What environments scare you?
Animated Adventure - LR
Examining successful horror films opening sequences
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The opening of SAW I find to be very effective. The movie starts and you keep adjusting your head in order to see what is in the darkness. This makes you intrigued as you try to peer into the shadows and make out the dark figure. Then suddenly the lights come on and the camera shifts upwards and you move along the ceiling as the lights come on. Then you see the full room and the two characters in the room. They look at each other puzzled and look down to reveal a dead body in the middle of the room. The camera goes to a led down shot where you see the injury to the back of the man in the middle of the rooms head. As i said I found this scene to be very good as it intrigues you and makes you want to watch the rest of the film to find out questions like: Why are they there? and why is there a dead man in the room? and the most important of all...who is that menacing puppet???-KD
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THE WOMAN IN BLACK opening title sequence is very unique and effective in the way that there is no dialogue, just slow and creepy background music. The sequence is not very long but it includes what i feel is the most important feature of a horror opening title sequence. This is leaving us with unanswered questions and wanting to watch more. At the end we see a tiny glimpse of the Woman in Black and it leaves us wandering why she would do that to these children or why the children would commit suicide by just glancing at her. Also the use of children makes the peice more effective, as they are seen as pure and innocent and then they kill themselves.-LE
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The 2002 film GHOST SHIP by Steve Beck has a very...interesting OTS. The scene starts very calmly and relaxes you when suddenly you see a mysterious shot of a control room and in final destination form, a problem starts unravelling. Then within the next 30 seconds all but one person on the crowded ship has been cut in two by a razor sharp wire. This sudden shock catches you off guard as you get lured in to the relaxing atmosphere of the ship with everyone dancing, if only the rest of the film was as engaging with an overall rating on IMDB of 5.4-KD
The opening to HALLOWEEN is very iconic. It sets the tone for the whole film. One interesting thing about this scene is that it is all filmed as a point of view shot. You see through the eyes of a young Michael Myers where he picks up his signature weapon for the first time-a large kitchen knife. He then heads up stairs to a very creepy and simple sound track that creates lots of tension. It shows you him commit his first murder which sets up the plot for the whole film and the countless sequels-KD
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THE RING opening title sequence has a lot of irony and false scares. At the start the victim talks about Tv's killing people which is ironic as the video kills her. Also her and her friend keep joking about dying, and then the victim dies. The two characters introduced are both female and seem to be very stereotypical, by talking about boys and tv. These false scares build up the suspense yet at the same time set the audience at ease as they expect the end death to be fake when it isn't. The antagonist wears black and this classic symbol of death is common in horror. -LR
The opening to JAWS never shows you the danger that is there but through several clever shots lets you know its there. The scene is very contrasting with the cool and calm ocean quickly turning into a trap with no way out. There is also opposites in the cuts back and forth between the women being attacked and then the man sat calmly on the beach with the tide coming in and the relaxing music. The shot from the bottom of the ocean is particularly good showing the victim swimming above and something watching her. The 1975 film still holds up today as well!-KD
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Now Dexter is not a movie, but its opening sequence is an amazing example of suggestive horror. At the start there is a mosquito on the protagonists arm. Mosquitoes are famous for sucking blood and spreading disease, these both have links to death. Then Dexter kills it, instantly revealing his 'darker' killer side especially when he smiles after. Next we have a shot of the title which is red and has blood drops around it. This is an obvious connotation for death. Then we have a shot of a hand stroking a neck. This could be a reference to being strangled. Next is the shot of him shaving his neck hair. a razor to the neck sounds as if someone is going to slit his throat, our next death connotation. when shaving he cuts himself thus creating blood. After the blood comes the cutting of the meat. The shot is close up and so means you cannot tell what it is, and so it could be confused for skin. Then when he cooks and eats it there is a link to cannibalism. whilst he eats it there is a brown sauce used which looked like old blood. Next comes the grinding and boiling of the coffee beans which is a link to how the mob used to deal with the bodies of the people they killed.When he cuts into the blood orange, they use two shots of the knife and the spray of the orange.
-LR |