Erik Madsen
Horror movies have been making people jump out of their pants since their inception. Why is it that we are so fascinated with gruesome, untasteful scenes of people getting murdered by a psychopath? What elements make a horror movie scary? The classic “Search” scene, found in almost every horror film, is a profound element in making the movie scary. The search scene is usually prompted by a strange noise or a general “feeling” the main character has. ... To understand why a scene is “scary”, we must first look at what techniques filmmakers use to achieve its intended effect. In the search scene, filmmakers implement and combine several techniques to produce a reaction from the audience. ... Wes Craven’s 1995 film Scream contains as many as five search scenes, all very scary. Scream is a movie about high-school students who have an unhealthy fascination with horror movies. ... Through a series of twists thrown in by director Wes Craven, we find that the killers are two friends obsessed with the horror genre. The two friends began systematically murdering students, and even the principal, according to rules they devised about surviving a horror film. ... This film utilizes elements of the search scene cleverly
Erik Madsen
to produce a pretty scary picture. ...
Movies are made scary by imbedding techniques which arise a response from the audience, and when these techniques are used together, create an entire atmosphere causing the viewer to be aware every second. ... It is used in horror movies, in particular, to scare the crap out of us or to mess with our minds to keep us on the edge of your seat. ... ” feeling in scenes that were obviously going to involve a murder or some extreme actions, Gus Van Sant used creepy music throughout the whole movie. ... As we see with this movie, scary music doesn’t necessarily mean something is going to happen right away. So why are these scenes of vulnerability scary to us when there is no imminent danger? ... Anyone of these scenes played muted would not be half as scary as with the music. With this we see that directors dramatize scenes with music even if they are not scary to keep the film unpredictable to the audience.
Erik Madsen
Another key element in the search scene is the presence of unknown dangers. ... Solomon pointed out that one of the key elements of the genre is the “degree of unprepared ness on the part of the endangered victim, and the vitality and strength of the source of horror” (Solomon 794). Most search scenes are triggered by a strange noise or something felt by the character. ... Not knowing what is going to happen next, together with the fact that danger is present, equals fear
Erik Madsen
On the contrary, there are the scenes where the audience knows of the danger while the character is conveniently unaware. ... In the opening sequence to Scream, a young girl named Casey (Drew Barrymoore), is getting ready to watch a movie when she gets a phone call.
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