Psychological Horror Short film reviews

I was given the task to research psychological horror. I had to watch two short films of this sub-genre. The two short films that I decided to watch from YouTube were 'LAST CALL Award Winning Psychological Thriller 2012' and 'Live Alone - Psychological Horror Short Film'


'Last call' review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqXTZzhMHgI
Last call is a very effective short psychological horror movie. The story is that two people live next door to each other at 3C and 3D. The man in 3D calls the woman in 3C and the woman has no idea who this man is but he asks her for help to stop him from killing himself even though he says it’s inevitable. The woman has no idea where this man is or who he is. He says there is a way to stop him which is by solving a riddle and the riddle is ‘3D’. The woman has no idea what this means and does not work it out until it’s too late. The woman did not click that he lived next door to her.

This film was very suspenseful and would leave the audience on the edge of their seat desperately hoping she is able to stop him. The audience may also guess what 3D means before the woman does which gives the film more suspense and makes the audience very anxious. Conventions of psychological horror that this film includes is that it has a sense of reality within as it could happen to anybody and it uses mind games. The audience also fear that it could happen to them and makes them think what they would do if they were in that situation. Another convention is that it builds a lot of tension for the audience and leaves then biting their nails in suspense.
I would highly recommend this short film and it greatly reflects a psychological horror.


'Live Alone' review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDbbT-mzsJg

Live alone is a short psychological horror movie that is about a young girl who moves out to live alone and she starts to feel like she’s being followed and someone leaves notes for her but she goes to her doctor because she thinks she might be going crazy and he gives her pills to make her feel better. She starts to feel okay but then the figure comes back and then we see them walk into the room she’s in and then the film finishes.

This film was also very suspenseful and effective as a horror movie. The whole story of it is something a lot of people can probably relate to of moving out to live on your own and being more paranoid because you’re alone and seeing things that aren’t there. So the audience are more intrigued because it’s something that could happen to them and they feel more anxious which is what makes a good horror film. The film could have been more effective if it showed the mysterious figure actually doing things to mess with her such as maybe moving things around and randomly closes doors in her house. The audience may think that it is her neighbour following her because her conversation with him portrayed him to be quite strange and weird around her then we never see him for the rest of it so the audience start to think about what he might do to her but that is left uncovered which is effective because it leaves the audience with a sense of the unknown. 

Overall this was a very good short horror film and really portrays the psychological horror sub genre

My Movie poster

Horror movie poster analysis

‘The Exorcist’ film poster. The Exorcist is a very popular film and this poster could be the reason why, I think it is very effective and portrays the film very well. First of all, the colour scheme is unusual but the bright writing shows up a lot against the dark background image. The dark image shows a sense of mystery because you can’t make out any faces just a silhouette of a man who looks to be a detective maybe with the way he is dressed and carrying a briefcase. The mysterious side of this poster intrigues the audience because it does not look like a typical horror film poster and could be more of a sinister horror than a slasher horror. The yellow lighting of the image gives it some colour and lights up the main parts of the image - the man and the house. We see the light is coming from inside the house and suggests the evil is inside the house which he is heading to which could make the audience think he is going to be confronted by this mysterious ‘light’. The light from the window also outshines the outside lamp and which is not normal and leaves the audience wanting to know what this light is. Overall, it is a very effective film poster and the colour scheme works well, however it looks more like a mystery film than a horror film.

‘The Shining’ film poster:

The Shining poster clearly portrays the film and clearly shows the villain and the victim. Having someone look quite psycho on a poster intrigues an audience because they want to see what he does and why he’s going after this woman who looks so terrified even when holding a weapon to defend herself. If some of the audience have watched the film, they would look at this poster and can ‘hear’ the image as this part of the film the man says “Here’s Johnny” and is a very well known part of the film. This makes the poster very effective as the audience can link the image to the film of a funny and memorable part of the film. The line at the top ‘The tide of terror that swept America IS HERE’ also intrigues an audience because saying that it ‘swept America’ suggests that it is a very good film and America loved it so people will want to watch it and see what it’s all about. They also say it’s a ‘tide of terror’ portraying that the film is terrifying and that’s what people think horror movies are all about and they want to be scared. 

Psychological horror - Our choice of sub genre

Google definition: Psychologival horror is a sub genre of horror and psychological fiction that relies on mental, emotional and psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle readers, viewers, or players.

Examples of psychological horror

Also: Rosemary’s baby, Jacobs ladder, Saw, Identity, Donnie Darko


Psychological horror is sometimes seen as being scarier than other sub-genres of horror due to the fact it is based on everyday lives, meaning it is much closer to reality which makes the audience cautious because they fear it could happen to them. This is especially seen on psychological horrors which are ‘Based on true events’ which creates an illusion for the audience that there’s a possibility it could happen to them but also intrigues the audience more because it’s based on true events. Makers of true event horrors rely on the audiences mind to create a horror effect.
Psychological horrors reveal the evil behind normality - a convention of this horror is that they usually involve ordinary people who end up exerting the horror onto other characters.

Sound/music in psychological horror: Mostly use contrapuntal sound which is sound that does not match the action on the screen which is effective because the action and sound contradict.

Narrative of film

1. Whats the plot? (Themes and feelings of characters) - Schzophrenic woman in her daily life and includes delusions and sounds that she has to deal with on a daily basis. The woman gets so sick of it all. The film is not a scary horror and is more psychological
2. What narrative structure will you use? Linear as it films a woman’s day however it’s only bits of her day but it is still in a linear structure
3. Will you withhold aspects of the story from the audience or not? The audience won’t know that the woman suffers from schizophrenia unless they read the film description but they may be able to work it out for themselves if they read the film right, this is why the film is aimed more towards young adults and older because it requires reading into the film
4. What else will help the story? (Signifiers, music editing) There is no music in our film due to wanting to get what it is like in a schizophrenic mind so there is whispers and sounds to signify the sound delusions

Auteur Theory

'Auteur' is the French word for Author, which means that a Director's film reflects their creative vision. This theory was introduced by French directors such as Francois Truffaut who favoured a focus on the contribution directors made on the style and form of film.
An Auteur is a film maker who's style and practise is distinctive which creates a signature status for themselves.
Francois Truffaut quoted "A true film auteur is someone who brings something genuinely personal to his subject instead of producing a tasteful, accurate but lifeless rendering of the original 1material"

First draft of storyline

Filmed over someone’s day as a schizophrenic

Young woman who struggles to deal with her illness
Shots of woman doing everyday things such as shopping, making tea, walking, working etc.

In between these shots - flashes of delusions/sounds over the clips to represent what the woman sees and hears