Consider two horrors that tackle similar social taboos, social ills, or social issues. Have the textbook at hand as you answer these questions for each of the horrors you chose.
1.) Is the horror classic or modern (283-384)?
2) What societal taboos, social ills, or social issues are the horrors confronting (277-279; 280-281; 286-289)?
Anxieties about class? (280)
Anxieties about the American family? (286-287)
Anxieties about gender roles? (287)
Something else? If "the monster" in horror films embody "all that the social order represses" what is the monster in the horror you chose, and what social taboo or ill does it represent? (277)
3.) What kind of horror is it (you may have a mix of kinds in one film...)?
A splatter/gore film? (284)
A slasher movie? (284)
A demon child movie? (285)
A zombie movie? (285)
A "living dead" movie? (285)
Is it part of the "survival horror genre" ? (285)
Is it a "body horror"? (285)
Is it a so-called "torture porn" film? (285)
Is it a revenge horror? (285-286)
A serial killer horror? (286)
An "animal killer" horror (286)
A self-reflexive horror? (284; 286)
3.) Answer this question for each film: How does the film end?
· Does the film end with a return to the status quo? Or, does the film have an "open" ending, where there is not an end with a restoration of order?
4.) Answer this question for each film: Who stars in the horror?
· Does she/he star in any horrors similar to the one you're examining? If so, how is her/his role different in that horror? How are the plots of the two films different? How are the plots similar? How is the mise-en-scene different in that other horror? How is it similar?
5.) Compare the films:
· Write a few sentences comparing your findings for questions 1-4.
6.) What does each horror have to say about the American experience (if the horror is "modern" and from the U.S.)?
7.) Which horror do you prefer and why?