The horror film genre began as a grand experiment. These were cheap, popular stories to which visual innovation could be added. At least that’s what Georges Méliès thought when making one of his most memorable hits. Devil’s Mansion, released December 24, 1896, told the simple story of a property under siege by unseen forces. This allowed the director and writer to devote time and effort to bringing to life the visual effects and complex ways to evoke fear. The film was a resounding success in Paris, but it also opened the door to a new genre.
This was an important step in the world of cinema. Not only because it is home to an entertainment type of cinema that has been growing in popularity for decades. And also for the opportunity to explore methods, stories and new perspectives that are unlikely to be achieved in more sober cinema. In fact, the effectiveness of terror from the very beginning was based on the ability to surprise the public. Using resources to turn your best films into a blend of imagination and narrative resources. Many of the arguments were a perfect combination of exaggerations, but at the same time an exploration of what is scary as part of a culture and a time.
We leave you with five horror films that pay homage to this distinctive characteristic of the genre’s cinema and take it to a new dimension. From a film that bafflingly uses technological limitations to its advantage, to a story based on Asian mythology. This is a journey through how fear is understood today. But at the same time, as Georges Méliès discovered, the method of storytelling is always new. His greatest attribute.
Skinamarink, awakening of evil
Director Kyle Edward Ball took the idea of haunted houses and turned it into a viral phenomenon that shocked the Internet and horror movie fans. The formula is so simple that it might seem naive if not for the intelligence with which it tells the story on screen. Two children wake up in the middle of the night to find themselves home alone. But to make matters worse, every door and window seems to have disappeared or is starting to disappear. As if that weren’t enough, a cruel and secretive creature stalks them from the shadows.
Skinamarink, awakening of evil, It uses its seemingly simple visuals to create an increasingly terrifying atmosphere. With grainy visuals reminiscent of analog recordings, a frontier story and a constant sense of dread, the story is stunning. This, despite minimalism and emphasis at any moment, seeing fear as an inexplicable part of a story that is never fully told.
By the end, as the entire story builds into a chilling final scene, the film has shown that both what is being told and how it is being done is astounding. Which gives the film a place among the best weird films of the last decade. In the same time, the quality of a curious experiment, satisfying because of its peculiar way of exploring itself.
V/H/S/85
He found footage This is one of the most interesting genres of modern horror films. Moreover, it allows filmmakers and screenwriters to use technological and visual resources in favor of storytelling. Such is the case with this anthology, which brings together five stories that explore a wide variety of themes. And all this through various forms of found footage. Also from the point of view of horror stories that intersect with each other in increasingly disturbing and unique ways.
From David Bruckner, who directs the segment called Full copy– Scott Derrickson, who explores the fear of the unknown in the fragment dream murder. Ribbon V/H/S/85 This is a tribute to terror in its most extreme, disturbing and at the same time unique shades. Stories arranged in no particular order, but United by a common bond, they show how the most common clichés can become terrifying.
Questions about mortality, civil violence, and even alien contact come together in a premise in which the unusual is its greatest strength. Likewise, a bridge for immersion in good and evil. At the same time, a source of questions about people. Interesting data? This film is the second of a three-part saga, which follows the same pattern of telling several horror stories at the same time.
Dice holder
One of those supernatural horror films that uses the mythology of several Latin American countries to delve deeper into the idea of motherhood and women. Its director, Michelle Garza Cervera, explores how a new mother must navigate the darkest corners of ideas about death and pain. This is from an everyday scenario in which the unseen becomes a persistent threat that the protagonist cannot understand. Much less, stop.
Valeria (Natalia Solian) is a young mother who faces the challenges of having her first child. But what might seem like a natural or, at best, everyday experience turns into a terrifying experience. That is, when a cruel entity tries to kill her and steal her baby son. The film uses a seemingly ordinary premise to speak in an allegorical form about masculinity and the social pressures a woman goes through. But at the same time, how childbirth can be a scenario that brings together different pains, traumas and unexpected needs.
However, this is a horror film, and the director works carefully on the visuals, using light and shadow to support his idea. In its ending, ambiguous and open to interpretation, Wecera made some things clear. Horror cinema continues to be a powerful medium for revealing the most uncomfortable elements of the human mind.
Witchcraft
Director Christopher Murray takes a real-life event that happened on the island of Chiloe, Chile, and transforms it into an elegant and visually inventive work. When an indigenous religious group is accused of demonic activities, the delicate balance between settler and indigenous beliefs will be disrupted. This will unleash violence, cruelty and violence, as well as a mysterious revenge that will become a formidable destiny.
Murray crafts a smart story, making careful use of natural landscapes, static close-ups, and foreshadowing of hidden menace. But Witchcraft This is much more than the successful use of its technical and visual parts. The script manages to skillfully combine local legends with general themes of magic and witchcraft. Which finally creates a very different version of evil and revenge than other horror films.
Woman from Hell
Also based on local legends, this time from Indonesia, Joko Anwar’s film explores the ancient fear of a woman condemned by dark forces. Specifically, one that you can also pass a horror for all generations that follow him and those with whom he is connected, a terrifying connection.
Such is the case for Maya (Tara Basro), who discovers that what begins as a trip to the town where her family is from will turn into a horrifying discovery. Moreover, when it becomes obvious that this is associated with a tragic story in which a woman must die to please hidden forces.
Halfway between symbolism and horror, built on the most terrible discoveries, the film reconstructs the cliché of families united by horror. To bring the story to an end that leaves open the possibility that even death perhaps not the last step into the dark regions of the unknown.
Source: Hiper Textual
