Post Modern Horror Essay

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“Maybe it’s as real as our world,” says Philip K. Dick and he is right. The horror genre lets society as well as ourselves explore what becomes of it or us, when exposed to different situations. To understand our culture and life we search reasoning in movies such as Nosferatu (1922), Dracula (1931), 28 Days Later (2003) and even zombie literature. Each classic film starts in a detached manner by taking the audience where they feel safe from danger, to a setting far off from what they recognize as home, such as high up in a castle in Transylvania where it seemingly took many days to reach (Browning, 1931). Post-modern horror is quite the opposite it takes us straight to a contemporary setting, where the audiences ‘comfort zone’ feels it has …show more content…

Even so the hero and monster are affect by this, classic horror has its hero as the wise, knowledgable male figure. A man such as Van Helsing whom even the obvious monster, Count Dracula, admits an ounce of admiration for by saying, “For one who has not lived even a single lifetime, you're a wise man, Van Helsing,” (Browning, 1931). Alternatively, post-modern horrors hero can be anyone even the so thought to be ‘vulnerable’ women and the monsters are can be whom we first characterize as good such as the military in 28 Days Later (2003) as well as of course the zombies. Classic horror demonstrates little to no graphic violence it expects the audience to imagine the horrific consequences of the monsters. The audiences of post-modern horror films react to the graphic violence as it is very honest and true to telling the story, as blood, guts and gore seem to spew all over the screen in Boyle’s 28 Days Later (2003). Finally, a good story usually has a wonderful conclusion like Dracula (1931) and Nosferatu (1922), the Count’s both die and there is a restoration to a normal life (Pinedo,

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