Supernatural Horror

Introduction
A force that is beyond the understanding of scientific explanation that provokes a sense of fear, shock, or disgust. Since the late 1800’s directors have been trying to provoke these sense into audiences and viewers. Directors will sometimes take popular books or poems that these features have been installed into and attempt to make a visual reference that’ll evoke a deeper sense of fear, shock, or disgust. Although these forms of supernatural horror also generates a classic idea “Fascination of the Abomination”. A typical supernatural horror film will usually be disgusting or have a scene that people find horrific that’ll cause a viewers to watch something they may find disgusting but are strangely fascinated with.

History
The classical horror films began developing in 1896 when the first horror film Le Manoir du Diable or The_Haunted_Castle. After this many other supernatural horror films began being produced such as Frankenstein (1910), or The_Werewolf (1913). Many of the classics that were produced in the early 1900’s were all supernatural horror films. These movies contain vampires, werewolves, mummies, and zombies. These were the classic films that were in black and white which was one of the major categories throughout the history of these films.



Classical supernatural horror also put a distinctive bridge between men and women. Men were considered the “masochistic monster”, while women, such as Carrie in the film Carrie, were violent due to past experiences, peers, parents, and abuse. Women had a “dignified reason” to be monsters due to their nurture circumstances, but men were monsters due to their nature. Throughout history many of these roles have remained the same and have been shown in the new movies like Haunt (2014) and remakes like the 2013 Carrie

Although in new movies like the The Conjuring  (2013) the mother who turns out to be the evil who hadn't had a "dignified reason" like other films where she went crazy and would kill her children.

Characteristics
Supernatural horror films are designed in order to make the audience spectate the indistinguishable differences between virtuous and malicious, factual and imagined, and what is usual and anomalous. Characteristics of supernatural horror movies include five major points, according to Isabel Pinedo in the Journal of Film and Video. The five major characteristics of the “post-modern horror genre” are violence, a defilement of human limitations, a sense of illogicality, the feeling of an unclosed narrative, and a stimulus of terror and vulnerability for the audience. The following five characteristics are the foundation and groundwork of the common, and modern, supernatural horror film.

Violence in supernatural horror films desensitizes the viewer. The viewer can see the danger, the monster, and the violence that is being portrayed in the movie, but the viewer can not feel the pain; therefore, the violence becomes a pleasure for the audience, due to the fact the viewer is not the victim.

The defilement of human limitations in supernatural horror films is a vital representative of the genre. The viewer of the movie has to be able to distinguish themselves from the monster, or evil character. In supernatural horror movies, the main character is usually a creature that is far beyond the understanding of scientific or human explanation, and this can evoke many emotions for the viewer.

The sense of illogicality, or irrationality, is needed in order to provoke the sense of wonder, disgust, and horror that are attributed to supernatural horror films.

The feeling of an unclosed narrative is a characteristic of the modern supernatural horror films. In the classical horror films, human would triumph monster, virtuous would beat evil, and the narrative would have a semi-happy ending. In the modern use of supernatural horror in film, most narratives go unclosed in order to produce a sequel. Furthermore, the human does not always triumph the monster in modern horror films. On some occasions, in certain films, the human can be the monster, which brings the viewer back to the second characteristic of supernatural horror movies. In the supernatural horror films that emphasize the human as the monster, or where the supernatural evil is within the human, it breaks free of the characteristic that defiles the human limitations. This can make the viewer feel fear, disgust, worry, and danger due to the fact the evil they fear is within a similar host, such as their self.

A stimulus of terror and vulnerability for the audience is a characteristic of supernatural horror films that concerns the audience more than any other. This characteristic of horror films is what generates the feelings of disgust for the viewer. Directors’ of many supernatural horror films provoke emotions and fears of many viewers, and this has a tendency to compel the viewer to watch more.

Films
http://en.wikipedia.orghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Supernatural_horror_films/wiki/Category:Supernatural_horror_films

Critical Reviews (Global)
The genre of supernatural horror films have just made too big of an impression on today’s culture for people to turn their backs on these films. According to New Burnwick the reason horror is thriving worldwide is because horror is combined with narrative formulas that reach out and compel people to view these movies. An example that was used in Blade the movie had a kind of MTV aesthetic and also an excessive amount of violence that was able to lure a good amount of viewers to watch the movie.

Another factor that has allowed supernatural horror films to thrive is the classics. It has proven with modern versions of films like The Mummy (1999), The_Mummy_Returns (2001), and Dracula_Untold  (2014). These kinds of movies will most likely be able to live as long as the film industry lives because with every remake the director uses a narrative formula that is popular and has shown great success during that decade.

Links
1.     "The True Origin of the Horror Film". Pages.emerson.edu. Retrieved 24 April 2012.

2.       Prince, Stephen. The Horror Film. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press, 2004. Internet resource.

3.       Norden, Martin F. The Changing Face of Evil in Film and Television''. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2007. Internet resource''

4.        Fahy, Thomas. The Philosophy of Horror. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky, 2010. Print. 5. Monster Pains: Masochism, Menstruation, and Identification in the Horror Film

5.       Aviva Briefel Film Quarterly Vol. 58, No. 3 (Spring 2005) , pp. 16-27 Published by: University of California Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/fq.2005.58.3.16

6.       RECREATIONAL TERROR: POSTMODERN ELEMENTS OF THE CONTEMPORARY HORROR FILM ISABEL PINEDO Journal of Film and Video Vol. 48, No. 1/2 (Spring-Summer 1996), pp. 17-3 Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of the University Film & Video Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20688091