Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man (1995), Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights (1997), Dogville (2003) by Lars von Trier, Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) and Shirin (2008) by Abbas Kiarostami. The text is a translated and strongly revised version of my introduction to the volume "Auslassen, Andeuten, Auffüllen. Der Film und die Imagination des Zuschauers" (Munich: 2012) that I co-edited with Hans Jürgen Wulff. Translator: Brian Currid.

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Theodore F. Rippey, Advisor ABSTRACT While popular movies are often overlooked in film studies, the action-adventure genre in the 1980s has drawn considerable academic attention. The consensus among the literature is that a conservative backlash (spurred on by Ronald Reagan’s two terms in office) against a resurgent equality movement gave rise to hypermasculine movies like First Blood and Predator and hypermasculine stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. While this still holds true, a closer look at the movies and the era reveals a much more nuanced picture. A thorough examination of the culture, the movies, and the male bodies on-screen in the 1980s—through the lens of affect theory, cinematography, and spectacle, among others—uncovers a number of significant cultural phenomena that have the potential to shape future academic work. This study not only elucidates and reconstructs the conception of filmic spectacle to include the male body on-screen, it also identifies two types of male bodies on-screen in the 1980s—the muscle-bound, aesthetically spectacular body and the lithe, kinesthetically spectacular body. Additionally, this study argues that filmic spectacle (as experienced by viewers) is actually made up of two discrete dimensions, a physical dimension composed of massive scale and explosions and a physiological one composed of affect and emotion. Unpacking spectacle in this way ultimately produces a number of new tools for film scholars while reimagining, in a significant way, American culture in the 1980s, the action-adventure movies of the decade, and the greater cultural currents in the Reagan era.

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This thesis examines the rhetoric of film from both theoretical and pedagogical perspectives. It provides a summary of prior scholarship on film in composition classes and film as rhetoric, and, from that foundation, builds a series of theoretical heuristics on the rhetoric of film. This theoretical section relies mainly on Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of dialogism and on classical rhetorical theory attributed to Aristotle, Cicero, and others. Provided, also, is a close rhetorical reading of the movie Blade Runner, which demonstrates how this theory might be applied to specific films. Finally, this paper discusses the uses of film in rhetoric-based composition curricula, providing two sample writing assignments that integrate film and rhetorical theory.

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See pp. 17-35 of this volume.

PhD Thesis, The School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University (SFU), Canada.

Maha Zeini Al-Saati

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Dissertation on Intertextual Messages of Horror Movies

Info: 10628 words (43 pages) Dissertation Published: 11th Nov 2021

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Tagged: Film Studies Media

MULTINODAL FICTION: REMAKES, MEMES AND THE CONTEMPORARY SCREEN CULTURE OF AMBIGUOUS WORKS

Introduction

In my thesis I will examine the tradition of horror, slasher movies remakes, spin-offs, etc to analyze them from the “continuum” perspective in reference to the whole “genre”, its approaches, style, limitation and structure, rather then addressing each film as individual. Outlining the different intertextual messages these films, or range of films convey, through several remarkable examples. Textual traditions are often understood as a range of distinctively different units as individual texts with a claim to being perceived as unique. [1] However, in practice, these separated texts, or snippets from the whole “text” are rarely self-contained and perceived as individual, rather, they are connected to the other texts and can often be a part of different series or groupings. [2] These multiplicities take on a number of forms, which, while remaining distinct (at least, from classification perspective), are hardly unique or exclusive. These are various remakes, sequels, spin-offs, adaptations, etc. Cinema has always depended on these multiplicities, one can argue, profit-wise, for the remake it self has an already established audience and that rather then promoting individual films emphasizing their unique value. [3] The reuse, reconfiguration, extension of existing resources, materials, motifs, etc is part of a model of supporting the economies of scale upon which the film and television industries rely on, heavily. [4] The connection between texts becomes a crucial aspect of media consumption as it links texts to one another and afford an opportunity for experiencing aesthetic enjoyment in its complex forms (coined as “trans-textual”). [5]

This dependence connected all forms of media – including cinema, television, and the Internet; their individual rich multiplicities, on the other hand, have been anticipated in earlier periods of production strategies. [6] For example, In the Middle Ages, the constituting “matters” was corpus of interconnected texts that were defined by the general unified subject. [7] “The matter of Britain” was depicting King Arthur, and the history of his kingdom, supplying generations of poets and prose writers with opportunities for linked intervention and extension, recontextualization, etc. [8] Medieval Arthurian matter can be considered a vast cycle of tales that repeat, revise, and reformulate etc. and remained productive for several centuries. [9]

The “new” and “old” discourse answers industries needs for regularity of income, in order to maintain, and originality, in a sense of attraction, to satisfy viewers’ desire of unseen. Therefore, introducing certain productive capacity to genres can help satisfy this contradictory need. [10] It is obvious, that every genre has somehow lost sight of the so-called “Original Object,” which pattern was repeated through time until its origin was no longer clear. [11] This leads to an idea that a genre could only exist as so-called “trans-individual” concept, culturally, or as a language, in other words, and is capable of producing an infinite amount of “never heard before” statements. [12] A “new” text replaces and yet can not replace what the previous, or what came before. These forms of multiplicity fluctuate the original by emphasizing its incompleteness, by announcing that there is a “more”. There is a desire for continuation or repetition that the original can no longer satisfy. [13] The original text, at the same time, is acting as a legitimizing foundation for the other texts to follow. Thus, the deriving texts can only be properly digested and valued through being acknowledged of the connections to what came before. [14]

Meaning in film comes out of and interpreted through multiple interaction of various modalities that include images, sounds, various gestures, camera effects, etc., [15] which are lined together by means of film editing in a chronological, linear order. The interplay and correlation of these modalities results in a narrative text. In order toto comprehend and interpret it, one is required to take an active participation in the process. [16] The change in time and space is controlled and set to continually produce meaningful sequences which are to be analyzed during their progression. [17] This analysis is dynamic and progressive in nature. The main idea is to find links between filmic devices and to construct the unfolding discourse structure of the text. Thus, film interpretation is an active process of relational meaning-making and inferring its content in terms of assumptions and hypotheses, which the person who analyzes makes according to concrete cues within the text. [18]

Looking at film as text is setting a new direction for investigating the spaces between general approaches to film analyses and meaning-making principles in multimodal texts from the side of modern linguistic analysis. [19] During the last decade numerous traditional semioticians involved in film analyses were trying to define decoding mechanisms by finding and channeling connections and analogies between film and language. Contemporary linguistics, and discourse semantics specifically, saw new methods and approaches which led to the possibility of revision and re-adoption of how the film characteristics are being examine, in the similar vein as language on the text level. [20] The main point of interest is a proper description of the inference processes that need to be operated during the interpretation of film as a narrative text.

These mechanisms are set to guide and prompt the recipient, thus affecting and constraining person’s inferences within the interpretation of the narration, which, in modern linguistic accounts, are defined as central mechanisms of textuality. [21] This is the point of contact between the cognitive approaches to film analysis and the linguistic analyses of its meaning-making strategies. [22] Making it possible to point out exactly how meaning in film can be pursued and constructed.

Since its early beginning, film theory was dealing with the notion of film as text and it was pursued from this perspective. [23] It was always of central interests in film analysis to search for meaningful connections between filmic devices and systematically outline these connections. [24] Literary approaches often served as a basis for examinations of film’s narrative with the primary source for the comparison between film and text has been, and still is, the general structural composition of the film. [25] The final significance of the film is in the way the elements are order much more than in their objective content. That is where the substance of the narrative is derived from – relationships between those elements, no matter how realistic is the individual image. [26]

For this reason, in order to analyze the ability of film to create coherence in time and space, the questions on how montage and composition of film work in general has always been put forward and considered as significant. [27] This very idea of the film and text, or language of the text, sharing comparable and relevant elements is considered to be one of the more innovative assumptions of film theory followed and investigated for years. [28] Following this route, early theorist of film, notably Pudovkin in 1926 and Eisenstein in 1949 were trying to apply basic linguistic methods (e.g. syntactic structure) to film structure, to illustrate and/or establish logical relations in the shot structure. From other examples, Tseng (in 2009 and 2013) contained a short summary of Russian formalist work in this direction. [29]

Nevertheless, they also feature basic qualities of traditional verbal texts. Gunther Kress, for example, outlines the following attributes built-in multimodal texts, in general. He defines text as a “multimodal semiotic entity” that is seen “having completeness” only by those who engage with it. The sense of completeness comes from understanding of the specific social action or event in which it was produced, in which it functions, or which it has references to. According to Kress, the text has features of internal and external cohesion and, as an integrated meaning-entity, of coherence. [30]

Thus, a meaningfully structured, some what concrete definition of film as perceived from the perspective of a multinodal text can be drawn. It is a dynamic, but formally confined artefact in chronological, linear order. It might contain various correlation within the contexts, base itself on the intertextual references to other text types and produce communicative variations. [31]

Both definitions point out the qualities of coherence and structure, that are perceived as crucial basis for the film interpretation. [32] This goes back to the generally accepted postulate that coherence in discourse is a precondition and its absence will certainly lead to a misunderstanding of the meaning of any text. [33]

This accounts as well for filmic meaning, that is usually based around the viewers’ knowledge of the world, in general, and also linked to the context and is needed to be activated during the process of interpretation. [34] The way the meaning is expressed today is a familiar route for the film viewer, who have a basic idea of how the films are created. It can therefore be assumed that there is a general ability for film understanding, which, as has been suggested in the analysis above, functions in great part similarly to the understanding of verbal texts. [35]

Text interpretation, both for verbal and filmic discourses, is an interactive process to activate and make sense of meanings within which the viewer is trying to establish links between various entities. [36] Following the tracks back historically, Aristotle envisioned text connection and coherence through relationships between its clauses. For him, the meaning of relations is covered in properties that are characterised by causing connections. Therefore, in order to generate a coherent text one has to deal with the overall relatedness of discourse which hold the text. [37]

film analysis and interpretation is based around inferential reasoning combining the content of the film, the events that take place in the story, their functional and social connection within the context of the film, participants involved, etc. [38] In reasoning about the discursive relationships which maintain these principles, the viewer is trying to find various interconnected circumstances in the film and its story. [39]

Exploring the dynamic of the viewer’s prediction of film’s meaning, from the perspective of the fundamental narrative is indeed relative in the context [40] In order to relate the fabula ( which is the actual representation of the film’s story inferred by as a cognitive construct)to the plot , the articulation of story events by montage and cuts in a film, the recipient constructs certain patterns among those events. These are the patterns of time and space as well as the narrative logic . [41] Mainly the pattern of time plays a central role in film, since the filmic content unfolds in temporal succession and, at the same time, the film as a medium is played linearly in narrative time . [42] Spatial information is often additionally provided, for example is described visually by depicting the setting, etc, or giving, citing specific location. This information represents the fabula in a “spatial frame of reference, however vague or abstract”. [43] Finally, the narrative logic explores relations among the events which are primarily causal or feature more abstract, comparative principles. [44] Thus, the narrative can be defined as discursive phenomenon which is used to organize segments of the film (or discourse, in general) to provide meaningful unfolding. [45]

Chapter 1: Memes and Misogyny

“Meme” the meme, as a term, was first used by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene . [46] He defined “meme” as a cultural unit to transmit data that spreads between people by means of copying or imitation. He was trying, in a larger scale, to apply evolutionary theory to cultural change and used genes as analogy. [47] Dawkins further illustrates the concept through various examples of memes such as catchphrases, Melodies, outfit fashion, and other cultural artifacts, as well as various abstract and religious beliefs. [48] He suggested memes to act as replicators, similarly to genes. Thus, these, as we know from the genes analogy, are subjects to selection, variation, competition, and retention. [49] Memes are constantly fighting for the attention of hosts. Those fitting the particular social and cultural environment is spreading successfully, while the others drop out. [50] It was also cited that certain groups of co-adaptive memes tend to be replicated together – strengthening each other in the process. Dawkins called such groups “co-adaptive meme complexes”.

The word “meme” derives from the Greek mimema , meaning “something which is imitated,”. Dawkins’ version shortens it in the same vein as “gene.” Nearly a century before it, Ewald Hering, Austrian sociologist, used the term “die Mneme” (from the Greek mneme , meaning memory), which was used by Richard Semon, German biologist, who used it for the title of his book in 1904. [51] Unaware of this existing terminology, ironically, Dawkins’s “imitation” version proved to be successful as his concept survived and developed in the scientific world. [52]

More than a decades in existence, memetics —described by Francis Heylighen and Klaas Chielens as “the theoretical and empirical science that studies the replication, spread and evolution of memes” – operated as an active research program in 1990s and enlisted a vast number of scientists from different fields. [53] Important contributions on this way included those from the influential philosophers as Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel C. Dennett, etc, the creation of the Journal of Memetics in 1997 and its publication until 2005, and the publication of several meme-oriented books. Susan Blackmore’s The Meme Machine from 1999 remain the most disputed one, as well as, arguably being the most influential. [54]

Since it first emerged, memetics has drawn several discussions. Two controversies surrounding memes – one of these is based around likening memes to genes and viruses, in order to explain their mechanics. [55] It suggests meme to operate the same way as disease agents. It considers memes as the cultural equivalents of flu bacilli, from epidemiological perspective. With it being transmitted through the communicational equivalents of sneezes. [56] In Internet culture, this metaphor is spread in the highly visible discourse on viral content. It was asserted the metaphor to be used in a negative way. It was believed to envision people as helpless and passive creatures, who are unable to sustain the domination of so-called media “snacks” that intoxicate their minds. [57]

The other metaphor for memes – derived from Dawkins’s own work – takes evolutionary genetics as its model. Some works, though, have taken this analogy too far, in seeking cultural parallels and connection between memes and various evolutionary concepts as genotype, phenotype, transcription, etc. [58] This idea was criticized due to “oversimplification” of the human behavior that were obvious due to the way memes behave. [59] Indeed, it is not necessary to think of biology when analyzing memes. Memes main aspects and ideas of replication, adaptation to a certain environment can be analyzed from a purely sociocultural perspective. [60]

The second fundamental controversy in memetics, relates to the human participation in the process of meme transition and diffusion, suggesting to envision people as actors behind the process of cultural transmission, rather then the vectors of the process. [61] Therefore, the distribution of memes is based around intention of agents that posses decision-making powers. [62]

Therefore, “meme” can also be defined as memory which has a potential to be transferred and is transferred. It may involve transfer from person to person or though various mediums, such as books, recordings, digital media means, etc. So it is similar to the replicator, in it principles. It can occur in two forms – as a direct copy, or replication, or through the transmission to the brain, other brain, etc. Within the brain, replication may occur through direct contact with other neurons and conferring the memory to them, or through reinforcement of the memory within the neuron which results in increased potential for the meme to reach consciousness and thus to be broadcasted or transmitted to other brains or media. [63] Another crucial side of Memes is that they need not be consciously transferred to be spread effectively, or in any way at all. Imitation is an example in which memes are created by simple observation. Such memes created through imitation may be either transmitted consciously in language or transmitted nonverbally through imitation by others. The critical point here is that the imitated behaviour is remembered and, therefore, has a potential to be further transferred. Here is a quick example of such process. Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital , and gave rise to the communism meme . It spreader from brain to brain, resulting in the meme taking over the governing structures of many countries during the twentieth century. It also evolved differently in different locations, so that the communisms practiced in different countries, e.g., Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Hungary, were very different. [64] The complex memeplex that is communism consisted of many memes, or sets/ divisions of memes, including ideas concerning economics, equality, labor, profit, collectivism, universalism, nationalism, etc. [65]

It is worth noticing that various ideas inside this memeplex are of contradictory nature, on the other hand, other, reinforce each other. Thus, the complex can be replicated in various forms according to the context, adapting to it, while maintaining some elements of the original meme. Various structures and formations, such as political and religious organizations reinforce the memes, and schools and institutions replicate themselves in fresh brains. [66] Memes have been compared to a virus, which can replicate itself only when it finds a suitable cell for the task. Memes are more like prions. Once a prion is in contact with a suitable protein, it changes the configuration of the existing protein, which, in turn, changes the configuration of an adjacent protein. So does an infected brain change adjacent brains through communication. [67] With the information age, memes have acquired the means of self-replication, thus no longer need brains to be actualized or copied.

Misogyny is another type of meme entirely. The women’s movement and the quest for equality has a significantly larger historical footprint, and the ideal of gender equality had gained adequate acceptance to render it comparatively less controversial or revolutionary in mainstream Western/American public discourses and ideology. [68] The reality, is that gender equality still remains more an ideal than a fully practiced norm. Although certainly more progressive, particularly in the public and professional domains, than in other world, gender tensions and anxieties still exist, only much of the resentment and frustrations appear to have been driven in uneven directions. [69]

Although Hollywood has a tendency to consider itself a liberal industry, scholarly studies of mainstream Hollywood film in general, and horror film in particular, tend to stress chauvinism and misogyny that continues to accompany most cinematic narratives and thematic content. [70] It can be envision on the examples of certain sub-genres of Hollywood horror, in which the notion of the monstrous feminine and the connection of femininity with otherness, with destructive forces, etc are shown at best. This, by the way, is true for the ghosts in many Hollywood films. [71]

In The Uninvited , the supernatural forces and their victim are all female: Stella, the victim, is haunted by her mother’s ghost and terrorized by the ghost of her father’s mistress. The film’s male hero saves Stella after exorcizing the ghosts. [72] The House on Haunted Hill ’s main villain is the manipulative and murderous Annabelle, who is discovered and defeated by her intended male victim. The Tormented ’s human villain, Tom, is matched against the ghostly Vi, whose relentless romantic pursuit of Tom takes on supernatural and demonic dimensions. [73] In The Haunting , the supernatural events center around the haunted Hill House’s dead mistress and Nell, a mentally vulnerable young woman staying at the mansion. Moreover, The ghosts of the Blair Witch and the murdered mistress in What Lies Beneath continue Hollywood’s equation of evil and horror with the feminine. [74]

Historically, after WWII, many women were forced to leave jobs the’ve taken during the time American men were fighting on the front. One can argue those tendencies to have then proceeded with second-wave feminism movements that had peaked in 1960s and continued till 1990s that might as well contributed to the depiction of the monstrous females in a wide range of horrors like Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960), David Cronenberg’s Rabid (1977) and The Brood (1979), and the sci-fi horror series Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979; James Cameron, 1986; David Fincher, 1992; Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997). [75]

In all of these films, the terrifying nature of the feminine is based around two main principles. The first is female sexuality, which most of the time is depicted as avid and uncontainable, usually channeling some disgust on the way. The second one is certain representations of maternity that are envisioned, or presented as monstrous because they operate without the contribution and managing from the side of the male paternal. These sides and aspects female threat and monstrosity have remained popular elements of terror in Hollywood horror film and continue to structure the American horror remakes.

On the other, hand, Japan, which we are going to discuss further in the work, due to it’s contribution to the phenomena of horror and, eventually, being involved in various remakes, both local and international, has similar misogynistic traditions throughout the history of film. Moreover, the patriarchal values, are endured also through the influence of Western notions of gender equality, that assume views of female submission to male.

References to women who work outside the home continue to evoke stereotypes of the Japanese tea girl and office lady, women who are hired by Japanese companies essentially to serve tea and perform largely menial tasks that support their male coworkers and ‘decorate’ the office environment with their youth and beauty. [76] A perspective that takes its roots from Confucian beliefs that shaped the hierarchies and relationships at familial and state levels during the Tokugawa/Edo era (1603–1868). Confucianism, which has a significant impact on the ideological and social foundations of Japan, as well as many other Asian cultures in the twenty-first century remain highly conservative and intensely hierarchical male-dominated society. [77] According to the Confucian thought, women were subordinate to man. There were also obliged to serve and obey their men. This notions supported by the belief that male were protecting, defending and guiding them. Though, it also meant that men had to unsure women’s well-being and protection. If a ruler, a father do not fulfill their duties the way he is supposed to, or they abuse their power which leads to the collapse of ritual property and causes social disorder and political chaos, the teaching states that is allowed and even necessary for the subordinates to rise against these authority figures, in order to reestablish the order. This perspective is clearly dramatized in the popular historical Japanese narratives of female onryō. [78]

In contemporary Japan, though, the traditional vision on gender equality is being argued by the new generation of women who are not willing to follow the idealized gender roles and behavior models. From 1970s, an increasing number of women entered workplace rejecting to obey the traditional identities. In 1990s, though, Japan public was concerned about growing number of high-school girls’ engagement in part-time prostitution and the phenomenon of young-adult Japanese women traveling to the West with the planned intention of engaging in sex with ‘foreigners’. [79] This led to a public debate playing out in the media and in Japanese popular culture in general with women becoming increasingly other, unreachable, having demonic qualities in contemporary Japanese cinema and fantasy literature as well as horror films. [80]

Chapter 2: Parody and Pastiche

Parody derived from the Ancient Greek parodia , parody has accumulated a range of differing meanings in its long history. [81] It is generally used as the generic term for a range of related cultural practices, all of which are imitative of other cultural forms, with varying degrees of mockery or humour. [82] In Greek and then Latin usage, parodia signified a specific form of mock poetry or ode, which used the manner and diction of the high forms and applied them to a trivial topic. [83] But it also uses a more widespread and more neutral practice of quotation. In neoclassical usage (about seventeenth and eighteenth centuries), parody could mean no more than an extended allusion to another writer included in a longer work. [84] The predominant modern usage defines parody as a mocking imitation, which seeks, first – to a more neutral or neoclassical usage in which the element of mockery would be absent – in which case parody would be more like the practice of imitation. The second, to reconnect it with the fully comic practice of parody. [85]

A helpful distinction can be made between specific and general parody. The former consists of a parody of a specific art-work or piece of writing. [86] General parody, by contrast, takes as its hypotext not one particular work but a whole genre, style or discourse. [87] The practice of general parody, is indeed very close to pastiche, and both forms can move into and out of a satirical or ironic distance from the manner imitated. [88]

Pastiche is a French word pastiche has now largely replaced the Italian pasticcio , but in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the latter was actually the more usual term. [89] In Italian, the word means a pie made of various ingredients; by metaphorical extension principally to art and music criticism, pasticcio or pastiche denoted a musical medley or pot-pourri, or a picture made up of fragments pieced/glued together. [90] It is in painting the term took on the meaning of imitation of another style without critical distance, and it is this meaning that has come to be dominate in contemporary usage of the term. [91] In literary usage, pastiche denotes the more or less extended imitation of the style or manner of another writer or literary period. The term pastiche has been given particular currency by Fredric Jameson in the essay ‘Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism’, [92] in which he distinguishes pastiche from parody on the grounds that pastiche takes no critical distance from the material it recycles: pastiche, in fact, is ‘blank parody’. [93] Pastiche is then seen as characteristic of postmodernism and thus expresses the cultural logic of late capitalism, since the absolute extension of the commodity system prevents the recourse to any discourse of nature or tradition (as in earlier Modernism) which could be used to measure or ironise the forms that are pastiched. [94]

Karaoke Culture

At the level of high culture, architecture and possibly other arts, parody is one of the ways in which artists and writers can invoke the cultural past, or other contemporary discursive modes, to ‘double-code’ their understanding of the present. [95] The particular ways in which individual writers manage this double-coding, and the particular relations that they have to their hypotexts, vary remarkably, and require careful and individual analysis; these attitudes, however, can include loving reconstruction as well as political outrage, more or less explicit structural parody as much as outright verbal imitation. [96] Postmodernism in this context alludes to a variety of cultural practices whose only common characteristic is the inclusion of references to other discursive possibilities in a way that makes discourse itself a part of the topic of the art work. [97] These postmodernist works of art or of literature are not insignificant; they represent an important and indeed powerful current in contemporary culture, which can be inflected in different ways and in differing political directions; it is a current which includes some of the major cultural renegotiations of the present moment. [98] But it is equally possible to list other modes, conventions and cultural productions which are in no sense ‘postmodernist’ and in which parody plays no part. [99]

At the level of popular culture, this infinite cycle of parody and its similar forms, manifested though constant reconfigurations and recycling, can be defined as “karaoke culture”. [100] In a world with no cultural hierarchy, parody is not only that ‘high’ by the ‘low’. It usually utilizes other products of popular culture, when comedians and celebrities parody each other, pop musicians and Djs sample and remix each other, in a similar vein as karaoke gives a chance to mock or mimic constantly reemerging voices of popular music. [101]

Just as the specific techniques of the postmodernist novel have mostly been anticipated in the history of the novel, so too the parodic practices of contemporary popular culture can often be found in the systems of popular entertainment in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. [102] What is different about the present moment is the dominance and scale of penetration of the culture industries, made possible by specific technical innovations; this in itself is a massively important transformation. [103] Some of this parody is sharply directed at deflating self-importance, and is politically and socially pointed and telling. Other parody, meanwhile, is done simply for the fun of it. There is no general politics of parody; you cannot decide in advance whether it seeks to contain the new or to deflate the old. Equally, at the level of popular culture, no general decisions can be made in advance about the cultural value of parody. [104] Karaoke too can be a mode of empowerment, if that does not seem too preposterous a claim for it: it permits people to assimilate and transform the productions of contemporary popular culture in a peculiarly intimate and powerful way. [105]

Parody and Intertextuality in “Scream”

Scream (1996) is one of the more popular slashes of 90s, is different comparing to earlier genre production titles, mainly, due to in its multiple references and allusion to other horros and various art forms that preceded it. [106] Its uniqueness based around the fact that while it is composed of fragments of previous ‘texts’ (or films of the genre), these are reconfigured in order to create a set of revised aesthetic and specific narrative elements for the genre, which, eventually provides a template for slasher films to follow. [107]

Moreover, although these intertextual references are pointed towards an audience who can relate to the earlier titles and specific elements of the genre, the film is horrific indeed, partly because its scenes of death while offering homage to the slashers classic also stress the overwhelming aspects of the genre. [108] In short, it displays both visual and intertextual excess and numerous cross-references signals. It manages to maintain its self-referentiality despite the amount of references being dropped, including certain directors and their style associated with the genre. [109]

Moreover, while the use of intertextuality reflects the postmodern path, in this particular case, it occurs to such an extent that it becomesthe film’s text. The Scream films take the previously subtle intertextual references and transform it into an overt, discursive act. [110] Such aspects become more apparent throughout the whole franchise with each film looping up its textual fragments. It not only takes account of its postmodern characteristics and revised characterization, as others have already done, but also considers its aesthetic devices, particularly those that intrinsically horrify. [111]

Even though Scream could be perceived as just simply unoriginal and banal, due to allusion that is sums up the slasher that came before, one might argue that, in fact, it distances itself from them. Narrated as idiotic and unselfconscious, it, in fact, presents an ironic twist on the genres norms and traditions. [112] Interestingly enough, It also contains endless references on Halloween, addressing itas a central text within the slasher movie. Many critics at the time saw it as a clearly clever, knowing and self conscious play with the genre, though it is questionable that Carpenter have seen Halloween as a slasher movie because there was no such category at the time. [113]

Scream has similar mystery of masked killer theme, that is reappearing though the series. One of the more interesting details that is obvious in all films of the series is a rule of the killer who is trying to catch up his female opponent, with woman not only survive the threat but face a new “villain” each movie. This reversal is worth noting because in doing so, the trilogy preserves the significance and importance of the (female) survivors over that of the killer, while inverting the genre’s traditional formed conventions. The female survivors ultimately displace the killers as the recurring characters and effectively adopt the central narrative roles thought the series. This effectively allows the female characters to develop and evolve across the film’s various installments. [114]

Despite constantly coping elements from various past films and series (everything from artworks through some particular scenes, twists, etc) Scream conjures the sense of irony that moves past the notions of parody and pastiche. According to Richard Dyer, pastiche can also be defined as recreation that imitates other art, as opposite to the real life, in such a way as to make consciousness of this fact central to its meaning and affect. [115]

It is therefore also suggested here that Scream moves beyond parody, since, its qualities, though clearly referencial to previous slasher films, remain autonomous of them and reinterpret them as film’s own. [116] Moreover, the film lacks any traces of overt humour or elements of comedy which are the significant elements of parody. As Mark comments, “I do not believe the films themselves are comic parodies of the slasher genre. While characters in the Scream films offer ironic observations about the conventions of slasher films, the films themselves remain “straight” slasher films.” [117]

Some argue, Scream ’s allusiveness is more akin to a heightened or advanced level of intertextuality that some scholars refer to as the ‘hyperpost-modern’ and which is essential to the text itself. [118] the Scream is packed withinter texts to the extent that it becomes its structure, it is constructed of them. Such approach can be traced as an advanced form of postmodernism, which is sometimes referred to as ’hyperpostmodernism’, and is explained as:

(1) a heightened degree of intertextual referencing and self-reflexivity that ceases to function at the traditional level of tongue-in-cheek sub-text, and emerges instead as the actual text of the films; and

(2) a propensity for ignoring film-specific boundaries by actively referencing, ‘borrowing,’ and influencing the styles and formats of other media forms, including television and media videos – strategies that have further blurred the boundaries that once separated discrete media. [119]

Chapter 3: Simultaneous Impossible, Possible

Drawing the ideas stated above, I want to try and compare horror films from 1970s and their remakes from 2000s and argue the differences between them, and/ or try to establish some correlation in the sense of ongoing discourse inside this “genre”. Starting with 70s titles such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), The Hills Have Eyes (1977), and Dawn of the Dead (1978) in terms of their politics, all three films attack an American way of life that rests on an alliance between consumer society and the nuclear family, and denies its own violent historical foundations. [120] When compared to remakes – Texas (2003), Dawn (2004), Hills (2006), later is argued to end up sacrificing the critique in favor of the intensification of danger through aesthetics, notably, disgust and danger. The subversive potential of the horror film can be correlated to the unstable balance between “human” and “monstrous” that must be played out across the spectrum of characters to deliver a subversive political subtext. [121]

All of these films reflect concerns specific to their times, but the remakes tend to establish their politics explicitly, while, in the independent films of the 1970s, these concerns are more subterranean, organized, notably, on the level of narrative structure and the handling of space. The aesthetics and politics of Halloween (2007) are especially well-aligned as both inform the remake’s meta fictional critique of Halloween (1978) and the slasher. [122]

It should also be reasonable to address the meaning of “disturbing” in this context to see the way in which films revisit, update, modernize the conventions of horror genre, which can be argued to be its “originality” and the way it produces various forms of emotions within the framework. There is no clear-cut difference between the films of the 1970s and the remakes of the 2000s in their use of intertextual references, though the popularity of Tarantino’s films and the Scream franchise (1996) might have led us to expect them to fully engage with film history and film genre. [123] The remakes also pursue two other trends that developed at the same time: the emphasis on danger rather than disgust in the representation of the monstrous, and the insistence on character motivation. [124] The implications are both political, involving, as previously mentioned, the dialectic between the “monstrous” and the “human,” and aesthetic. As stated by Robert C. Solomon, for more time is devoted to worrying about the “monstrous” character’s potency, less to contemplating its monstrousness.

Therefore, this emphasis on danger is clearly visible in contemporary horror (mainly Hollywood) cinema to be synonymous with effects, gory violence, and physical pain. [125] This approach is also informed by strategies through which the film is presented or told, that is based on typical slasher conventions – the linear progression from dread to terror to horror, from the complete to partial absence of the presence to the presence of a presence whose interpretative frameworks are momentarily absent. [126]

On the other hand, the approaches from the 1970s are somewhat different. One of the great examples to illustrate it is being Halloween (1978). “Monstrous” characters often being slow and vulnerable in the flicks of the time, which enables (or rather pushes) to produce less predictable relationship between dread, terror and horror. The visual style of the Hollywood remakes of the 2000s, which favors close singles, mobile cameras, and fast-paced editing, is symptomatic of the contemporary Hollywood style. [127] With the viewer encountering sudden graphic images of bloodshed that is there to trigger disgust, so that there is a ‘rapid alternation between registers – between something like “real” horror on one hand and a camp, self-parodying horror on the other – is by now one of the most conspicuous characteristics of the tradition’. [128]

One can argue it to diminish their potential to “disturb” the spectator’s expectations, and allow for less variation than in the independent films of the 1970s, though I envision it to be a “logical” progression of the “genre” with the technology presenting some “fresh” production values. Still, the 00s remakes could be described as “normative,” adaptations of the originals, referring to the words by Thomas Leitch who has stressed the “paradoxical promise” the remake make to the audience: “that [it] is just like its model, and that it’s better ”. [129] This statement makes an interesting point of what exactly it can be better in. It’s, of course, mainly used for the marketing purposes, because if it were not better than the original then viewers might as well watch the original instead. [130]

Rob Zombie’s direction to the cast in Halloween (2007) was: “Keeping it real is what it’s all about, you know, even if it seems like something ridiculous.” [131] Surely, he is not referring to the film itself being in any sense realistic, with all the living dead, mutants zombies, etc. Rather the attitude towards the genre as a continuum, in the sense of drawing originals production values and various elements and mock them, in the “real” way. In this respect, the American independent horror films of the 1970s are more “realistic” than the remakes of the 2000s, which, also dramatically increase the superhuman quality of the “monstrous” characters. In this context they are envisioned as “original”, eventually being mocked, remade. [132]

John Romero and producer Richard P. Rubinstein describe the violence in Dawn (1978) as, “not quite so realistic”, comic-booky, and silly. In this case, Romero dresses his distaste for slow-motion in the action scenes. [133] This devotion to the “genre” or particular “style” is best described by Bazin who used the term “total cinema” which was based on an integral realism, a recreation of the world in its own image. Bazin addresses an evolutionary model of the cinema, and comments that old films, even ones from the not too distant past, draw attention to the premature obsolescence of film technology and style, thus asserting the regular if not constant mobility of cinematic conceptions of reality and, thereby, filmic aesthetics of realism. [134]

This argues the idea that films, due to extremely dynamic nature of technological progress, become outdated just in few years. Thus, remakes attempt to compensate for this. Therefore, envisioning remakes as some form of restoration, where the team tries to use modern technologies to “improve” the “outdated” film. As Thomas Leitch noted, “true remake is pretending, that it has no discourse of its own to become outdated”. [135] Thus, “paradoxical promise” involves two contradictory positions, firstly it is “classical” essence of masterpieces and cult films, and that of the ephemeral nature of technology and the cinematic experience, or the illusion of reality. [136]

Nevertheless, it is seen how certain technical constraints can sometimes contribute to a film’s “disturbing” quality. Moreover, this “style” that is built upon using outdated technologies can be mocked in order to achieve a certain quality and eventually certain atmosphere. In fact, the films of the 1970s are more “disturbing” not because they look more realistic than the remakes of the 2000s. Rather, the “disturbing” quality has to do with the tension between various elements force the creators to discover “fresh” ways to convey certain emotions. In no way I’m arguing modern film technologies to be somewhat “untrue to the form”, rather try to point out the importance of the “involvement” and interest in the obscure sides of films, no matter how outdated they are.

Finally, I want to touch on how the horror films are perceived according to the cultural background of the viewer, and the film itself. One of the amazing contradictions of the horror films is that even as every film draws from and is based around similar values and explores some known topic and concerns, usually they are unable to gain universal popularity which could be explained through fundamental inability to transcend its cultural particularities and appeal to broader audiences worldwide. [137]

The value in pushing together and comparing popular Japanese and Hollywood horror films lies in the complex insights that could provide into the dominant sociocultural realities and concerns of the society producing and consuming these texts, while also acknowledging the ways in which key anxieties and fears transcend their social and cultural roots to offer evidence of shared concerns that extend beyond nation-specific perspectives to infect and affect a larger global imagination. [138] This tension between the culturally specific and the universally common lies at the core of investigation of the distinctly different ideologies and their specific narrative tendencies that shape each nation’s cinematic representations of films, and horror, in particular even though the ways in which many of the concerns and fears expressed in these films, and felt in these cultures, often overlap and intersect. [139]

Mass culture articulates social conflicts, contemporary fears, and utopian hopes and attempts at ideological containment and reassurance. [140] The traditional horror film narrative centers on a world organized around accepted norms that are disrupted and threatened by the arrival or appearance of a terrifying, horrifically destructive force. [141] Although this very basic, and admittedly simplistic, structure is common to both the Japanese and Hollywood horror film tradition, the underlying attitudes toward these oppositional forces are notably distinct and different in a number of ways. [142]

All the contemporary Japanese horror films in this study offer a treatment of the supernatural, the unknown, and the mysterious as unambiguous and accepted elements within reality. [143] It is also worth noting that despite the presence of the supernatural within the natural/physical realm, the relationship between the two is characterized less by a sense of conflict and opposition, in which one must defeat or destroy the other, and more by a quest to reestablish equilibrium and to correct a wrong. [144] To anyone more grounded in Western religious traditions it is a strange fact that supernatural forces are not necessarily considered ‘Evil’ or shunned by Buddhists. Japanese depictions of supernatural forces are not founded in ideals of good and evil, nor is there a sense of a constant battle between these forces in order to reach dominance [145]

Rather, Eastern views of the supernatural are also dualistic, encompassing both positive and negative potential. This side is also expressed in Shintoism, another significant and ancient Japanese religion embraced by the Japanese people. [146] The Shinto tradition does not believe that there is an absolute dichotomy of good and evil. Quite the contrary, all phenomena, are believed to poses different sides, both positive and negative, and it is possible for either of this opposites to be manifested in the given context. [147] Thus, the supernatural from Japanese perspective, as depicted in these films has both positive and negative potential, which introduces another degree of duality.

Another fascinating side of traditional Japanese culture is in the fact that the Japanese worldview pays much more attention to notions of right and wrong doing, than to ideals of good and evil as stated above. [148] The Japanese perspective is founded on the notions of morality that are determined by questions of responsibility, honorable behavior, which are most commonly equated with honoring one’s social and communal responsibilities. [149] Therefore, Japanese cultural narratives are less interested in evaluating characters and their actions in terms of any preset notions of good and evil, and more interested in examining them in the light of right or wrong, or to be more precise, socially acceptable or socially irresponsible behaviour.

Unlike Western/Judeo-Christian notions of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ that are often in relation with notions of God in opposition with Satan or the Devil, Japanese supernatural spirits and demons are perceived as revenants with ‘unfinished business’ in the physical realm. [150]

Bibliography

Klein, Ann; Palmer, R. Barton. Cycles, sequels, spin-offs, remakes, and reboots : multiplicities in film and television. University of Texas Press, 2016

Wildfeuer, Janina. Film discourse interpretation: towards a new paradigm for multimodal film analysis. Routledge Studies in Multimodality, 2014

Hoyle, Leigh. Genes, Memes, Culture, and Mental Illness Toward an Integrative Model. Springer, 2010

Dentith, Simon. Parody The New Critical Idiom. Routledge 2000

Shifman, Limor. Memes in Digital Culture . MIT press 2014 Pheasant-Kelly, Fran. “Reframing Parody and Intertextuality in Scream : Formal and Theoretical Approaches to the ‘Postmodern’ Slasher” from Clayton, Wickham. Style and Form in the Hollywood Slasher Film Palgrave 2015

Roche, David . Making and Remaking Horror in the 1970s and 2000s. Why Don’t They Do It Like They Used To. University Press of Mississippi 2014

Wee, Valerie. Japanese Horror Films and their American Remakes. Routledge 2013

[1] Klein, Ann; Palmer, R. Barton. Cycles, sequels, spin-offs, remakes, and reboots : multiplicities in film and television (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2016), p 2-3

[4] Ibid, 5-7

[7] Ibid., 7-20

[15] Wildfeuer, Janina. Film discourse interpretation: towards a new paradigm for multimodal film analysis. (New York: Routledge, 2014), p 2-19

[31] Klein, Ann; Palmer, R. Barton. Cycles, sequels, spin-offs, remakes, and reboots : multiplicities in film and television. University of Texas Press, 2016, p 19

[32] Wildfeuer, Janina. Film discourse interpretation: towards a new paradigm for multimodal film analysis. Routledge Studies in Multimodality, 2014, p 2-19

[43] Ibid., 19-21

[46] Shifman, Limor. Memes in Digital Culture (US: MIT press, 2014), p 20-27

[63] Hoyle, Leigh. Genes, Memes, Culture, and Mental Illness Toward an Integrative Model (New York: Springer, 2010), pp 91-93

[68] Wee, Valerie. Japanese Horror Films and their American Remakes. (New York: Routledge, 2013), p 73

[75] Wee, Valerie. Japanese Horror Films and their American Remakes. (New York: Routledge, 2013), p 68

[78] Wee, Valerie. Japanese Horror Films and their American Remakes. (New York: Routledge, 2013), p 71

[81] Dentith, Simon. Parody The New Critical Idiom (London: Routledge, 2000), p 154-170

[100] Ibid.

[101] Ibid.

[102] Ibid.

[103] Ibid.

[104] Ibid.

[105] Ibid.

[106] Pheasant-Kelly, Fran .“Reframing Parody and Intertextuality in Scream : Formal and Theoretical Approaches to the ‘Postmodern’ Slasher” from Clayton, Wickham. Style and Form in the Hollywood Slasher Film (UK: Palgrave, 2015), p 149-154

[107] Ibid.

[108] Ibid.

[109] Ibid.

[110] Ibid.

[111] Ibid.

[112] Ibid.

[113] Ibid.

[114] Pheasant-Kelly, Fran .“Reframing Parody and Intertextuality in Scream : Formal and Theoretical Approaches to the ‘Postmodern’ Slasher” from Clayton, Wickham. Style and Form in the Hollywood Slasher Film (UK: Palgrave, 2015), p 154

[115] Ibid.

[116] Ibid.

[117] Ibid.

[118] Ibid.

[119] Ibid.

[120] Roche, David . Making and Remaking Horror in the 1970s and 2000s. Why Don ’ t They Do It Like They Used To. (US: University Press of Mississippi, 2014), pp 273-278

[121] Ibid.

[122] Ibid.

[123] Ibid.

[124] Ibid.

[125] Ibid.

[126] Ibid.

[127] Ibid.

[128] Pheasant-Kelly, Fran .“Reframing Parody and Intertextuality in Scream : Formal and Theoretical Approaches to the ‘Postmodern’ Slasher” from Clayton, Wickham. Style and Form in the Hollywood Slasher Film (UK: Palgrave, 2015), p 154

[129] Roche, David . Making and Remaking Horror in the 1970s and 2000s. Why Don ’ t They Do It Like They Used To. (US: University Press of Mississippi, 2014), pp 273-278

[130] Ibid.

[131] Ibid.

[132] Ibid.

[133] Ibid.

[134] Ibid.

[135] Ibid.

[136] Ibid.

[137] Wee, Valerie. Japanese Horror Films and their American Remakes. (New York: Routledge, 2013), pp 56-60

[138] Ibid.

[139] Ibid.

[140] Ibid.

[141] Ibid.

[142] Ibid.

[143] Ibid.

[144] Ibid.

[145] Ibid.

[146] Ibid.

[147] Ibid.

[148] Ibid.

[149] Ibid.

[150] Ibid.

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Home » Blog » Dissertation » Topics » Film » Film Dissertation Topics (28 Examples) For Research Ideas

Film Dissertation Topics (28 Examples) For Research Ideas

Mark Jun 18, 2020 Jun 18, 2020 Film No Comments

The discipline of film studies in the world of academia is linked with the critical, historical, and theoretical approaches to films. A list of film dissertation topics is developed to help students in choosing the right topic for their thesis, research project, and dissertation. Choosing a topic from the list of film dissertation topics can […]

The project topics on films and research topics on films are developed to help students in finding a topic according to their area of interest. We have a team of highly experienced and professional writers who can help you in writing proposals and dissertations on your selected film dissertation topic.

List of Film dissertation topics

An analysis and comparison of the most popular genres of cinema in the world today.

To compare the commercial cinema and non-commercial cinema – A literature review.

Studying the role of marketing in the Chinese and Japanese film industry.

Examining the cinema and film culture in the Middle East.

An analysis of the perceptions of youngsters on horror films.

Exploring the concept of special effects in silent movies.

Creative translation and cultural transformation impact on the film adaptation.

How has the digital revolution influenced the film and cinema industry?

An empirical analysis of music and soundtracks in films.

Exploring the diverse film elements and pedagogical feasibilities for creative writing.

An analysis of film education as a multiplicity of practices.

Evaluating the evolution of music in the film – a comparative review.

Studying the evolution of urban film making.

How are technological advancements contributing to the film industry?

An analysis of the importance of a Character in a film.

Studying the landscape of Eastern film making.

Exploring the relationship between literature and film.

What are the special aspects of film making and how it influences the different people involved in the process?.

Why is violence in commercial cinema overrated?

An analysis of participatory film production a media practice.

Exploring the role of women in film – cultural impact on the changing discourse on gender representation in films.

A sentiment analysis on IMDb movie reviews using hybrid feature extraction model..

Irony, interpretation, and surface meanings in the film.

A literature review on the evolution of television and film industry.

Studying the art of handmade movie hoardings in Pakistan.

To study the effects of protectionism on film industry taking the case of Korea.

An analysis of Hollywood’s film localization efforts.

A comparative review of Hollywood with other countries film industry.

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Colour Psychology in Horror Films Survey - Dissertation

Hi everyone!

I hope you've all been doing well into the new year!

Apologies if I'm not allowed to post on here, but I'm currently in the process of writing my dissertation, based on colour psychology within horror films, analysing the 20th Century and 21st Century. I would really appreciate it if you could take a look at my survey, which I am aiming to use as research for my dissertation.

All answers will be anonymous, and it's a quick survey with just a few questions.

Thank you so much for your time!

Link to survey:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScOe7-nslNszWmntoPYGsSlRkLfgTFy5xQ8AVoGFYdCV8U5Qw/viewform?usp=sf_link

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174 Film Research Paper Topics To Inspire Your Writing

Also known as a moving picture or movie, the film uses moving images to communicate or convey everything from feelings and ideas to atmosphere and experiences. The making of movies, as well as the art form, is known as cinematography (or cinema, in short). The film is considered a work of art. The first motion pictures were created in the late 1880s and were shown to only one person at a time using peep show devices. By 1985, movies were being projected on large screens for large audiences.

Film has a rich and interesting history, as well as a bright future given the current technological advancements. This is why many professors will really appreciate it if you write a research paper on movies. However, to write a great paper, you need a great topic.

In this blog post, we will give you our latest list of 174 film research paper topics. They should be excellent for 2023 and should get you some bonus points for originality and creativity. As always, our topics are 100% free to use as you see fit. You can reword them in any way you like and you are not required to give us any credit.

Writing Good Film Research Paper

Before we get to the film topics for research papers in our list, you need to learn how you can write the best possible film research paper. It’s not overly complicated, don’t worry. Here are some pointers to get you started:

Start as early as possible Start your project with an outline that will keep you focused on what’s important Spend some time to find a great topic (or just use one of ours) Research every angle of the topic Spend some time composing the thesis statement Always use information from reliable sources Make sure you cite and reference properly Edit and proofread your work to make it perfect. Alternatively, you can rely on our editors and proofreaders to help you with this.

Now it’s time to pick your topic. We’ve made things easy for you, so all you have to do is go through our neatly organized list and select the topic you like the most. If you already know something about the topic, writing the paper shouldn’t take you more than 1 or 2 days, however if you have no desire to spend a lot of time on your assignment, thesis writing help from our professionals is on its way. Pick your topic now:

Easy Film Research Topics

We know most students are not too happy about spending days working on their research papers. This is why we have compiled a list of easy film research topics just for our readers:

What was the Electrotachyscope?
Research the history of film
Describe the first films ever made
Talk about the Kinetoscope
Who were Auguste and Louis Lumière?
An in-depth look at film during World War I
Talk about the evolution of sound in motion pictures
Most popular movie actors of all time
The life and works of Charles Chaplin
The life and works of Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein
Discuss the Mutoscope device
Talk about the introduction of natural color in films

Film Topics To Write About In High School

If you are a high school student, you probably want some topics that are not overly complicated. Well, the good news is that we have plenty of film topics to write about in high school. Check them out below:

An in-depth analysis of sound film
Research the shooting of Le Voyage dans la Lune
Talk about the Technicolor process
Research the film industry in India
The growing popularity of television
Discuss the most important aspects of film theory
The drawbacks of silent movies
Cameras used in 1950s movies
The most important cinema movie of the 1900s
Research the montage of movies in the 1970s
The inception of film criticism
Discuss the film industry in the United States

Interesting Film Paper Topics

Are you looking for the most interesting film paper topics so that you can impress your professor and your fellow students? We are happy to say that you have arrived at just the right place. Here are our latest ideas:

Are digital movies much different from films?
Research the evolution of cinematography
Research the role of movies in Indian culture
The principles of a cinema camera
Technological advancements in the film industry
The use of augmented reality in movies
Talk about the role of film in American culture
An in-depth look at the production cycle of a film
The role of the filming crew on the set
Latest cameras for cinematography
An in-depth look at the distribution of films
How are animated movies made?

Controversial Movie Topics

Why would you be afraid to write your paper on a controversial topic? Perhaps you didn’t know that most professors really appreciate the effort and the innovative ideas. Below, you can find a whole list of controversial movie topics for students:

An in-depth look at Cannibal Holocaust
Controversies behind Fifty Shades of Gray
A Clockwork Orange: the banned movie
All Quiet on the Western Front: a controversial war movie
Discuss The Texas Chain Saw Massacre movie
Apocalypse Now: one of the most banned movies
Brokeback Mountain and the controversies surrounding it
Talk about The Last Temptation of Christ
The Birth of a Nation: the movie that was banned in America

Movie Topics Ideas For College

As you probably know already, college students should choose topics that are a bit more complex than those picked by high school students. The good news is that we have compiled a list of the best movie topics ideas for college students below:

Methods to bring your sketches to life
Discuss problems with documentary filming
War movies and their impact on society
What does a director actually do on the set?
Talk about state-sanctioned movies in China
Research cinematography in North Korea
Talk about psychological reactions to films
Research the good versus evil theme
African Americans in the 1900s cinematography in the US
Discuss the creation of sound for films

Hottest Film Topics To Date

Our writers and editors did their best to compile a list of the hottest film topics to date. You can safely pick any of the topics below and write your essay or research paper on it. You should be able to find plenty of information online about each and every topic:

The life and works of Alfred Hitchcock
Talk about racial discrimination in war movies
The psychology behind vampire movies
The life and works of Samuel L. Jackson
Classic opera versus modern movie soundtracks
Hollywood versus Bollywood
The life and works of tom Hanks
Research the Frankenstein character
Major contributions by women in cinematography
The life and works of Harrison Ford
The 3 most popular topics for a moving picture

Good Movie Topics For 2023

We know, you probably want some topics that relevant today. You want to talk about something new and exciting. Well, we’ve got a surprise for you. This list of good movie topics for 2023 has just been added to the blog post, and you can use it for free:

The life and works of Will Smith
Why do people love movie monsters?
Talk about the popularity of fan movies
The life and works of Morgan Freeman
Gender inequality in UK films
Research movies that were produced because of video games
The life and works of Anthony Hopkins
The importance of the Golden Raspberry Award
Outer space: the future of cinematography
Compare today’s filming techniques to those in the 1950s
The importance of winning a Golden Globe Award

Fascinating Film Topics

Are you looking for some of the most fascinating film topics one can ever find online? Our experts have outdone themselves this time. Check out our list of ideas below and choose the topic you like the most:

Talk about the development of Star Wars
Talk about spaghetti western movies
Discuss the filming of Pride and Prejudice
Research fantasy films
The most popular movie genre in 2023
What makes a movie a blockbuster?
Filming for the Interstellar movie
Peculiarities of Bollywood cinema
Talk about the era of Hitchcock
Discuss the role of motion pictures in society
Talk about Neo-realism in Italian movies
Research the filming of A Fistful of Dollars

The History Of Film Topics

Writing about the history of film and cinematography can be a good way to earn some bonus points from your professor. However, it’s not an easy thing to do. Fortunately, we have a list of the history of film topics right here for you, so you don’t have to waste any time searching:

Research the first ever motion picture
Discuss the idea behind moving images
Research the Pioneer Era
Talk about the introduction of sound in movies
Talk about the Silent Era
Who created the first ever movie?
Discuss the Golden Era of cinematography
The era of changes in 2023
The rise of Hollywood cinematography
Discuss the first color movie
Research the first horror movie
Discuss the phrase “No one person invented cinema”

Famous Cinematographers Topics

You can, of course, write your next research paper on the life and works of a famous or popular cinematographer. You have plenty to choose from. However, we’ve already selected the best famous cinematographers topics for you right here:

The life and works of Sir Roger Deakins
Research the cinematographer Vittorio Storaro
An in-depth look at Bill Pope
Research the cinematographer Gordon Willis
The life and works of Wally Pfister
An in-depth look at Robert Burks
Research the cinematographer Stanley Cortez
The life and works of Conrad Hall
An in-depth look at Rodrigo Prieto
The life and works of Claudio Miranda
Emmanuel Lubezki
An in-depth look at Jack Cardiff
Research the cinematographer Michael Ballhaus
The life and works of Kazuo Miyagawa

Famous Films Topic Ideas

The easiest and fastest way to write an essay or research paper about movies is to write about a famous movie. Take a look at these famous films topic ideas and start writing your paper today:

Research A Space Odyssey
Research the movie Seven Samurai
Cinematography techniques in There Will Be Blood
Discuss the film The Godfather
An in-depth look at La Dolce Vita
Research the movie Citizen Kane
Cinematography techniques in Goodfellas
An in-depth look at the Aliens series
Cinematography techniques in Singin’ in the Rain
Research the movie Mulholland Drive
An in-depth look at In The Mood For Love
Research the movie City Lights

The Future Of Movies Topic Ideas

Did you ever wonder what the movies of the future will look like? We can guarantee that your professor has thought about it. Surprise him by writing your paper on one of these the future of movies topic ideas:

The future of digital films
Discuss animation techniques of the future
The future of cinematography cameras
How do you view the actors of the future?
Will digital releases eliminate the need for DVDs?
The role of streaming services in the future
Talk about the direct-to-consumer distribution concept
Is cinematography a good career for the future?
Will movie theaters disappear?
Virtual reality in future films
The rise of Pixar Studios

Awesome Cinema Topic Ideas

Our experts have just finished completing this section of the topics list. Here, you will find some of the most awesome cinema topic ideas. These should all work great in 2023, so give them a try today:

The concept of the Road Movie
Review the film “Donnie Brasco”
The popularity of musical movies
A comprehensive history of cinematography
Discuss the A Beautiful Mind movie
Compare watching movies now and in the 1990s
Talk about film narrative
The importance of the main characters in a movie
The process of selecting the right actor for the role
Well-known produces in the United States
The most popular actors in 2023
Research Nazi propaganda films

Simple Cinema Essay Ideas

If you want to write about cinematography but don’t want to spend too much time researching the topic, you could always choose one of our simple cinema essay ideas. New ideas are added to this list periodically:

Discuss the concept of limited animation
War movies during World War II
The importance of James Bond for Americans
What is docufiction?
The traits of a filmophile
The success of early crime movies
An in-depth look at Hanna-Barbera
The transition from VHS tape to DVD
Best comedy movies ever made
Discuss the Film Noir genre
What is a Blaxploitation?
The best samurai film ever produced

Movies And The Internet Topics

How does piracy affect the movie industry?
An in-depth look at Netflix
Research the top 3 movie streaming websites
Compare and contrast Netflix and Amazon Prime
Should movies be shared for free online?
The effects of online streaming on piracy
Is pirating movies illegal everywhere?
Illegal downloads of movies in North Korea
Piracy: a form of film preservation
The most pirated movies of the 21st century
Research the best ways to stop film piracy
The economic impact of movie piracy in the United States

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More From Forbes

A psychologist shares how ‘psychological horrors’ turn our minds against us.

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Here’s how the scariest subgenre of horror films got its name—and why it’s so alluringly scary.

Psychological horror is a film genre that emphasizes distressing emotional and psychological states to unsettle its audience. Unlike traditional horror—which usually relies on external threats, like monsters or gore—psychological horrors rely on characters with unstable or disturbed behaviors, emotions and cognitions. The result: an overall atmosphere that is uncomfortable, creepy and deeply distressing.

Simply reading a description of what psychological horror entails pales in comparison to the sheer terror these films can evoke. So, what is it that makes these movies so profoundly terrifying? And how do they manage to get under our skin in ways that other horror genres do not? The answers lie in understanding the psychological mechanisms that underpin this genre.

The Science Of Psychological Horror

Psychological horrors—such as The Silence of the Lambs , American Psycho , or Split— serve to expose viewers to the disturbing parts of the human mind that most people tend not to think about in their day-to-day lives. In analytical psychology, these concepts are known as “archetypal shadow” characteristics. By bringing shadow elements to the forefront, these films create an uneasy and agitating atmosphere, as it forces all who watch to confront aspects of themselves they might prefer to ignore.

Carl Jung, one of the pioneers of analytical psychology, was the first to conceptualize the archetypal shadow. In his renowned book , The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious , he described “the shadow” as an unconscious aspect of our personality containing all the traits and impulses that we reject or hide from others—and even from ourselves. In psychological horror, viewers face shadow characteristics through various unsettling elements:

Skepticism. Psychological horror films leave viewers suspicious of every character—wondering who is good and who is bad, who is safe and who isn’t. This persistent doubt creates a pervasive sense of unease, as viewers cannot easily trust any part of the narrative.
Mistrust. These films prompt viewers to question who can and cannot be trusted. This distrust extends beyond the characters on screen, prompting viewers to reconsider their assumptions about safety and loyalty, both in the film and in their own lives.
Doubt. The combination of fear and mistrust sends viewers into a state of self-doubt, mirroring the characters’ own experiences of not trusting themselves or their instincts. This internal conflict heightens the sense of vulnerability and insecurity.
Paranoia. Just like the characters in the film, viewers become paranoid of others and the world around them, questioning their reality and the intentions of others. This pervasive paranoia blurs the line between the viewer’s reality and the film’s narrative, making the horror feel more personal and immediate.

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Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024, why we always come back for more psychological horror.

An October 2015 study from The Journal of Analytical Psychology explains that horror movies feed our inherent human fascination with aspects of the world that are irrational or unreasonable. According to the author, “What is being sought is a transcendence of the limits of rational consciousness and an experience of the sublime.” Simply put, for the few hours that we watch these films, anything is possible—which is an experience we aren’t often afforded.

However, in psychological horrors, the terrifying aspects of the film are always possible—they aren’t just make-believe. For instance, the manipulation and gaslighting seen in Get Out , the ballerina’s hallucinations in Black Swan , or the isolation-induced insanity seen in The Shining— these are all possible realities and experiences.

In this way, psychological horrors possess a unique allure grounded in their plausibility. Unlike traditional horror genres that often rely on supernatural elements, psychological horrors dissect the darker corners of the mind. In these films, the terror isn’t derived from otherworldly beings or fantastical creatures—it stems from the unsettling realization that the horrors depicted could very well manifest in our own lives.

As the protagonists grapple with psychological afflictions—be it hallucinations, delusions or psychosis—the line between reality and illusion blurs, which reflects the fragile nature of our own perceptions. This existential uncertainty taps into our single greatest fear: the unsettling notion that our minds, the very core of our being, may betray us.

Moreover, the appeal of psychological horror lies in its ability to tap into our morbid curiosity, as they bring us face-to-face with the horrific possibilities of the human psyche. Morbid curiosity, according to a December 2021 article from Personality and Individual Differences , is typically described as an interest in or curiosity about unpleasant things—especially death. This is a driving force behind our fascination with psychological horror.

According to this study, the motivation behind our curiosity about morbid events is not something inherent to the morbid events themselves, but rather our desire for stimulation and arousal—no matter how unsettling it is. Notably, the author suggests that the word “morbid” may lead us to believe that death plays a central role in our morbid curiosity. However, he explains death itself does not need to be the focus of the curiosity; instead, it is the factors that lead to death that become the objects of morbid curiosity.

Thus, psychological horror films—with their exploration of the fragility of the human mind, the terrifying potential for psychological afflictions, and subsequent violence or death—become the perfect fodder for our morbid curiosity. By blurring the lines between reality and nightmare, these films force us to face the uncomfortable truths lurking within our own minds, making for an unforgettable and deeply unsettling viewing experience.

At their core, psychological horror films chillingly remind us of the fallible nature of the human brain. The manipulation, gaslighting and mental disorders depicted on screen may feel uncomfortably close to home—resonating with our own experiences or those of people we know. Through these themes, viewers are forced to face their own vulnerabilities, stirring a primal fear of losing control over one’s own thoughts and actions. Despite the discomfort they bring, we find ourselves drawn back to these films time and again—unable to resist the allure of exploring the darkest recesses of the human mind. It is our innate morbid curiosity that drives us, compelling us to confront our fears and look deeper into the unsettling truths that these films expose.

Do you also feel the dark pull of morbid curiosity? Take the Morbid Curiosity Scale to understand this tendency better.

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Additional Chapters Sought for Edited Collection on Horror-Comedy Films

I am accepting proposals for an edited collection with a working title of Case Studies in Horror-Comedy Films . This edited collection is under contract with a university press, with an anticipated publication date in late 2025. The existing group of contributions well illustrates the focus and structure of the collection, which corresponds to comic takes on horrors of the body, mind, and society. The motivation for this call for additional chapters is to expand the attention to national cinemas beyond North America.

As this collection is presented as a group of "case studies," the themes and topics of potential titles for inclusion are broad. However, preference will be given to contributions focusing on one or two films as case studies rather than choosing a theme/topic and illustrating that theme/topic with several films in a single chapter . I am exclusively interested in chapter proposals covering European, South American, Asian, African, or Australian horror-comedy films.

One effect of having a contract in place is that the timeline for this collection is accelerated. Please see the relevant timeline below, and be sure you can adhere to it if your proposal is accepted.

Proposal guidelines

Please send all correspondence to editor Thomas Britt at [email protected] . Those interested in submitting proposals should email a 250-300 word abstract and a short (50-100 word) biography. In your abstract, specify the film (or no more than two films) that will be the subject of the proposed chapter and indicate how this film/these films relate to the collection's emphases on comic horrors of the body, mind, or society. Please provide your name, institutional affiliation (if any), and email in the document that includes your abstract and short biography.

I am receiving proposals through August 1, 2024, using the process described above in the proposal guidelines.

All submitters will be notified of acceptance or otherwise by August 15, 2024.

For those whose proposals are accepted, the deadline for complete initial drafts of 4500-5000 words is November 15, 2024.

You Won’t Be Able To Look Away From the Grim Body Horror of This Psychological Thriller

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The Big Picture

Hatching uses psychoanalytical themes to showcase compelling body horror with a reverse transformation that captivates.
Alli becomes a sympathetic character, victim to a manipulative family, adding depth to the horror narrative.
The film's stark contrast and thematic distinction draw attention to Alli's grotesque physical appearance in a pristine setting.

While most films use horror tools to deliver subtext and elusive themes, Hatching uses a psychoanalytical thesis to deliver us repulsive and arresting body horror. The film keeps its analysis of the divided self on the surface, but this really ends up being an excuse to showcase their talents in creating a compelling creature that continually demands our attention . Starting as a comically grotesque hatchling, then increasingly twisting into a more familiar yet uncanny form, Alli ( Herrta Karen during the early stages, then Siiri Solalinna ) undergoes an almost reverse transformation that becomes more unsettling than just plain body horror . From the idea of the fractured psyche to the stark contrast of the baby pink surroundings, everything is manufactured for our eyes to gravitate towards Alli. Yet, shockingly, Alli becomes one of the more sympathetic characters of the film, making her more than just another example of brilliant body horror, as her character becomes driven by a malevolent underdog notion that makes her all the more mesmerizing.

In Hatching, 12-year-old gymnast Tinja (Siiri Solalinna) is desperate to please her image-obsessed mother, whose popular blog ‘Lovely Everyday Life’ presents their family’s idyllic existence as manicured suburban perfection. One day, after finding a wounded bird in the woods, Tinja brings its strange egg home, nestles it in her bed, and nurtures it until it hatches. The creature that emerges becomes her closest friend and a living nightmare.

'Hatching' Is About the Divided Self

Hatching opens up with a montage of a picture-perfect family, all wrapped in crisp collars, knit sweaters and a soft pastel palette. The tone of the film immediately shifts with the obligatory bad omen during the beginning , as a crow ominously flies into the window, marking the upcoming supernatural events. Sorry, that's not where the tonal shift occurs; it happens when the crow flies into the house and Tinja (Solalinna) catches it, gently bundling it into a towel when her mother ( Sophia Heikkila ) snaps its neck. Welcome to the family! This immediately sets up Matka as the matriarch of the household, responsible for ensuring everyone remains camera-ready for her vlog and demanding nothing less than perfection. Throughout the film, this pressure largely remains on Tinja's shoulders, as she prepares for her gymnastics competition in an excruciatingly demanding way.

Learning from her mother, one day, Tinja finds an injured crow and decides to put it out of its misery by smashing a rock against its skull. This leads to the discovery of an egg, which she takes home and tenderly nurtures. As the pressure Matka and she puts on herself increases, so does the egg , cracking open at the same time as when Tinja first cries, opening up the floodgates for Jungian themes of the divided self. Seen most notably in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde , the idea of the divided self is also linked with good vs evil, as usually there is a gentle and compassionate side, with its more feral and violent counterpart that represents the "primal instincts" of a human.

An image of a man on a cross from Altered States against a trippy neon background

The Psychedelic Sci-Fi Body Horror With a Conspiracy-Laden True Story Behind It

If you are new to body horror, this is the movie for you.

In the same vein as Jekyll and Hyde, Tinja's psyche buckles under the barrage of pressure and is fractured into two, resulting in the more animalistic and instinct-driven Alli. She is the physical manifestation of Tinja's frustration, able to act on all the repressed impulses or intrusive thoughts Tinja may have. As such, with Tinja so concerned about her appearance due to her mother's commands, and so disconnected from her primal self, she is horrified every time Alli commits these violent acts, from hunting down the neighbor's dog who was disturbing Tinja's sleep, to terrorizing her only friend who would have taken her position in the gymnastics competition. Every slight tinge of resentment Tinja feels ends up compounding into this violent act that her counterpart would perform for her. Though it is intriguing to pick apart the Jungian symbolism, Alli far surpasses what she personifies, and becomes a visceral entity of her own.

'Hatching's Reverse Body Horror Steals the Show

Alli completely dominates the screen at each stage of her transformation, and even though she slowly begins to take the form of Tinja, her appearance becomes more disturbing with each step. Fittingly, the film chose a crow as the first form of Alli, a bird that is known for its mimicry abilities. She is introduced as a human-sized baby crow , slick with slime and tufts of mangled feathers sprouting sporadically across her wrinkled baby skin. With menacing claws and beady eyes, the physical effects of the animatronic puppet are fairly gruesome, albeit slightly comical in her cooing and infant-like behaviors next to the adolescent Tinja. Gradually, more human-like features begin to seemingly sprout overnight, as her skeletal wings are replaced by arms and hair grows from her scalp. This amalgamation of features becomes the basis of the film's body horror, combining recognizable animal and human elements together in an uncanny way that we cannot pull our eyes off of.

But what really steals the show is the sort of reverse transformation of the body horror subject . Unlike the devastating spiral into monstrosity you would typically see in body horror, Alli becomes more and more recognizable. Each stage is debilitating and grotesque, leaving us with unique images that stay seared into our minds. But, it is most damning in one of her final phases of her metamorphosis, where she claws off her large beak and leaves it in a pool of saliva and blood in Tinja's cupboard. We only get to see a glimpse of this stage, where she stalks Tinja's gymnastics competitor in the darkness of the night, only momentarily standing under a streetlight where the flap of skin around her misaligned teeth and jaw is shot. The visually haunting scene also captures the last time we see Alli in her less-than-human form, as she finally takes on all the physical attributes of Tinja barring a few scars. It is difficult to re-conciliate the fully-fledged Alli with the baby we had initially seen, making the final character evoke even more uneasiness and horror, especially as the film tumbles into the ambiguous yet sinister note in the finale.

'Hatching' Uses Contrast to Draw Our Attention to the Body Horror

Hatching completely strives to make Alli the center of attention, as she becomes the pocket of darkness and gore in the light and photogenic setting . From the opening scenes of the film, our eyes are assaulted with a sickening amount of perfection , with pastel pink colors and floral patterns lurking in every corner of the frame. The shots are filmed with an effervescent quality, making the home appear as a dream-like dollhouse rather than the real "simple life" Matka portrays in her vlogs. Visually, Alli becomes a stark point of contrast to her surroundings, with just her slimy and disturbing physical appearance threatening the image Matka strives to build . Even her egg, which grows so enormously, completely disembowels Tinja's fluffy pink bear, becoming harsh next to the dainty and modernly vintage household.

As a "mom vlogger" who idolizes "everyday life," Matka manicures her family's image to every minute detail, ensuring every crack is covered and wrinkles are ironed out. She becomes a domineering and malicious caricature of a mom vlogger who poises her porcelain life for her viewers, an idea that also contrasts everything Alli represents. Alli becomes thematically salient as well in this way, becoming the only presence in the house that hasn't been precisely groomed and manufactured to the household's image . In this pristine and constructed fantasy, Alli becomes a real and visceral entity – a mirror to both Tinja and Matka of a hidden self they cannot ignore anymore . As such, we are not only aesthetically drawn to the body horror of Hatching , but also its thematic distinction, effortlessly demanding our attention in every shot Alli appears in.

Alli Is the Most Sympathetic Character in 'Hatching'

Siiri Solalinna as Alli , injured and looking back at a person offscreen, in Hatching

This distinction is also why Alli is one of the more sympathetic characters in Hatching , as she essentially becomes the victim to this barbarically faux family. Though she is the more graphically violent character, she is free of manipulation or deceit, and thus, we can almost respect her instinct-driven personality. This is also due to the intrinsic link between her and Tinja, as she takes on a twisted spirit guardian role like in M3gan , but in a more primal way that feels freeing rather than sinister. The sympathy is really heightened when Tinja finally rejects Alli, who becomes understandably confused and hurt. As the person who raised Alli and the only attachment Alli has in the real world, it also casts Tinja in a more negative light, subsequently almost painting Alli as the victim – Tinja is all she has ever known, and she had been trying to protect her in the only way she knew how.

With the tyrannical and robotic Matka, the subservient and passive father ( Jani Volanen ) and an entitled and obnoxious brother ( Oiva Ollila ), there aren't many other characters that evoke the same mixture of feelings. Though we cannot advocate Alli’s violent reactions, she is reminiscent of Frankenstein's monster : hidden away due to her monstrous traits and eventually rejected by her only parental figure . Instead of being the traditionally monstrous example of body horror, Alli is a tragic figure that was doomed from the very start, being raised by a mother who had suppressed so much. As such, when we watch Hatching , it is not its Jungian insights that enrapture us, but its captivating take on body horror, executed through the reverse transformation, the extreme contrast with its picturesque surroundings, and the sympathy Alli inspires.

Hatching is currently available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.

WATCH ON HULU

Movie Features

The Most Original Monster Movie Of 2023 is Finally Streaming

Out of darkness comes a survival-thriller-turned-monster-movie.

A group of desperate survivors flee across a dangerous, inhospitable landscape. Somewhere in the shadows, a mysterious creature is stalking them. As the danger closes in, our protagonists descend into panic and paranoia, culminating in several gruesome deaths.

Perfected by films like Predator and Alien , it’s a classic monster movie formula. With its Final Girl protagonist and bursts of brutal violence, the 2023 horror thriller Out of Darkness also draws a lot of inspiration from the slasher genre. However its unusual setting offers an ambitious twist on these familiar tropes. Filmed in the Scottish Highlands, it’s a survival horror story set 45,000 years in the past, in a bleak landscape where starvation is a very real possibility.

Immersing us even further in this prehistoric atmosphere, director Andrew Cumming opted for a unique storytelling choice: All of the film’s dialogue is spoken in a neolithic constructed language known as Tola. Unsurprisingly, this somewhat challenging premise did not result in box office success. But with the film’s arrival on Paramount+ this week, it’s ready to find a new audience.

Out of Darkness couches a grim horror story in the framework of prehistoric legend. Its opening scenes see the six main characters tell tales around a campfire, mythologizing their perilous decision to break away from a larger community and settle in a new home. Their leader Adem (Chuku Modu) pitched this as a heroic journey to a promised land, but so far they’re struggling to find food and shelter. Their fire is a lonely dot of light in a barren plain, and Adem’s wife Ave (Iola Evans) is heavily pregnant, adding yet another concern to their arduous trek. The sense of isolation is terrifyingly oppressive.

Even before a monster starts tracking them through the wilderness, tensions are high. The unpleasantly macho Adem grows more aggressive and controlling, and his followers begin to turn on each other in desperation. Yet our protagonist Beyah (Safia Oakley-Green) has no choice but to stick around. Venturing off alone would be a death sentence, even if she’s more sensible than some of her compatriots.

Making the most of its gorgeous yet intimidating outdoor locations, Out of Darkness is an impressive work of low-budget filmmaking. It’s also a film that probably wouldn’t exist without Robert Eggers’ The Witch , which thrilled horror fans with its distinctive approach to historical authenticity. Like The Witch , Out of Darkness invites us into a forbidding physical environment, set in a period with different values and struggles to our own. And like The Witch , it embraces the supernatural beliefs of its main characters. To Beyah or Adem, a demonic presence is an entirely plausible explanation for their problems.

Director Andrew Cumming framed the film’s defining thesis as a question: "Have humans survived because of our own inhumanity?" We see similar themes unfold in apocalyptic horror stories where characters sacrifice each other to stay alive, or endanger their peers by hiding a zombie bite. Likewise the core cast of Out of Darkness can be tough and cruel, twisted by fear of an outside foe. But in order to discuss this topic any further, we need to touch on some spoilers for the film’s third act.

The monster of Out of Darkness remains mostly sight unseen.

Toward the end of the film, we learn that the beast stalking our human protagonists isn’t as supernatural as they assume. In fact, it’s a neanderthal person in a ritualistic costume, revealing that this land isn’t uninhabited after all — it’s home to another humanoid society.

At this point the perspective shifts to a very different game of cat-and-mouse, as our human protagonists hunt down the neanderthal’s family. Rather than being a story about survival in a strange land, it’s now a parable about colonization, with humans as an explicitly disruptive and invasive species. Their fear of the unknown turns them into vicious murderers, making Adem’s role an even more obvious commentary on toxic masculine leadership.

It’s an interesting twist, but one I personally found a little too on-the-nose. Out of Darkness isn’t aiming for historical (or rather prehistorical) accuracy, but the reality is that humans and neanderthals coexisted for thousands of years. By mapping this relationship onto a modern view of racial/colonial conflicts, the story enters some awkwardly moralizing territory in its final act.

That being said, Out of Darkness is an accomplished debut feature. Andrew Cumming brings a unique angle to a classic horror formula, bolstered by beautifully photographed locations and an engaging cast of little-known actors. It’s a true original — and undeniably effective at building an atmospheric sense of dread.

Out of Darkness is now streaming on Paramount+.

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Maxxxine review: mia goth cements her stardom in nearly perfect conclusion to a24's slasher trilogy.

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MaXXXine Rotten Tomatoes Score Debut Keeps A24’s 2024 Movie Streak Alive

10 movies that couldn't top their opening scene, 10 most rewatchable denzel washington movies, ranked.

Mia Goth shines in MaXXXine , showcasing the evolution of her character and the impact of past events from X.
A vibrant cast brings 80s Hollywood to life, with standout performances from Giancarlo Esposito and Elizabeth Debicki.
While MaXXXine serves as a satisfying conclusion to the X trilogy, the ultimate villain falls short of the heights set by X .

Maxine Minx has finally made it to Hollywood in MaXXXine , the concluding chapter in A24's hit horror franchise . Writer-director Ti West took the world by storm in 2022, revitalizing the slasher genre with X before releasing its psychological thriller-style prequel Pearl mere months later. MaXXXine may have taken a little longer to hit theaters, but fans of horror can be assured that it is well worth the wait. The best part is that newcomers can enjoy it as a standalone, but watching X and Pearl beforehand exponentially enhances the experience, creating a nearly perfect sequel.

MaXXXine opens in 1985 , with Mia Goth's central heroine Maxine Minx poised to finally reach the promised land of Hollywood stardom. But no sooner has she landed what could be her big break than a serial killer known as the Night Stalker sweeps through the city, slashing through aspiring starlets with no mercy. If that weren't enough for one rookie actor to deal with, Maxine also finds herself haunted by Pearl and hunted by someone who knows exactly what she did to escape that farmhouse in Texas.

MaXXXine Proves Mia Goth Is An Undeniable Powerhouse In Hollywood

There are a lot of complicated layers that Goth needs to bring to the surface in Maxxine , and the results could easily fall flat in the hands of a less capable performer. Thankfully, no matter how dismissively one might toss out the title of "Scream Queen," Goth is more than up for the task and delivers a three-dimensional character who is equal parts victim and survivor.

Maxine's no-holds-barred ambition for fame can at times be off-putting, but her steely glare belies a vulnerability that is all too human.

Goth is not carrying the project on her own, however. MaXXXine features a host of perfectly cast talent , each of whom does their part to flesh out the glitz, glamour, and greed that defines the era. There are one or two missteps — or, more accurately, a couple of characters who aren't given enough time to leave their mark — but the vast majority of side characters could headline their own story. Giancarlo Esposito is the biggest standout, and he's clearly having the time of his life playing loyal-to-the-core agent Teddy Night, but Elizabeth Debicki's director role gives her plenty to chew on as well.

MaXXXine Capitalizes On The Groundwork Laid By X And Pearl

By casting Maxine in a cult classic horror sequel, West cheekily introduces a metatheatrical element to the proceedings, allowing Debicki's character Elizabeth Bender to ponder how she can successfully make " a B movie with A ideas ." MaXXXine does just that, furthering the thesis of West's previous two movies, which explore thwarted desire and ambition.

Maxine has it within her to become Pearl should she too be denied her dream, but it is precisely her experiences with Pearl that equip her to come out the victor.

The new movie doesn't just work in comparison to the prequel, it also pulls directly from the events of X for its plot. PI John Labat (Kevin Bacon, delightfully hamming it up in every scene) has been shown in the trailers hounding Maxine about her past, but he only opens the door to a much larger and more sinister conspiracy that the protagonist unwittingly finds herself at the center of. Much has been made in the marketing of the puritanical viewpoints of those who protest Hollywood, and the movie doesn't forget to follow that up — or to remind us of Maxine's own religious upbringing and how it contrasts with her life's work.

If there is one flaw in Ti West's perfect recipe for a grand finale, it's that the setup is more terrifying than the third-act villain. Perhaps the problem is that nothing and no one can measure up to Goth herself portraying the deranged and desire-ridden Pearl, but the resolution of the Night Stalker mystery leaves something wanted. Thankfully, I was too busy deliriously rooting for Maxine Minx to come out on top once more to take much notice of that fact until after the credits rolled.

MaXXXine releases in theaters on July 3. It is rated R for strong violence, gore, sexual content, graphic nudity, language and drug use.

In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx lands her big break, but her rise to stardom is jeopardized by a mysterious killer targeting starlets. As the body count rises, secrets from Maxine's past threaten to surface, intertwining her quest for fame with a deadly game of survival.

Mia Goth skillfully highlights what separates Maxine from Pearl and how the events of X changed her.
A cast of colorful characters brings '80s Hollywood to life, including Giancarlo Esposito and Elizabeth Debicki.
The movie serves as a more than satisfying conclusion to the X trilogy.
The movie's ultimate villain doesn't quite live up the the heights of X.

COMMENTS

The Aesthetics and Psychology Behind Horror Films
releasing all the tension and anxiety. Tudor (1989) researched 990 horror films in Britain from years 1981 to 1934, proposing. a three part narrative: instability is introduced in a stable condition, threat to instability is. resisted, and lastly, threat is diminished and situation becomes stable again. His proposal.
The attraction of fear and the potential therapeutic value of horror films
This paper aims to provide counselors with a synthesis of. information on the potential therapeutic value of cinematherapy with horror movies, focusing on the relationship between recreational fear and sensation-driven interventions. Experiencing fear, when tolerable and in a safe and controlled environment, such as.
90 Popular Film Research Paper Topics to Inspire You
Here are some captivating film research paper topics on music. The Evolution of Film Scores: From Silent Cinema to the Digital Age. The Role of Music in Establishing Film Genres. Iconic Film Composers: The Musical Styles of John Williams and Ennio Morricone. The Impact of Jazz on Film Noir Soundtracks.
The Ghosts of Grief: An Exploration of Gothic Influence in 2010s Horror
ABSTRACT. The purpose of this project is to examine gothic influences in contemporary horror cinema of the 2010s. To fulfill this purpose, the study employs comparative film analysis methods to analyze The Babadook (2014), The Invitation (2015), and Crimson Peak (2015) in order to identify intertextual gothic references in the cinematography ...
PDF Good old horror, now elevated
Appendices - Pg. 29. ABSTRACT. In the everchanging horror landscape, a group of recent horror films labelled as "elevated" has become commercially and critically successful. Critics and audiences alike praise them for the 'reinvigoration' of the genre. This thesis undertakes an analysis of two elevated horror films, Hereditary and ...
PDF The Decay of Monsters: Horror Movies Throughout History
the thesis examines modem films and series, and the huge gap of quality between the well-rated films and the high-grossing films of the more modem era. Horror seems to have become stagnant, drawing more and more from other film genres and losing less ... horror films were pushed to the side as b-movies, as technologies allowed for more
The Representation of Women in the Horror Movies: A ...
PDF | On Jan 1, 2019, Manaar Kamil Sa'eed published The Representation of Women in the Horror Movies: A Study in Selected Horror Movies | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ...
Dissertations / Theses: 'Horror Fiction'
Video (online) Consult the top 50 dissertations / theses for your research on the topic 'Horror Fiction.'. Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard ...
HORROR MOVIE AESTHETICS: Thesis Presented
HORROR MOVIE AESTHETICS: How color, time, space and sound elicit fear in an audience. Thesis Presented by Xiangyi Fu to The Department of Art + Design In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Fine Arts in Information Design and Visualization Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts May, 2016 2 A B S T R AC T Fear is one of the most basic and important human ...
Analysis on Horror Genre Films
Golden Scissors (From Us) An al ys is o n Ho rr or G e nr e Fi lm s - T ak in g Us a s an E xa mp l e. Yan Lu 1,a,*. 1 College of Communication, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, US, 02215 ...
What are some horror-related research topics? : r/horrorlit
Vampires are often rich, high-standing, and caucasian, whereas werewolves are seen as low class, poor, and often minorities. Just look at Twilight, the vampires (bar one or two) are white aristocracy, and the werewolves come from an indigenous tribe. Even when authors try to subvert those stereotypes it can backfire.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Horror films
List of dissertations / theses on the topic 'Horror films - History and criticism'. Scholarly publications with full text pdf download. Related research topic ideas. Bibliography; Subscribe; ... Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Horror films - History and criticism' To see the other types of publications on this topic, follow the link: ...
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List of dissertations / theses on the topic 'Film horror'. Scholarly publications with full text pdf download. Related research topic ideas.
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Introduction. In my thesis I will examine the tradition of horror, slasher movies remakes, spin-offs, etc to analyze them from the "continuum" perspective in reference to the whole "genre", its approaches, style, limitation and structure, rather then addressing each film as individual. Outlining the different intertextual messages these ...
Film student here, I want to write my dissertation on Horror films and
James Wan films for his impeccable atmospheric horror movies (not necessarily their stories). I'd combine recent indie horror movies (It Follows/The Babadook/The Witch) and talk about the recent trend of indie horror movies having critical success but lack of box office profits (compared to hollywood produced films).
Film Dissertation Topics (28 Examples) For Research Ideas
List of Film dissertation topics. An analysis and comparison of the most popular genres of cinema in the world today. To compare the commercial cinema and non-commercial cinema - A literature review. Studying the role of marketing in the Chinese and Japanese film industry. Examining the cinema and film culture in the Middle East.
Colour Psychology in Horror Films Survey
Apologies if I'm not allowed to post on here, but I'm currently in the process of writing my dissertation, based on colour psychology within horror films, analysing the 20th Century and 21st Century. I would really appreciate it if you could take a look at my survey, which I am aiming to use as research for my dissertation.
Film Studies Research Guide: Research Topics
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Research the film industry in India. The growing popularity of television. Discuss the most important aspects of film theory. The drawbacks of silent movies. Cameras used in 1950s movies. The most important cinema movie of the 1900s. Research the montage of movies in the 1970s. The inception of film criticism.
Dissertations
Dissertation Title: " Curated Desires: Intersections of Low-Grade Cinema, Migration, and Gentrification in Mumbai ". Chair: Neepa Majumdar. Readers: Robert Clift, Zachary Horton, and Randall Halle (German) 2022. Jordan Bernsmeier, Visiting Lecturer (NTS), University of Pittsburgh.
A Psychologist Shares How 'Psychological Horrors' Turn Our ...
Here's how the scariest subgenre of horror films got its name—and why it's so alluringly scary. The answers lie in the psychological concepts that underpin this genre.
cfp
However, preference will be given to contributions focusing on one or two films as case studies rather than choosing a theme/topic and illustrating that theme/topic with several films in a single chapter. I am exclusively interested in chapter proposals covering European, South American, Asian, African, or Australian horror-comedy films.
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List of dissertations / theses on the topic 'Horror films in fiction'. Scholarly publications with full text pdf download. Related research topic ideas.
You Won't Be Able To Look Away From the Grim Body Horror Thriller
While most films use horror tools to deliver subtext and elusive themes, Hatching uses a psychoanalytical thesis to deliver us repulsive and arresting body horror. The film keeps its analysis of ...
The Most Original Monster Movie Of 2023 is Finally Streaming
With its Final Girl protagonist and bursts of brutal violence, the 2023 horror thriller Out of Darkness also draws a lot of inspiration from the slasher genre. However its unusual setting offers ...
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List of dissertations / theses on the topic 'Horror movies'. Scholarly publications with full text pdf download. Related research topic ideas.
MaXXXine Review: Mia Goth Cements Her Stardom In Nearly Perfect
Maxine Minx has finally made it to Hollywood in MaXXXine, the concluding chapter in A24's hit horror franchise.Writer-director Ti West took the world by storm in 2022, revitalizing the slasher genre with X before releasing its psychological thriller-style prequel Pearl mere months later.MaXXXine may have taken a little longer to hit theaters, but fans of horror can be assured that it is well ...

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