How does the experience of watching horror film differ when watching on streaming and on-demand services at home? With the rise of Netflix originals, is there still a place for cinema screenings of these films? In particular with the genre of horror, how much is the setting of your viewing an important part of the experience?
An interesting idea that's not often thought of. I feel like there might even be other factors that impact the experience of viewing horror--not just the location, but also the time of day, and who else is around you (if anyone is at all). – Debs5 years ago
I think the location when viewing a horror film is extremely pertinent in the viewing experience. Watching something alone in a cinema may give a completely different reaction than watching with someone in a brightly lit lounge room streamed to the TV. I think it's dependant on what kind of film you're watching, which influences what setting you should watch it with. – monbronte5 years ago
In both formal and informal marketing efforts, modern horror films are often compared to classic horror films. It's not uncommon to see statements that a new horror film, for example, "evokes" or "is the scariest film since" a classic like The Exorcist (Friedkin, 1973) or The Shining (Kubrick, 1980). But do these comparisons ultimately help or hurt modern horror films? And how, specifically, do these comparisons contribute to marketing efforts that are effective (or not)? I think the role of factors such as hype and viewer expectation may be particularly interesting to consider.
I think this is a good topic. I expect the comparisons to the classics will form certain expectation for the audiences, and failing to do so would hurt the sale. It would also be important to examine the cases of success and failure in such marketing and what contributed to the results. – idleric8 years ago
As you mentioned comparisons to classics are marketing tools to inspire hype so at what point does it become ineffective? It would be neat to find examples or modern horror advertised in this way and review two case studies where audiences felt completely differently about the films themselves. Does claiming something is "like" a classic become diluted the more it's said or just when audiences respond negatively to the claim? Has these kid of claims ruined any third party rating or review sites? – Slaidey8 years ago
Amazing idea! Might also be interesting to throw in a couple of examples when horror films claim to be "like nothing you've seen before!" for comparison and see how they've succeeded. For example, I think the marketing for Paranormal Activity (although not an entirely new concept at the time) really played on the idea that the film was the scariest thing anyone will ever see, with those videos of audience reactions in the cinema. – Sonia Charlotta Reini8 years ago
I think the shifting of subgenres in horror provides an interesting counterpoint to go against the need to compare the old with the new. There will always inherently be comparisons, but Saw and Rosemary's Baby are two completely different types of horror, and even looking at the box office takeover Paranormal Activity had against Saw, there's less of a comparison of content and more so a comparison of what audiences want to see. – SarahKnauf8 years ago
In the recent horror film titled Babadook, it is clear that the main character suffers hallucinations and eventually goes through insanity because something we all experience; a toothache. This would be an interesting article to write, since something so human that pertains to all of us, causes this insanity, and leads to a perfect psychological thriller. Examine how many other horror films can be humanized, and the events of horror films can be explained by natural human behavior/actions.
It would be really cool to look at films like Silence Of The Lambs and Hannibal because of the extremely unique main characters. They too have scarily very realistic human qualities, which is what makes a story so brilliant and plausible. – Nof9 years ago
This could be a good article, especially if you examine both the psychology of the villains and of the victims. – Winter9 years ago
It would be interesting to note how said humanity affects the protagonist(s) in their treatment of the antagonist. – smartstooge9 years ago
Whoever writes on this topic should be sure not leave out a good analysis of the mother and her son. The complexities of their relationship drive the movie and really ground it on something tangible that the audience can grasp onto. – S.A. Takacs9 years ago
What is interesting to me is that I recently heard another interpretation of The Babadook, that the monster was the young boy's way of explaining his mother's depression and mental strife after the death of her husband. Another angle for a topic like this could be to present the different humanizing theories to a film and maybe do some sort of analysis. – Marcie Waters9 years ago
Isnt that what all good writing does, makes us wonder how we would respond given the characters same circumstances?
– NovaHammer4 years ago
That sounds interesting, but a single example is not enough for me to believe there is a trend that can be found in "many other horror films." – T. Palomino2 years ago