Movie Industry: A Nightmare on Elm Street

1772 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Evolution of horror movies essay

Through the years, countless movies have been made with the central theme of scaring the viewer. What is fear? According to Merriam-Webster, Fear can be defined as being as being afraid of someone or something. When studying about horror movies, it is important to know the definition of fear and horror. “Horror dares to say that everything is not okay. The control was never ours to being…something other, rather than something else, is at work…The function of horror is incredibly simple. It reminds us that we are not alone” (Yeats). Horror films are abundant and the idea of being scared keeps bringing people back to the movies only to go through that unpleasant journey again but with a new plot and characters. What makes these movies scary? Why are people attracted to horror films? Why are some older horror films remade and some are not? When these movies are remade, why are some successful and others are not?
During the 70’s and 80’s, the horror genre was thriving in the movie industry. Movies about ghosts, werewolves, demons, psychopaths, and serial killers attracted teenagers to gather at the movies to spend their hard earned money, only to be scared out of their socks. Today, we find the same thing, even thirty years later. Why is that? Why do people enjoy being scared? Some people enjoy the stress of fear, but only because of the safe environment that they are in. If one were in the actual situation, they would act differently than in the closed quarters of the movie theatre. As stated earlier, it is the lack of control that makes us scared. This is why when watching a scary movie at the theatre, the moments that pop-out at you scare you the most, because you have no control over it. However, the moments that scare you when ...

... middle of paper ...

...around and stands as a guideline of morality. If you do something wrong, he will get you. Hollywood knows that this fear of not being able to control something is a fear that lives in the hearts of most of us. Hollywood will continue to make horror films that feed off of this fear and people will go back for more, because they enjoy it. The Bogeyman will never die. He simply changes himself into a new situation. The Bogeyman is a personified consequence of any action that one takes.

Works Cited

1) A Nightmare on Elm Street. Dir. Wes Craven. New Line Cinema, 1984. DVD.
2) Vidler, Anthony. The Architectural Uncanny: Essays in the Modern Unhomely. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1992. Print.
3) A Bogeyman With Supernatural Powers. By: McCabe, Nancy, Newsweek, 00289604, 10/17/2005, Vol. 146, Issue 16
4) Ingram, Shelley. “The Uncanny and Abjection.” Powerpoint presentation. 2014

Show More
Related

  • Stephen King Why We Crave Horror Movies Essay

    1416 Words  | 3 Pages

    To begin with, some people would say they enjoy a horror movie that gets them scared out of their wits. They go see these movies once a month on average, for fun, each time choosing a newer sequel like “Final Destination” or “The evil Dead”. King says “When we pay our four or five bucks and seat ourselves at tenth-row center in a theater showing a horror movie we are daring the nightmare” (405). As a writer of best-sel...

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Why We Crave Horror Movies

    1358 Words  | 3 Pages

    The article Why We Crave Horror Movies by Stephen King distinguishes why we truly do crave horror movies. Stephen King goes into depth on the many reasons on why we, as humans, find horror movies intriguing and how we all have some sort of insanity within us. He does this by using different rhetorical techniques and appealing to the audience through ways such as experience, emotion and logic. Apart from that he also relates a numerous amount of aspects on why we crave horror movies to our lives. Throughout this essay I will be evaluating the authors arguments and points on why society finds horror movies so desirable and captivating.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay About Horror Movies

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    Filled with twisted ideas, blood, gore, and supernatural occurring’s, I can understand why a lot of Americans do not crave putting in such a film. What I do not understand is why a lot of them don’t enjoy a good scare here and there. I dont see the mass majority of people watching for the pure pleasure of the ideas and images a film provokes. Most horror movies show possibilities with a real risk factor, diving into a world filled with killers, clowns, and your skilled boogie man. We’re not watching because we feed off the violence and twisted scenes, but were craving the feeling and adrenaline that is triggered by such images and ideas. Watching from a safe place such as your couch, offers an out of body experience simply by putting on a movie. For me, there was nothing more exciting that really could happen late at night, especially when you’re in middle

    Read More

  • Descriptive Essay: The Bogeyman

    773 Words  | 2 Pages

    In some countries, he is seen as a man with a sack on his back, the sack being used to carry naughty, troublesome children away. European countries usually seem him as a tall, lanky man in a heavy black coat, with a hide that hides his face. Most commonly, his features are dependent on the fears of the person being frightened. In English culture, he is seen as a dark mist or fog that can take the form of anything it pleases. Overall, the true image of the bogeyman is up to your own interpretation.

    Read More

  • Do We Really Crave Horror Movies

    683 Words  | 2 Pages

    Often times I wonder if people go to see horror movies for enjoyment, or is it something much more than that? I have mixed feelings about the idea that, “the horror film has become the modern version of public lynching” (King 562). Horror movies do promote violence and can influence the mindset of the audience, but sanity people is not based on the excitement we receive from watching a horror film. Instead, it is based on what is already within us, not what we witness on a movie screen, but what we experience throughout our lifetime.

    Read More

  • The Wicked Seed In Othello Analysis

    1437 Words  | 3 Pages

    perfect villain. A villain who makes work out out of everything and dominates the stage by bringing life

    Read More

  • Analysis of The Shining, by Stanley Kubrick

    3991 Words  | 8 Pages

    What is horror? Webster's Collegiate Dictionary gives the primary definition of horror as "a painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay." It stands to reason then that "horror fiction" is fiction that elicits those emotions in the reader. An example of a horror film is "The Shining", directed by Stanley Kubrick. Stanley Kubrick was a well-known director, producer, writer and cinematographer. His films comprised of unique, qualitative scenes that are still memorable but one iconic film in his collection of work is The Shining. Many would disagree and say that The Shining was not his best work and he could have done better yet, there are still those who would say otherwise. This film was not meant to be a “scary pop-up” terror film but instead, it turned into a spectacular psychological, horor film in which Kubrick deeply thought about each scene and every line.

    Read More

  • The Evolution of Horror Films

    1580 Words  | 4 Pages

    People are addicted to the synthetic feeling of being terrified. Modern day horror films are very different from the first horror films which date back to the late nineteenth century, but the goal of shocking the audience is still the same. Over the course of its existence, the horror industry has had to innovate new ways to keep its viewers on the edge of their seats. Horror films are frightening films created solely to ignite anxiety and panic within the viewers. Dread and alarm summon deep fears by captivating the audience with a shocking, terrifying, and unpredictable finale that leaves the viewer stunned.

    Read More

  • Horror In Stephen King's Why We Crave Horror

    819 Words  | 2 Pages

    Horror is one of many fears humans have. We all have many terrors, but horror is the one that gets the best of us. Some crave, while others resent, the feeling horror movies bring to our body and the emotions that we experience. In Stephen King’s article, “Why We Crave Horror,” he explains that it is a part of the “Human Condition,” to crave the horror. King gives many strong and accurate claims on why we crave the horror movies, such as; testing our ability to face our fears, to re-establish our feelings of normality, and to experience a peculiar sort of fun.

    Read More

  • Ambiguity of Horror Movies

    1253 Words  | 3 Pages

    Contagious diseases, the blood sucking undead, villainous mutants, deadly parasites, body snatchers; Horror movies are all filled with common fears held by its audience and the public overall. These fears presented in horror movies are induced by actual events occurring at some point in history. In the past we don’t directly see Count Dracula, Frankenstein and Jason Voorhees attacking society but, reading between the lines, the villains in horror movies are present in the antagonists in real life. Whether it’s the representation of the nuclear war in Night of the Living Dead or societal division in The Hills Have Eyes, there is some truth in the fears present in horror movies. Horror movies throughout history reflect society; its fears, events and over all state.

    Read More

  • Enigmatic Code In Horror Movies

    1077 Words  | 3 Pages

    In most countries, horror movies are beloved and popular genre for certain group of people who are eager to have different types of feeling and emotion. It usually delivers wired, freaky, uncanny, fearful and uncomfortable feeling to its audiences. There have been thousands ways of expressing fearful emotion to the horror film lovers, however, most horror film have something in common that provokes fearful emotion by using particular context, such as gender discrimination and trauma of wars. Without understanding such a context, foreign horror films are understandable to other nations audiences, which means that the process of feeling threatened and fearful does not need to rely heavily on certain cultural or historical information. In this

    Read More

  • A Nightmare On Elm Street

    2283 Words  | 5 Pages

    Horror films are designed to frighten the audience and engage them in their worst fears, while captivating and entertaining at the same time. Horror films often center on the darker side of life, on what is forbidden and strange. These films play with society’s fears, its nightmare’s and vulnerability, the terror of the unknown, the fear of death, the loss of identity, and the fear of sexuality. Horror films are generally set in spooky old mansions, fog-ridden areas, or dark locales with unknown human, supernatural or grotesque creatures lurking about. These creatures can range from vampires, madmen, devils, unfriendly ghosts, monsters, mad scientists, demons, zombies, evil spirits, satanic villains, the possessed, werewolves and freaks to the unseen and even the mere presence of evil.

    Read More

  • Exploring the Film Genres of Horror, Science Fiction, and Action Movies

    814 Words  | 2 Pages

    A horror movie “makes people think, what if it was reality?” said by a thrill seeker person who was waiting to watch a horror movie. Experts also cite more various reasons about why people enjoy watching scary movies. For the thrill of it and also because it seems real for thrill seekers; these are some secretes reveled to show why thrill seekers enjoy horror movies. Feeling the sense of evil and being curious about understanding humanity’s dark side makes horror movies a perfect way of enjoying these feelings, and relieving the tension of curiosity about violent, blood and terrorism. Moreover, experts said that not only desirability to blood and fear could consider as an attraction to whose ...

    Read More

  • The Shift Into The Horror Genre

    695 Words  | 2 Pages

    Horror What do clowns, serial killers, dolls, ghosts, and monsters all have in common? They all strike fear into most, and that is what horror is designed to do. The genre horror brings out the emotion of fear, and horror always terrifies those who watch or read anything from this genre. An example of a movie that fits into the horror genre is It.

    Read More

  • Effects Of Horror Movies

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    Over the years horror movies have become a big part of cinema business. Teenagers and adults like to watch scary movies because of the adrenaline rush. Every scary movie includes unexpected scenes that make the movie interesting and frightening. It is very terrifying that, parents are allowing their children to watch horror movies. This can be very harmful for children’s mental health. Watching really scary movies and cartoons, and even playing scary games, has many lasting side effects on children. When we watch those horror movies with kids, unknowingly we might hurt their feelings. To be more precise, it can easily affect their nervous systems. Unexpected loud scenes in horror movies may scare children easily. Horror movies can create negative

    Read More

More about Movie Industry: A Nightmare on Elm Street

Open Document