witch-finder general aob1

this film was made in 1968 and is loosely based on a poem by edger allen poe. it was directed by Michael Reeves, Produced by Tigon films(UK) and it stared vincent price. This is because the actor is popular and the films based on poe books make large profits. The actor was going to be donald pleasance but because of his popularity with horror fans, vincent price was hiredThe director did not make any more films because he died a year later at the age of 25. The film was originally called 'the conqueror worm' because it is the name of the poem. The film has references to the culture of the UK because at the time the swinging 60's was coming to an end and hippies started to disappear because the public was accepting the violent reality, for example there was news of 4 people being killed at a rolling stones concert. The film has scenes of violence as it follows the culture of the middle ages as they found killing people on the streets was an acceptation. This can be compared to the time of release where people were protesting about street violence and the audience can think that our times are not as bad as what it used to be.

The film was such a violent film that horror on that level was not seen before so the BBFC was concerned about it. BBFC stood for british board of film censorship, so their job was to make the film safe for the public and they did this by making the screams shorter and quieter because they were to long for the audience to stand. The BBFC has changed its name now because the law does not state that films must be censored but now they must be classified so they use a range of symbols to identify what the minimum age of viewers must be. this means that films can be as horific as they want but the rating will be higher.

fall of the house of usher aob1

This film is again an adaptation of a gothic novel, it follows the story of a man who travels to see his fiancee who lives in a creepy old mansion. His presents is not welcome by her bother who insists he leaves. Soon odd things start to happen but the man insists he leaves the house with his fiancee.

The book was written by edger allen poe who is famous for his horror novels.

The setting of this story is a classic for horror movies and was copied many times afterwards. A creepy old mansion surrounded by fog and dead trees. "the house seems to have absorbed an evil and diseased atmosphere from the decaying trees and murky ponds around it. The camera angles used in this scene were long shots to show the suroundings plus it seems as if he is being watched.

"The film was made with a low budget so used cheap sets, and got footage of anything they could without paying to much, for example they used shots from other movies and one time a building down the street from the set had burnt down so the crew made sure they filmed it in order to get a realistic explosive ending for the film without any money being spent.

the movie has a central villain who takes control. the butler knows everything so is a sinister character. The victim is Malden as she is the vulnerable female who wheres a low cut top, this is a stereo-type as the female in frankenstein is also a good looking female named Elizabeth who wheres a low cut top. there is another female stereo-type which is an ugly hag. the producers of american international pictures. the director, Roger Corman was successful with this film so if they make money they use the same director, actor, plot until the audience gets bored of it and they don't make profit. Also the actor vincent price knows how to act for horror films so he will do the job well each time.

This an old film so the different featured used would not of been cliched but other films have used the ideas to create atmosphere due to the iconography. This film uses Gothic styles to create its horror setting: a haunted house, dreary landscape, mysterious sickness, and doubled personality. The house is an old, large Gothic mansion location in Victorian new england and all the characters where period costumes. The dialogue used throughout the film is posh and literal so gives the film a more period feel, plus it creates more tension and atmosphere to what is being described by the characters, for example a scene when 'Mr. Winthrop' meets Vincent Prices character there is a description of how he could hear Mr. Winthrop approaching the house and he uses a series of metaphors to show his pain.
The use of sound effects are used well as there are scenes where you can hear ghostly howling to scare you.

the audience of the time would have been scared in the film because of the tension and suspense throughout the film plus they would be thinking about what is going on because it is not clear what is wrong with the house. in my opinion i thought that everyone was dead and they could not leave the house because they were ghosts and other people would have heir theories but in the end it turns out that the the house was built on unsteady grounds and the spookiness is a creation of the villain.

mary shellys frank aob1

How has the Frankenstein franchise changed from Whale’s until Branagh’s version?

This film was made 1994 which was a time where period dramas were very popular so there were loads being made. This is because they were low budget and easy to make, plus they attracted large audiences so grossed big prophets. The costumes in the original movie did not reflect the Victorian fashion as much as the remake so this newer movie approaches the story differently with its style and visual representation.

The way horror films are made today we find it harder to class this film as part of the genre as modern horror films have lots more blood and shocking visuals so it is easier to class Mary Shelly's Frankenstein as a period drama than a horror. Some particular scenes in the film make it part of the horror genre such as the scene were the monster rips out the heart of his creators wife.

The difference between the two movies is that the one from the 1930's is a sequal so starts have way through the story. This makes it a shorter film than the remake. The length of the remake allows it to focus on more emotional issues than the first. There are issues of loss as frankenstein looses his wife and we see him go though a period of madness as he isolates himself and obsesses with the creation of a monster. The oridginal focused on the creation of the moster as the movie showed the idea of what science could do b in the remake we have gone past the point of scientific wonder so if it focused on that it would seem outdated and would not apeal to the modern audience. the scenes in which the monster is created has changed a lot in comparison with the original. back then the thought of bringing the dead back to life was enough for the audiences expectations so the scene did not need great visuals to make an impact but now we know that a monster will be created and the science is no longer new to us so for the new scenes to make an impact it needs to be visually stunning and have a complicated explanation of how it is done.

Audience with the advance in technology films have become more visual and the audience has come to expect that a film will have lots of visual effects and if it does not it would be seen as boring. For example 'Bride of Frankenstein' ended with the creation of the woman but the remake had the woman kill herself with an oil lamp so lots of pyrotechnics were used to appeal to the audience. The film tries to appeal to a large audience as it covers a number of genres besides horror, fans of period dramas would like this and so would people who like love stories and emotional dramas, The reason why it resembles a period drama is that it was directed by Kenneth Branagh who is known for making various period dramas. There is also a sense of action in some scenes like the explosive ending. Some people watch movies because of the actors in it, Robert de Nero played the monster and is a popular A list celebrity so attracts a bigger audience. Some people would see the movie because of John Cleese's part, he is known for comedy movies such as 'a fish called wanda' so some people maybe mislead to think that the movie was a comedy.

With Frankenstein being made such a well known franchise everyone knows of monster and most would know the story so the audience would possibly know what the expect and therefore they would not enjoy it as much as audiences of the originals.

One thing that has degraded the film is that the director abandoned the iconography of the monster which was created by Boris Karloff, when we hear the word Frankenstein we think of the square forehead and the bolts in the neck but in the remake the monster has no resemblance to that, instead the monster is bald, has a deformed face and lots of stitches.

bride of frank aob1

what about the film makes it fit within the horror genre? could we argue for it to fit into another genre? Each genre has its conventions and horror films usually have a central villain, fear, violence, blood, supernatural events, and sexual references. This film has a villain as it is Frankenstein's monster and the village people are scared of him and the audience would experience the same emotions as the village people as the monster terrorizes the people. As this is an old movie it is based on a book like other horror movies of its time and these books usually fit into the Gothic horror genre which is often set in Victorian times which is the time the books were writen and have religious themes and iconic settings.
The film has some light humorous jokes in some of the less scarier scenes for example the scene with the blind man the monster discovers smoking and learns how to use a cigar replying to the blind man "goooood"

Also the film deals with science and uses the idea that you can revive a dead body so can be seen as a SI-FI movie.
who produced the film and what were the circumstances in which it was made?

The studio had considered the idea of making a sequel to the original Frankenstein as early as the preview screenings of the film, the changing of the original ending to allow for Henry Frankenstein's survival. The screenwriter wrote a treatment called The New Adventures of Frankenstein – The Monster Lives! but it was rejected in early1932. Another writer called Tom Reed wrote a treatment titled The Return of Frankenstein. It was accepted in 1933, so Tom Reed wrote a full script. The script passed review but James Whale, the director, did not like it so in 1934, Whale had John Balderston write another.

from a modern day viewpoint how do you feel about the film?
with the advance in technology the film seems laughable to an audience of today as we see that the effects are unrealistic compared to a film of today. this makes the film seem like its part of the comedy horror sub-genre there are a lot of modern horrors that are purposely made with humor. These films are sometimes spoofs to older films such Frankenstein or Dracula, an example would be Shaun of the dead which is a spoof of George A Romero's dawn of the dead and takes the plot and creates a similar story with comical references to the original.

what are the links to the social / technological environment are there?
the film was made when predictions of technical advances of science was in the news so the plot refers with the thought that it was possible to revive a dead body. Also the director was openly gay so gave the film homosexual references.
how would the audience of the 1930's enjoyed the film?
back then they did not have television so regular visits to the cinema was seen as a popular social event that everyone took part in.
what is the benefit of genre to the audiences? genre allows audiences to pick out the film they like by understanding the themes of a genre so if a peoson likes gun fights and explosions they will look for an action film. by this the audience knows what to expect and if a film does not meet the expectations of the audience then the film will not be popular.
what is the benefit of genre to producers? with genre, producers can make a number of successful films that have a similar narrative and style. This makes it easier for producers as they don't need to think of a unique story for every film they make. Also the audience will see one film and others like that film so the producers will attract more audience with the themes that come with genres. This means that film makers can use the same story over and over in a form of sequal or remake and therefore the success of the first film will be repeated.