"The Vanishing" Horror Film

The formal definition of a horror film is certainly debatable and there are a series of different explanations for why people choose classify a given movie as being a horror film. This debate is definitely present when discussing the genre of George Sluizer's 1988 film, The Vanishing. I argue that this movie is indeed a horror film mainly for one reason; the presence of a terror that evokes a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's primal fears. In my opinion, there is no need for the antagonist to be monstrous or supernatural, only that the the primary purpose of the film is to elicit real/realistic fear from the audience. In this film, the protagonist, Rex, is buried alive by Raymond just like he had done to Saskia after kidnapping her earlier in the film. Being buried alive is a very real and rational fear for many people. For this reason, many find the thought or image of being buried alive to be profoundly horrifying. Sure, I can agree that the film does lack some of the suspense-building aspects that are tradition in most typical horror film's but it still contains the primary trait that all horror films need; that presence of a terror that evokes the audience's primal fears. For this reason, I believe that Sluizer's The Vanishing truly is a horror film.

The Problem with "Killer of Sheep" is...

Watching the film "Killer of Sheep" was considerably difficult for me for a multitude of reasons. Before I get into the details of the film I would like to mention that in general, I am typically never a fan of any works of realism mainly because of how bland and strenuous they can be. I understand that realism is the attempt to portray accurate representations of reality, but that doesn't mean they all need to be hopelessly dismal and lifeless!

In the case of this movie, the attempt to portray realism virtually killed this movie for me. Making the movie in black and white (even though color films were being made at that time) did nothing to add to the nature of the film. I must also add that the background music was very poorly done and therefore lent nothing to the film's tone and only made my mood towards the film even more distasteful. The reason I had such a difficult time understanding the film was because of it's lack of plot and character development. Guess what! In true realism of reality, people are still dynamic and there is a story to be told. This film had neither of those two qualities. Absolutely no attempt was made to develop any connection to the characters, therefore I had no emotional ties to any the characters. Despite my best efforts to locate any solid introduction, rising action, climax, or resolution to the film, I found none of the above. The transitions from seen to seen left me without any firm understanding of what had occurred during that scene and it didn't flow well into the upcoming scene. Reading the synopsis of the film was the only way I was able to actually understand what the plot was supposed to be. I believe that I have learned nothing from watching this movie despite my best intentions.

The Myth of Clint Eastwood (The Good)

Clint Eastwood as always been the rough rider of American cinema. He has emanated the aura of the silent action hero throughout his acting career but his acting persona took root and begin when he starred in The Good, The Bad, And the Ugly. Since this film, Eastwood has become the archetype for ruthless silent action heroes all across the world of cinema. In this film, you are never quite sure of the actions of Eastwood's character and he remains highly unpredictable. His motives and goals are unclear, therefore giving him that "silent-but-deadly" quality about him. His character's ruthless behavior is evident in the way he treats traitors and low life's like Tuco and Angel Eyes. Eastwood then carried on these character traits of ruthlessness and silence into other films like Dirty Harry and Gran Torino. The look in Blondie's eyes when he looks down the barrel of his rifle pointed at the noose around Tuco's neck is indeed mysteriously auspicious and ominous. It shows that he knows that he alone has control other the fate of Tuco's life with the pull of a trigger. This ominous power is also displayed on Blondie's face whenever he is involved in a shoot out. He clearly fits the physical characteristics of the characters he has chosen to play as throughout his career. He always utilizes his facial ability to appear void of all expression and emotion, leaving the audience entranced and his character's opponents afraid because nobody knows exactly what is gonna happen next.

Awara: Musical or Bollywood Blunder?

Deciding whether or not Raj Kapoor's film Awara is a musical is truly debatable and it was certainly a tough call for me. But I have come to the conclusion that it is indeed a musical in that it contains the melodramatic song and dance aspects that are present in all traditional Hindi cinema films. The in depth way that I made this decision was because I compared the film with that of Tom Hooper's Les Miserables. Granted, these films are hugely different for dozens of reasons and should never be compared for other purposes, but I noticed a few key traits of Awara that match the musical traits of Les Miserables. For example, both films are about the struggle between the paths of crime and justice in life. When I then considered the song and dance aspects of both films, I came to the conclusion that Kapoor's film indeed possesses the necessary traits of being a musical that are present within Hooper's film.

Film Noir's Take on Femme Fatale in "Detour"

Typically, the female character in films who fills the stereotype of "femme fatale" serve to obstruct the protagonist from achieving his goal. She possesses a power role in which she strategically manipulates the protagonist and exploits his weaknesses. Her mysterious and seductive qualities make her a "siren" of cinema. Within Detour, Vera is the femme fatale character and certainly has all of those specific traits. But because Detour is a film noir, there is a twist to Vera's stereotype. The difference being that women with that manipulative power are considered to be attractive within the film noir style. She will be a tall slender women much like the dark city skylines that characterize most film noir. It is clear that Detour applies this twist on femme fatale because even though Al tries to resist Vera, he always ended up falling for her manipulative snares. She seduced Al until it was too late for him. 

Unit 3: "Freaks" Themes

1. Freaks has been considered a horror film, do you agree? Write an argument defending your choice.

- I much as I am aware of the horrific nature of some scenes within Freaks, but I do not agree that it truly is a horror film. Rather than a horror, I view the movie as a psychological thriller due to the fact that it emphasizes the psychology of the characters and their unstable emotional states. In order for it to have been a horror film, it would have had to target the audience's primal fears, which it did not. While past society may have had an underlying fear of the unknown, this film did not seek to terrorize the audience with that said fear. Instead, its intent was to unravel the "monstrous" stereotypes, fears, and mentalities that some may have against those who are physically deformed. Also, most true horror films have frequently repeated scenes of terror that are meant to elicit negative emotions from the viewers, but this film only contains one such scene. It could be much more accurately described as a psychological thriller due to the aspects of moral ambiguity and the complex and tortured relationships between the pathological characters.

Assignment 2: "Sherlock Jr." Comedy

The stunts and visual gags that Keaton employed in his film making for "Sherlock Dr." was pure genius and absolute beauty. There were two scenes that were so unpredictable and crazy that I could not help but laugh that the profound quality of the classic humor. One scene being when Keaton’s character leaping down from atop the building by grabbing onto a train traffic barrier and swinging down on it nonchalantly into the backseat of the antagonist’s vehicle without the driver even noticing. There is first of all something to be said about the pure creativity behind Keaton’s way of thinking with this stunt and then the execution is truly beyond me. Speaking of Keaton’s creativity, there is certainly something to say about his incredible escape from the Sheikh's “safe house” through the window. An odd circular object with a fabric of some sort inside was placed on the window frame so that when Keaton made a run for it and jumped through the window, the fabric instantly disguised him as some random street-walking stranger. It was completely unexpected and the stunt awed me with instant surprise. I believe that it’s needless to say that Keaton’s gags and stunts were entirely effective in every manner. In relation to contemporary comedy, Keaton’s works in stunts and gags match the clean innocent humor and good old fashion hilarity.

 The self-reflexive nature of Keaton’s work if tough to determine and yet it was still very real and prevalent. The only stand-out scene of Keaton’s self-reflexive technique was when he came out of himself into the dream when he fell asleep in the projection room. For me, the technique was too vague so it did not carry strong effectiveness with me.