by jmallon | October 11, 2012 8:48 am
By JONATHAN MALLON
In a dark movie theater, a character emerges on-screen in the first floor of their house. Suddenly, a shrill sound comes from upstairs, making the character curious. The character slowly go upstairs, trying to keep a brave face while stepping up the creaking stairs. The sound comes again, a little louder than before. The character goes to the door of the room, slowly opens the door, and a monstrous, supernatural being suddenly appears.
Horror is a popular film genre, and October is a time where Halloween themed movies come out. Some major horror films are coming out this October, two of which include “Sinister” and “Paranormal Activity 4,” according to IMDB.com’s “Coming Soon” page[1].
Students of Ramapo College of New Jersey explained which horror movies they’re looking forward to.
Jenna DeMarco, 20, said she is looking forward to “Sinister”. “It looks like a really scary one,” she said, “cause a lot of them aren’t that scary. They’re like predictable,” and “they follow the same format as other ones.”
Pat O’Connell, 20, said he is looking forward to “Paranormal Activity 4”. “I saw all of the other ones,” he said, “so I might as well see this one.”
Kelly Dolak, Associate Professor of Communication Arts at RCNJ, explained that people “like to go to the movies to be scared. We like to experience the thrills and the scares the horror genre gives us.”
“I find them O.K, I’ll watch them,” said Mike Mazzamurro, 23, who is also looking forward to “Sinister”. “I guess every now and then I’m in the mood to see if I can be scared. I want to see if it will scare me.”
“Sinister”, according to a synopsis on IMDB.com[2], stars Ethan Hawke and tells the story of a writer has moved into a new house, and who discovers the murder of a family that leads him to a “supernatural entity.”
“Paranormal Activity 4,” also according to the movie’s page on IMDB.com[3], focuses on a new family being haunted after “a woman and a mysterious child move in.” It’s directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman.
The success of horror, and it’s draw on students.
One reason Dolak presented about the success of horror movies is in the film’s monsters. “The monsters that are created for the films are really interesting, and they embody the audiences’ fears and anxieties.”
“How you reveal the monster is what separates a really successful horror movie from a not-so-successful one,” said Dolak. “You want to slowly reveal the monster, and I think less is more, and I think that suggesting the monster’s presence through sound and other cinematic methods for me is more successful and scarier than seeing the monster itself.” She also said that “the psychological element is key in any great horror film.”
What brings people to horror movies are the feelings they get when watching it. “I like the edge-of-your-seat feeling,” said Alexandra Lehoaf, 19, “and I like to watch with a group of people.” She said she is looking forward to “Paranormal Activity 4.”
“I guess it just adds a different feeling when watching the movie,” said O’Connell, “and it makes you think if stuff like that can happen in real life.”
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