In order to give us more time to engross ourselves in the horror genre, students who have chosen to do their book reports on the horror genre will be turning them in here, as a response to this post. I am very excited to read about what you have learned.
Please present us with enough material in your response below that one would find in a 5 minute oral report in front of the class. This response needs to be longer and more detailed than most your film responses. This is worth 50 points.
Remember to include your name, what book you read, a brief idea of what this non-fiction book talks about (it can be very brief, we want to read more about what you learned), and what you learned about the genre. Tell us how what you learned benefited you as one who is studying the genre, how it will influence the way you think about horror from now on, and how it might influence your screenplay you will be writing soon.
This report is due on November 8th! You also have your at home movie review due on the 10th, so get crackin'!
Hello. My name is Carlos. I read a book called Scary Movies. This book is a collection of the author's opinions on horror movies, fun facts and his favorites. I learned a bunch of interesting things. For example, After filming Psycho, Janet Leigh could not take showers. In Evil Dead 2, Freddy Krueger's glove is seen hanging above the door in the tool shed. Because he was so young Danny Lloyd, the kid who played Danny in The Shining, was not told he was making a horror film. He thought it was going to be a drama. In order to not break continuity, Sissy Spacek slept in a bloody prom dress for three days.
ReplyDeleteOther than a bunch of fun facts, I learned that directors care about their films and their messages a lot. I didn't learn something that affected my screenplay in a big way.
This book seems quite an appropriate book to read for this class. Awesome. Thanks for sharing those cool facts. Sissy sleeping in her costume for three days? That's amazing!
DeleteAnd, it's true, caring about story makes such a difference. You can tell when a director cared, and when he or she did not. I think that's a valuable thing to remember when writing scripts - find a story you love deeply, and write it!
That is way cool I had no idea! I wonder how Danny Lloyd felt after he learned it was a horror movie!
Deleteoh man but the sleeping in the bloody prom dress for 3 days, that's admittedly gross but crazy dedication!
Those are really interesting facts!
I played a game called 'The Last Of Us'. The game has taught me about there are more scary things than just monsters. There is loss in the world and you have to be carful cause you can lose people you love and that to me is my new definition of fear and sometimes you don't have a choice.
ReplyDeleteNot having a choice is very scary. I never thought much about that until now, but thank you. The ability to choose is what makes us human. Take that away, and we really have nothing. That is scary.
DeleteAnd losing loved ones? I don't know if I can think of anything more frightening than that.
Thanks Dallas!
That game is SO amazing!!
DeleteI completely agree, it really opens up your mind to things you normally wouldn't think about when you think 'horror' the meaning grows to you, and it's terrifying but very engaging to consider!
Hey, Allen here. Since Horror is such a broad genre I decided to pick a smaller sub genre of it, my personal favorite, Creepypastas. I failed to find a book on the actual history of Creepypasta so I did some reading up on different articles throughout the internet. This is pretty much what I've gathered.
ReplyDeleteCreepypasta are basically just internet horror stories, passed around on forums and other sites to disturb and frighten readers. The name "Creepypasta" comes from the word "copypasta", an internet slang term for a block of text that gets copied and pasted over and over again from website to website. Creepypastas occasionally come with pictures, audio and/or video footage related to the story, typically with gory, distorted, or otherwise shocking content.
One of the most typical stories from Creepypasta is authors finding "Lost Episodes" of normal TV shows, which were never released but contained disturbing content or made viewers insane. Or a lot of times authors will be playing altered versions of video games, which contains disturbing content.
My most personal favorite Creepypasta stories tend to include very uncanny creatures, such as a normal human but with a smile from ear to ear, with elongated shoulders, arms, legs, and neck.
One thing I noticed about reading a horror story versus watching a horror film, is that when you read the authors description of said creature or event, your mind pictures the most personally frightening or disturbing version it could possibly come up with.
Creepypastas definitely help me with my writing. Being well read in the horror genre has done wonders for me when I try to come up with new script ideas. Also the technique of leaving the audience to come up with their own interpretation of a creature or entity seems to be a lot more effective, so with that in mind I am definitely going to work that that technique in future horror films.
Dude. Dude.
DeleteDude. You all introduced creepy pasta to me during our scary story sharing lessons, and man, they are indeed creepy! If you've found a gal who enjoys sitting down and reading creepy stories with you, then you've found yourself a great gal in my book! That's fantastic.
Thanks for introducing this brand new world of creepiness to me, my man.
Dude I couldn't agree more! Creepypastas have to be some of the greatest and horrific things! Another thing I love about most creepy pastas is that most of them will leave off with a dangling question, like they don't finish the story completely sometimes, they leave it open for the readers imagination to run wild with horrific ideas of what happens next, or sometimes even thinking that they're next! It's so incredible to see some of the things that people can come up with, also very terrifying, it shows you a world of new people, you think how can someone possibly come up with things like this, and it only makes it that much more terrifying to think that, that could be one of your friends, someone you know, or you can encounter them one day if you haven't already. Creepypastas stretch far beyond most horror ideas in my opinion. If you love Creepypasta I highly encourage that you watch Marble Hornets!
DeleteFor this assignment I read ‘The Horror Genre: From Beezlebub to Blair Witch’ by journalist Paul Wells. The book discusses the various different aspects of the horror genre in its most modern form. Since I’m an avid horror fan myself, I found it interesting to read a book written about the horror genre in general. It made me think consciously about certain qualities of movies that I was already unconsciously familiar with, causing me to realize and understand what techniques go into making a real bone-chiller. After reading the book, I can in fact confidently say that I’m better prepared to write horror than I was before, as I’m now armed with better knowledge and technique. If I were to say that I learned one thing from the book, it’s that the modern ‘model’ of the horror film is the serial killer. Wells explains that so many modern films focus on the serial killer for a variety of well-grounded reasons. To begin, people are most assured to be afraid of serial killers, since one thing all people are guaranteed to be afraid of, in contrast to ghosts, monsters and ghouls, is other people. People are unpredictable, and capable of anything, which makes the serial killer an ideal focus for a horror film. Many modern horror thrillers feature serial killers not only because they are so frightening, but also because they are certain to be frightening to the widest possible audience. Overall, I learned a lot from this book, and I enjoyed the assignment which gave me the opportunity to read it.
ReplyDeleteI love that you are a fellow horror fan, and such a passionate one at that. This book sounds fascinating. I've often thought about the serial killer phenomena, and how it truly is the most frightening kind of villain in a horror film for me. The fact that it is a rising trend, now that you explain it, makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing about your book!
DeleteHey this is Dea and I started playing a video game called "condemned: criminal origins" for my horror book report.
ReplyDeleteHolly crap I have to say this is a really creepy game!!! I cant play this game with out someone next to me and music playing. lol in this game you paly a FBI agent(Ethan Thompson) and there is a serial killer(the match make I think) on the lose. Your the best at crime solving, but at the beginning the damn killer pops out of nowhere and hits you over the head. you drop your gun like a dipshit so he grabs it, while he points it to you he says "Bang....Bang...dead" then walks off with your gun. I hate that part every time. cuz just before he does that homeless on PCP freak out on you and if you die you have to do it over again.....I love this game but hate it at the same time. the music and noises are the worst. It sucks because how they have it is you have to have the volume up high because the characters talk quietly and if you don't have it high you could miss something. Also everything pops out at you. plus everything human is like mutants they give me nightmares. If you want to see what I mean you should look up pics of the game.
this game is a great horror example, its a little to good lol. and there is three of them. (dea)
So, I read a book called “101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die” by Steven Jay Schneider because I read online that it was more than just a list and was really informative about the genre in general. It was a fun read because I discovered a few movies that I hadn’t heard of before. (Haxan, Peeping Tom, etc.) I also liked the fact that it mentions quite a few foreign horror films which I thought was great because there are some amazing movies from other countries that I think should receive more recognition. The book also pinpoints many of the social messages that can be found within the films they selected. (Ex. Rosemary’s Baby being a subtle commentary on women’s enforced submission to a male order) I really enjoyed reading these little bits as I don’t usually dive too deep into the social messages that horror movies can be sending. I do realize these messages are important though and it sometimes takes little things like this book to remind me of it. I’m going to be honest though, other than a few of the interpretations, I really didn’t learn anything major from this book. I’ve read a lot of books on horror movies and a lot of information tends to get repeated or can simply be found through internet research. This book also contains spoilers and sometimes reveals a lot of plot information which I found disappointing. As far as my own screenplay goes, I think this book has reminded to be aware of the social messages that I could be sending intentionally or unintentionally and I’ll certainly be more aware of it as I’m writing.
ReplyDeletei played Scooby Doo Classic Creep Capers. it always scared me as a kid so i desided to revisit my childhood trauma. the objective of the game is to search for clues and parts to a trap. at the same time you have to stay away from the monster on each level and any thing else that will scare you, because you dont have a life bar you have a fear bar if you get to scared you run away and you have to go back and do it again. there are 4 levels the first one is The Black Knight, the second one is The Snow Ghost, the third one is The Witch Doctor, and the forth one (who you hear about and see throughout the first three levels) is The Ghoul King. It may have bad controls but i enjoyed it but i would not recommend it to anyone.
ReplyDelete