1 - The Shining
Based on a book, The Shining (by Stephen King) is an incredibly horrific tale of a man who takes a position as a caretaker for over the winter. Accompanied by his wife and estranged son, the hotel manager gives them a tour and a warning about a specific room. The son, being young and curious, ventures into the forbidden room, upon which may strange happenings occur. The previous caretaker of the hotel was driven mad by the ghosts of the hotel and was led to kill himself along with his family, and similarly this almost happens to the new caretaker ‘Jack’. The Shining is best identified via the infamous line “Here’s Johnny!” as the Jack breaks through the door with an axe, trying to reach his family.
The Shining was distributed by The Warner Bros.
The film opens up slowly – giving a slight breath of fresh air before the film starts. There is a delay of approximately 1 minute, 5 seconds as the camera skillfully follows a yellow car through extreme landscapes and scenery such as mountains, rivers, caverns and forests. Before the credits come in, the music has been building slowly and is of a high-pitched nature. This adds to the enevitable foreboding that something bad is going to happen to the characters in the car, and possibly that wherever they are heading is not safe. The fact that they are also the only car that you can see on the road for miles around is creepy in the sense that although they are in the middle of nowhere and you wouldn’t expect people to be driving around, so is the hotel in which they are heading. And a hotel like any other normally has guests, staff and visitors. From this opening, you can already tell that something is off about the characters and the place they are to arrive at, and when the film officially begins, there is no doubt things can only get worse.
2 - Sweeney Todd
Based on ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ (by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler), comes a tale of a distraught Barber with a terrifyingly difficult and tragic experience of life. After serving time in Australia by a corrupt judge, before learning that the same judge had raped his wife causing her to poison herself, his daughter is all he has left in the world. Returning to his barber shop in fleet street, he vows his revenge on the judge. After a few failed attempts to kill Turpin (the judge), he makes an unexpected friendship with Mrs Lovett, the lady who owns the meat pie shop. While now vowing his vengeance on the whole world for his problems, him and Lovett go into business, where Todd kills his customers and delivers them down a hatch into the furnace to be baked into pies. By the end of the film, he gets his revenge on Turpin, however he also kills a seemingly innocent beggar woman who turns out to be his wife. Whilst cuddling her dead body, he is also killed.
Sweeney Todd was distributed by Dreamworks Pictures and Warner Bros Pictures. The Warner Bros logo enters as normal by sliding in at an angle before straightening up to make the well known shield we see today. Dreamworks however has been modified to suit the film and is in black and white and followed (as the ‘D’ appears) by a loud accompaniment of string instruments as well as maybe an organ. This is effective toward the viewer and creates a definite foreboding as to what the rest of the film will include and how ultimately, the story will turn out.
The beginning of the film opens with a high pitched extreme fanfare, accompanied by the films logos of Dreamworks Pictures and Warner Bros Pictures, immediately informing the viewer that this is a serious film and isn’t to be messed with. The weather accompanying the visual of a dark miserable street is typical to that of a horror film and creates an immediate sense of foreboding. The camera pans through the chimneys of the streets of London before focusing in on a window of a particular house. We are introduced to a blackened almost scorched interior and the CGI effects of blood running down a chair, creating the impression that this is relevant to the story somehow. The music becomes delicate and sharp as we explore the room, as if mirroring the movements of Sweeney Todd. The animation of the meat travelling through the mincer and the blood running off of the cogs and contraptions in this room again mirror the story of Sweeney Todd the barber. The dark interior also implies that the ending of this horror film can’t be pleasant at all. We are also shown a fierce flaming fire which we can imagine to be unbearably hot – possibly representing Lovett’s pie furnace. We are shown a river running red with blood in the sewers which could have a slight possible biblical symbolism which is ironic, given the plot of the film above. The transition between the smoke of the mist of the sewer and the mist on the sea is smooth and reflects Todd’s killing methods. We are immediately introduced to the main character – Sweeney Todd as he is arriving back on a ship to London. The exterior of the outside world still appears to be shrouded in a black fog. A simple flickering light in a horror film is very effective as it reflects on the tortured soul of Todd and shows that his life perhaps wasn’t always like this.
3 - Aliens
Based on Characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett, derives the film ‘Aliens’, starring Sigourney Weaver, famously as Ripley. A few months ago, a team was sent to LV-426 to study the surface of the planet before reporting back. Recently, the space team had lost all contact with the squad and so Ripley was called up once more to return to this planet to see if there were any survivors and to give a report on the Alien colony living there. Accompanied by numerous other squad members, the venture to LV-426 with the knowledge that they probably won’t come back alive. After discovering the only survivor of the Alien colony is a young girl named Newt, Ripley slowly loses her team members whilst trying to escape the colony and return to the space centre. The only survivors by the end of her struggle are her, Newt, Hicks (a corporal) and an Android – Bishop. There is a thermonuclear explosion on LV-426 and the colony are believe to have been destroyed.
The film was distributed by 20th Century Fox. Its logo has been relatively similar all these years although in 1987 when this film was released, the graphics are obviously of a lower quality than what we have now. Part of the fanfare is still present although recently there has been a new section added to the end to make the logos opening slightly longer.
The CBS FOX logo in the trailer is accompanied by a short yet triumphant fanfare. It also enters the screen at an angle and in a bright blue colour so as to be obvious to the viewer. It enters in lines and forms the logo in a style stereotypical of 80s television.
The film opens focusing on space and the stars in the sky. The colours are dark and obviously reflect the mood of the film. The names of actors are shown on screen in a thin white writing which mimics the title of the film. The camera then stops and begins to focus and follow a spaceship. We know this ship is of some importance to us as the camera has brought our attention toward it and has made it the subject of attention. The non-diegetic music is eery yet somewhat magical and implies that something isn’t right. We are shown the interior of the ship which appears to be abandoned – the internal structures cast in shadow. We then come across a woman laying down, appearing to be asleep. Suddenly, under the impression that the ship has been inactive for quite some time, a screen receives a transmission besides where she lays and reflects on her container. The words ‘Proximity Alert’ have appeared on the screen and the camera cuts to the exterior of the ship to find another ship in a close proximity. Already from the title and the opening sequence you can tell that this woman is the main character and that she isn’t going to have an easy time with whatever challenges she faces.
4 - The Omen
Based on the novel ‘The Omen’ (by David Seltzer) comes the story of a couple who have lost a child. Stricken with grief, the father takes into care another child who has been orphaned and raises it as his own (without telling his wife). There are a series of warnings throughout the film which lead to the conclusion that the young boy ‘Damien’ is in fact the antichrist. After a series of deaths caused by Damon, Robert seeks the help of an archaeologist who informs him of how to kill him. Robert flees his home town which Damien, believing him to be an innocent child, yet before he gets the chance to kill him, he himself gets shot. Being a US Ambassador, Damien is put in the care of the President of the United States. This leaves the story open for a sequel.
The film was similarly distributed by 20th Century Fox. He fanfare and old graphics suited the film of the time, and opened the beginning of a triumphant yet foreboding film. The colours of gold and blue give the impression of wealth. The logo fades in and then fades out slowly so as not to give too harsh an effect.
Right from the outset you can tell that there is going to be some weird yet wonderful happenings and some pretty gruesome deaths. The fanfare has already put the audience in a way of suspense and horror for the fear that a little boy could do so much harm is completely out of the question. By having a young child as the ‘Anitchrist’, it plays on the imagination and poses the question as to whether all children are as innocent as they seem or not. Despite the fact Damien slowly kills all of the characters off in many gruesome ways, he is still just a child which leads to his fathers denial of his true purpose.
5 - The Grudge
Based on the Japanese production of the film, America remade ‘The Grudge’ for 2004. The Grudge describes a curse which is presently living in a house in Japan. Its existence is born when someone dies from the grip of a powerful rage or extreme sorrow. This means as soon as one person has died, the chain is unending and continuous. A family move to Japan and into this house, bar one who has an apartment in the city. Without knowing that a previous family there had been killed, they settle down. During the film there is a long series of deaths as the family investigate the house and follow the strange noises they can hear. Later in the film, an investigation is started with the Japanese police who all slowly die. In a last attempt to save herself, the only remaining visitor of the house ‘Karen’ successfully lights the house on fire via gasoline left by the late Chief Inspector. At the end of the film, Karen is seen in a hospital bed with a few burns to her body. However one of the ghosts who had been killing people pops up behind her bed, implying to the audience that she is still the target and that she won’t survive.
The film was distributed by Columbia Pictures. The logo opens with the backdrop of a perfect blue sky partially covered by a series of fluffy clouds. The figure of a lady appears in the centre of the screen dressed in a robe with her hand raised toward the sky. The word ‘Columbia’ then appears at the top of the screen to inform the viewer of the distribution company.
The opening of the film follows a Japanese woman riding her bike toward the cursed house. The exterior of the city is cheerful and happy and there are many bright colours surrounding her. The sound of light music can be heard and so far there isn’t anything leading to the true nature of the film. As she reaches the house however our minds are completely changed. We can tell that something isn’t right when we see the old lady sitting by herself. The woman hears some movement and a sort of rattling noise coming from upstairs. Guessing this to be another in habitant of the house, she goes to investigate, leading to the attic and subsequently her death via one of the ghosts living in the house. The screen then fades and the title appears on the screen creating a definite uncertain feel to the film, and a foreboding nonetheless that this is only the first death in the house.
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