IT (1990)
This psychological horror was initially a book written by Stephen King. It was actually set out as a 2 part TV series but in later years and due to popular demand, it was released onto video and DVD as a full feature length. The main theme of the film is that all of the 7 main characters' fears are played on and this is what is used to torment and scare us and the characters. The fact that the characters fear was used was effective because if there is an audience member with that same fear, this is going to engage that person and empathise a lot more with the character/story line.
Synopsis:
Back in 1960, a group of 7 friends were bullied and known as 'The Loser Club'. This group were being tormented by an evil clown apparition that would feed off of children's fears and eventually kill them. 30 years later, after the children had defeated the clown it is back, and coming for them and they must learn of a way to kill the clown that terrified them once again.
Unique Selling Point:
I believe that the unique selling point of this film is the fact the use of fear and how it is played on. The way that there are 7 main characters and 7 fears to play on gives way to at least one of these fears being something that the audience also fear. Because the story has something that is relatable for the audience this makes the story line all the more enticing. As a horror film is literally meant to 'horrify' an audience, playing around with something that may even scare them the most means that the film can fulfil its purpose. Also this means that the struggle that the characters are enduring can be felt by the audience members and they can put themselves in their positions. Also the fact that a person's fear is being played on has a fantastic psychological effect as it makes the audience feel uncomfortable and sometimes distorted which is a good effect to have. During the film, the film also jumps from present day to past. This element slowly reveals certain things to the audience but also tries to let them figure out what happened to each child and why they are as they are in the present day, which is also a positive element as it seems that the audience is involved with the story line and makes them feel important and needed.
Also, the fact that the main antagonist is a clown, this can also be used as a factor to scare the audience. Research has shown that 41% of the worlds population had some kind of negative reaction to clowns. As a demograghic this is extremely effective as we know that there are a lot of people that are afraid of something that is meant to be the main 'horrifying' factor of the entire film.
Reviews:
This is a review from the notorious film critic site Rotten Tomatoes. I have put this review in because it has reviews from at least 5 critics across the media base including a notorious review site efilmcritic.com and another that isn't so famous, FlipsideMovie Emporium. But this is an effective choice of review because we get to recieve reviews from a more mainstream point of view which is good as we get to see it from more of a professional and almost 'showy' perpective and from more of an independent view to look from an 'average person' type of view.
This is a site that is dedicated to reviewing horror films. Although it isn't very well known, the fact that it is a site that is specifically dedicated to the research and reviewing of a particular genre, the trust that we may have lost in the fact that it isn't very well known or at least not as well known as Rotten Tomatoes, we make up for that trust in its dedication to the genre. It makes us think that they do have expertise in the genre and they do know what they are talking about because the website it genre specific. Also because the website isn't exactly professional you get to see what the films are like from almost the 'average persons' view.
This is a video streamed from YouTube of the trailer from Stephen King's IT. The trailer doesn't even have any dialog from any of the characters what so ever but the trailer is still extremely disturbing.
My Review and the films relevance:
I chose to look into this film because of the idea of the way that the film does in fact horrify and the way that it isn't like any other film that I have seen. The film plays on the different characters weaknesses and the things that they fear the most. This to me is one of the most terrifying aspects of the film. Because it is very important to, as well as doing the same to the characters being prayed on in the story line, make the audience feel as pressured and as tense as the characters are. I thought the idea for the thing that horrifies the audience and characters to be fear was something that I had never seen prior to this film, in the general genre of horror we are used to seeing monsters and serial killers wearing masks but this was something no one had done before. Also, the lighting through out most of the film was surprisingly bright. We never see the children actually being murdered as because of the time the film was released even though it was the 90's it still was quite inappropriate at the time and there were stricter rules enforced in production. This especially seeing as though the film was initially aired on television as a 2-part feature film, so there are definite stricter rules on that behalf. But when we do see the first victim and that circumstance, the scene is set outside in a rural type environment with plenty of houses surrounding it, but it still happens. So put something as eerie and as horrifying as the death of a child in a place in broad daylight and in an environment like a person's own house breaks the comfort boundary that we all go into films of this genre with. This is like the barricade we have around the sense of 'its not real anyway so I'm okay' whilst watching a horror film as we feel that we are able to watch the film with a certain abundance, but then when times changed and horrifying events that occurred in real life became more common this all changed. So the wall that was almost sheltering ourselves being comfortable and feeling safe, is completely destroyed.
But all in all the fact that the film is based mainly in broad day light, in the characters houses and plays against their fears collectively adds up to create the most terrifying experience, by placing on the easiest ways to torment a person and leaving them without somewhere to feel safe.
No comments:
Post a Comment