Becca Case
A2 Media
Research into typical synopsis- Rebecca
TRISTAN TODOROV (1939 - )
The narrative progresses to a restoration of equilibrium, or order.
Todorov breaks the narrative process down into five stages
• A state of equilibrium at the outset
• A disruption of the equilibrium by some action
• A recognition that there has been a disruption
• An attempt to repair the disruption
• A reinstatement of the initial equilibrium.
Typical horror storylines are based upon:
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Children seeing demonic things and becoming possessed themselves.
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Children's old fashioned dolls being possessed and bringing evil spirits into the house endangering everyone.
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psychological horrors- the protagonist minds are played with by spirtis/ghosts (Paranormal Activity)
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Something living in the forest
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Abandoned house visited by teenagers some go missing
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Clowns used- seen as friendly and funny by children entice them in and then are demonic (IT)
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Children adopted by people- find put they were given up for adoption because parents thought they were demonic- sympathy given seen as a normal child but is an actual demon (Case 39)
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Past spirits living in the house making things unnatural happen- ask people to help get rid of them (The Conjuring)
Horror films typically include gore and violence such as the Saw films. However they also overlap with sci-fi, fantasy and thriller genres.
Emily Jenkins is a social worker who is assigned her thirty-ninth case she has to investigate the family of ten year-old Lillith Sullivan. Emily suspects that the parents have been mistreating Lillith. Emily's fears are confirmed when Lillith's parents try to kill her by gassing her in the oven at home. Emily saves Lillith and is assigned to take care of her until a suitablefoster family comes along.
Not too long after Lillith moves in, strange things begin to happen around Emily. Lillith undergoes a psychiatric evaluation by Emily's best friend. During the session Lillith turns the evaluation around and asks Douglas what his fears are. That night after Douglas receives a strange phone call, he is panicked by a mass of hornets coming out of his body in hysteria and kills himself in his bathroom.Lillith's parents tell Emily that she is a demon who feeds on emotion. While Lillith is asleep, Emily sets fire to her house, hoping to get rid of her. However, the girl escapes unharmed. Emily decides to take a different route when driving her car and tries to scare Lillith however she forces Emily to relive her childhood memory of her mother driving fast in a rainstorm.
Emily drives the car off a pier. As the car sinks into the water, Emily struggles to lock Lillith (now in demon form) in the trunk. Emily escapes but the demon grabs Emily's foot to stop her from swimming away. Emily struggles and eventually breaks free as a trapped Lillith sinks to the bottom.
In 1971, Roger and Carolyn Perron move into a farmhouse with their five daughters, during the first day, their move goes smoothly. The next morning, Carolyn wakes up with a mysterious bruise and Sadie (the dog) is found lying dead outside the house . Various instances of paranormal disturbance occur, after hearing various clapping and giggling noises, and seeing the picture frames shattered on the stairs, Carolyn is locked up in the cellar. Later Cindy, one of the daughters, is awakened after sleepwalking into her sister Andrea's room and she sees a spirit on top of a wardrobe in the room that leaps on and attacks Andrea. While researching the history of the house, Ed and Lorraine discover that the house once belonged to an accused witch, Bathsheba, who sacrificed her week-old child to the devil and killed herself in 1863 after cursing all who would take her land. The property was once more than 200 acres but has since been divided up into smaller parcels. They find reports of numerous murders and suicides in houses that have since been built upon parcels that were once part of the property.
The Perron family decides to take refuge at a hotel while Ed and Lorraine take their evidence to the Church to arrange an exorcism. While the Warrens are on their way home, their daughter is attacked in their own home by the spirit of Bathsheba, though Ed arrives in time to prevent her from being harmed. Carolyn, is possessed by the spirit of Bathsheba and attempts to kill her daughter, Lorraine is able to temporarily distract the possessed Carolyn from killing her daughter by reminding her of a special memory she shared with her family, allowing Ed to complete the exorcism, saving Carolyn and her daughter.
Renai, and Josh Lambert just recently moved into their new house with their two sons Dalton, and Foster , and their baby daughter Cali.
One night while Dalton is upstairs playing with his toys, he hears a mysterious creaking noise, and sees the door to the attic mysteriously opening by itself and then goes upstairs to investigate. He then falls off a ladder while trying to turn on the light, and stares into the darkness as if he was looking at something terrifying and then starts screaming and crying.
The next morning, Dalton doesn't wake up from his sleep, and Renai and Josh, find out that he is in a coma.
3 months later, Dalton is back home, but is still in his coma. One night, Renai sees a strange, but terrifying man in Cali's room, and the alarms to the house start to turn on by itself.
The next day, Renai sees a bloody handprint on Dalton's bed. That night, Renai sees the man from Cali's room in front of her room, and attacks her. Elise then explains that Dalton was never in a coma and that falling off the ladder had nothing to do with it. She then explains that Dalton has the ability to astral project: the ability to leave your body and to travel to different places, but in astral form, and that he has fearlessly traveled too far and has consequently become lost in a spirit realm called "The Further"-a place for the tortured souls of the dead. Without Dalton's astral projection, he is just a lifeless body, explaining why Renai was seeing all of these ghosts.Dalton gets up, and starts attacking the group implying that the demon had finally possessed him. Elise is then able to get the demon out of Dalton's body. Elise tells Josh that the only way to rescue Dalton is if he goes into the Further himself. Elise then puts Josh in a trance, and he awakens to find out that he has astral projected. Inside is the Further, and Josh then finds Dalton chained to the floor, and then frees him. Josh the escapes the lair with Dalton with the demon in pursuit. They then make it back to the house, and Josh then confronts the old woman. The old woman then fades into total darkness and Josh and Dalton wake up.
Young couple Katie and Micah move to a new house in San Diego. Katie claims an evil presence is haunting her, so Micah sets up a camera in their bedroom to record any activity that occurs while they sleep. Katie hires psychic Dr. Fredrichs, who assesses that Katie is haunted by a demon who feeds off of negative energy, and is intent on tormenting Katie. On the 13th night they awaken to the sound of the demon screeching. During the 15th night, Katie, in an apparent trance, stands beside the bed and stares at Micah for two hours before going outside. One day Micah brings home a Ouija board. When they leave the house, cameras record an unseen force moving the planchette to form an unknown message on the Ouija board, which then spontaneously catches fire. During the 17th night, Micah sprinkles talcum powder in the hallway and bedroom. The couple are awakened by creaks, and they find non human footprints leading to the bedroom from the attic, where Micah finds a burnt photograph of a young Katie, previously thought to have been destroyed in an unexplained house fire.
During the 20th night, Katie is pulled out of the bedroom by an unseen force. When Micah rushes to help, the demon slams the door on him. Micah eventually rescues her but feels that the demon's presence still lurks upstairs, so they head downstairs to sleep on the couch. The following morning Micah discovers bite marks on Katie's back. He angrily burns the cross and photograph in the fireplace, and packs to head for a motel. Just as they are set to leave, Katie, seemingly out of touch with reality, insists they will be okay now.
The following night, Katie gets out of bed and stares at Micah for two hours before going downstairs. After a moment of silence, Katie screams Micah's name along with another inhuman voice; he abruptly rushes to her. Katie's screaming stops and heavy footsteps are heard coming up the stairs. Micah's body is violently hurled at the camera, which is knocked off the tripod, revealing Katie in the doorway. She slowly walks into the room, stained with blood. Crouching and crawling, she goes to Micah's body and then looks up at the camera with a grin. As she lunges toward the camera, her face takes on a demonic appearance just as the scene cuts to black. An epilogue text states that Micah's body was discovered by the police on October 11, 2006, and Katie's whereabouts remain unknown.
The end of this film does not necessarily create a normal sense of equlibrium as it allows for the sequels where the state of equlibrium remains unsettled and is never brought back to the initial equlibrium. This is mainly due to the fact that it is a psychological horror and therefore the initial equlibrium will never be reinstated.