Possessive Horror

Iconography:

-Symbols of death

-Darkness

-Scared facial/body expressions

-Weapons

-Blood/fire

-Pathetic fallacy

Stock Settings:

-Abandoned house/isolated areas

-A normal house

-Woods/forest

Plot:

-Suffering/people are effected in a bad way

-Someone being possessed

-Murder

Stock Characters:

-Little children

-Parents

-Outsiders

-Possessor

-Doctor

Stock Themes:

-Evil

-Mystery

-Mental illness

-Suffering

-Strange events

-Death

Narrative:

-False scares

-Turning points

-Climax

-Recognition of their being something wrong

-Trying to solve the problem

Information

Creation of enigma:

-Normal at the start with false scares leading up to the main story line = creates suspense

-Leads us questioning what,how.

-Intrigues us to watch until the end.

Introduction of characters:

-Young children are shown in the beginning of the majority of possessive horrors we viewed.

-Followed by the introduction of the rest of their family

- The family against the young child shows the binary opposition that their is something not right with the child.

Setting the plot:

-Starts off normal then a dramatic twist happens leading to the main event of the film.

-We don't suspect anything

Pace and rhythm: (mise en scene)

-slow pace to start of with, as the narrative moves into the action the pace gets quicker.

-Setting is shown to be in a normal house/area.

-Mysterious tone anchored by non-diegetic background music which indicates that something is going to happen.

-Lighting starts off high key, when the action is happening the lighting is generally low key.

Mood and time:

-The mood is usually happy at the start, acts as a build up to the main event.

-The tone is mysterious as we know that something well happen.

Textual evidence:

-Paranormal activity

-Carrie

-Dark skies

-The woman in black

-Sinister

-The conjuring

-Insidious