Analysis of Film Dracula, Prince of Darkness

Analysis of Film Dracula, Prince of Darkness

Horror has been a popular genre over the last 200 years. People enjoy

reading gothic novels and watching horror films because it injects

excitement into their lives. This may be because generally life is

safer and people may find it mundane; horror gives people a thrill and

knowing you're in safe surroundings lets you know you're going to be

ok after the short time you are being entertained.

Writers like Sheridan Le Fanu, Bram Stoker and Edgar Allen Poe have

all been popular horror authors, however, the first great gothic novel

was 'Mysteries of Udolpho' written by Anne Radcliffe in 1794.

Then, film was invented and 'Nosferatu' was the first horror film made

by the Germans. This then encouraged more films to be made and they

have become increasingly more popular. Recently in films technical

advances have made films more realistic because people's expectations

are becoming greater, we want to believe what we see is real.

We watched Dracula, Prince of Darkness made by Hammer in 1965 and have

studied the conventions and techniques as they appear in the film and

in this essay it will be about the effect of them on the audience, how

they generate pleasurable fear.

Most horror films have a similar storyline. They are usually set in an

isolated place with a gothic setting and most of the scary parts take

place at night. The main characters usually consist of the monster or

'baddie', who may be a murderer and is not easily destroyed, which is

handy for sequels. A clever person or maybe a scientist, 'stupid'

people that often go off on their own and is more likely to get killed

first, and a beautiful women who screams a lot and may get injured, or

even killed for dramatic purposes.

There will be a number of tense chases and exciting near misses which

tend to happen in the middle of the film or near the end before the

monster is caught, if he isn't killed or caught then the film can be