Theoretical Approaches to Horror Films

Philosophy of horror (Noel Carroll):
Noel's big idea was attraction/repulsion. We are both repulsed by gore and transgression and also attracted by it.  We enjoy killer POV shots yet identify with the killer, we fear vampires but fancy them and we can’t stand looking but can’t stop looking as well - attraction repulsion.

Laura Mulvey - 'Visual pleasure and narrative cinema':
Laura's big idea was the 'male gaze'. The film positions us as a male eye, spying on the female and objectifying her, this is shown clearly in the film 'Halloween'. The audience simultaneously empathizes with the victims on screen while occupying the killer's point of view. There is a shift from seeing the world through the killer’s eyes to seeing it through the Final Girls, which is interesting.  

Freud - The uncanny:
The Uncanny is something secret and disturbingly strange. The uncanny is ought to have been secret but that has come to light within the unconscious or subconscious mind. It is essentially the return of the repressed and it is projected onto objects, people and places. The uncanny valley is also very interesting.

Jung - The shadow:
The shadow is a projection of all we fear and dislike onto an external figure. The horror film 'monster' is all the worst parts of us.

Adam Lowenstein:
Adam's big idea was spectacle horror - the combination of special effects, camerawork, gore music etc. They create a medium that is much about appreciating the art of the genre as it is about darker motives.

Cynthia Freeland:
Cynthia argued that graphic violence and gore are so over the top and exaggerated that they create a 'perverse sublime'. They are so far-fetched that we can enjoy the film on an aesthetic, entertaining level. This explains why a lot of people don’t like horror ‘too real!’.