Horror has many aspects to portray itself. From all the books we have read in class, there have been many descriptions to get across to the reader the feeling of fear. They usually describe the scenes so well that you could visualize everything, and in your mind, and possibly make the scene even scarier than it was ever intended. I know that while we were reading Dracula, the scene with the carriage driver scared me a lot more than it seemed to affect anyone else. I kept imaging being in the carriage alone with the odd driver who kept disappearing and with wolves surrounding me. The element of fear from reading that blew me away, and I had to keep reading to see what was going to happen next. In the movies, sometimes it almost seems that those scenes don’t have as much effect. When watching this same scene in the newer 90’s version of Dracula, Keanu Reeves didn’t seem worried at all; then again that might just have been Keanu Reeves himself. The driver, still creepy and weird, didn’t seem to have the same effect to me. He didn’t disappear back and forth and there weren’t the wolves surrounding them the whole time. More than anything I think Reeves was scared of the cliff height. Sometimes it just seems that the special effects and visual images just hold back the true horror it could release on the audience.
Special effects I think have a lot to do with how well the audience gets that feeling of horror. Some movies it just doesn’t cut it. A lot of this has to do with recent technology also. Some special effects that seem common place today were un-thought of back in the day. Even some the older ones though knew their capabilities. ¬¬I think Night of the Demon, although it would have been intimidating without the monsters shown, did a great job with the effects, especially for being in 1957 and very limited with their technology in special effects. The monster was very frightening looking with smoke and fangs, very intimidating. Another horror movie from that same time period, 1958, was The Brain from Planet Arous. This is a perfect example of a movie with ridiculous special effects that just make it humorous. The thought of a giant brain attacking from another planet is still a frightening monster but it just makes it hilarious. Even the newer ones today don’t know when to say they are out of their hands. The make-up, costumes, gore, sounds, and any other special effects really make a difference on how the movie is portrayed. I personally am not fond of scary movies but some of them just make me laugh. It makes me laugh harder when I find out they didn’t mean it as a spoof. Other scary movies, that do themselves justice with their special effects, I can’t watch because I will get paranoid and sleep with the lights on for weeks. The horror parody movies are the best at pointing out the ridiculous effects. One parody with surprisingly good gore effects is Shaun of the Dead. There are parts in there that almost make it worse to me than some of the horror movies. There is a scene when the zombies are ripping out a man’s intestine that is truly horrific looking. Another perfect example of a horror movie that has ridiculous special effects making it more of a comedy is Shark Attack 3. It was made in 2002 and it’s supposed to be a horror movie but it cannot even be taken seriously. All these special effects just add to the movie if done correctly; they can make it truly superb. However, when done incorrectly the special effects just make it another laughing matter.
Here are the four clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvPowFM_-XM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qImQ1YBZtwg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nzd0R_OeOc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGDqYnKHHrU
8 comments:
I see you took my recommendations about The Brain from Planet Arous and Shark Attack 3. Great films...
:) I appreciate it, the best line ever is still my favorite from Shark Attack 3
I agree with your statement that in some movies the special effects don't cut it but I also think part of the reason that special effects can sometimes take away from the horror aspect of the work is that all of the well done overly graphic scenes of death and gore have de-synthesized us and now we have less of an emotional response towards them than we would have in the early days of film when showing such graphic violence was impossible or taboo.
I think its interesting when you consdier the recent Paranomal Acitvity movies that really lack any kind of special effect and rather focus the story on silence, sound, and suprise. Sometimes special effects really drag down a story, and the horror of it, especialyl with all the new digital and HD techonolgy. It is much scarier when things are off the screen or implied or could be misinterpreted rather than having a monster, gore and all, thrown in your face. Gee thanks, Hollywood, for thinking I am not creative enoguh to visulaize your monster.
It amazing the growth in special effects, gore, and violence within horror films throughout the age of the industry. We truly are desynthisized to it. Sometimes I think it would be nice to go back to that and re-define horror.
I find that the best use of computerized special effects in horror films and fantasy-horror films is when they are used to enhance, not create, the monster. Although the demon puppet was not super realistic, it was still tangible, and did not have the weird crispness of detail that pure CGI critters often have. Compare, for example, the stuntmen xenomorphs from Aliens with the CG xenomorphs seen freeing the queen in AVP. Guillermo del Toro is skilled in using CG to enhance tangible monsters, which is why I think he will do a good job with At the Mountains of Madness. (Almost)All the monsters in Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy II where puppets and suits enhanced with CG effects.
I would say that any form of computer generated effect in horror films is entirely unwelcome. The more CG, the more it looks like a cartoon. The more it looks like a cartoon, the less horrifying it is. Besides, the only special effects that a good horror film needs is blood and a monster...
I completely agree with you. I believe that many recent films today employ digital techniques for the simple fact that they're available to them. They get so caught up in using these special effects that they don't seem to realize how ridiculous the film's become. The best horror film is one that makes audiences believe that the creature or subject of evil could actually get them in real life. So when filmmakers produce an on-screen world that looks too "produced" it takes away the real-world applicability that horrifies viewers.
Important exception: Shelob from The Return of the King is absolutely terrifying. Maybe it's because they sculpted it as a model first and then scanned it into the computer.
Post a Comment