Assignment 8: Horror and Suspense

a) I honestly don't think that M would really qualify as a horror film. If one is liberal with the psychological horror genre criteria then it could probably be put into that category based on Peter Lorre's character being very emotional unstable. It's shown when he's stalking a little girl but then she goes to her mom and he feels dejected. He goes to a cafe and get a drink and you see that he's really struggling with his mental health. He tries to drink and smoke to put his urges to rest but that doesn't work so then he starts whistling again and tries to find his next victim.

b) I chose Stanley Kubrick's 1980 masterpiece, The Shining. I would categorize this film as psychological because it deals with Jack Torrance's cabin fever and his gradual decline into insanity. Also, Kubrick is a master of using music perfectly in concert with the images on screen and would also fit the criteria because of that.

c) The use of music is very minimalistic in M. A lot of the suspense is built with the deliberate camera movements, editing, and Peter Lorre's whistling of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" when he's stalking his victims. Toward the ending when Beckart is hiding from the gang that is pursuing him all you hear is the sound effects which is very unsettling. In contemporary movies you'd hear the musical score blaring some generic suspense movie music to build tension but Fritz Lang took the opposite approach and it's very effective in my opinion.

d) In The Shining, there is the iconic sequence when the Steadicam is following Danny on his Big Wheel and there is a noticeable lack of music but all you hear is the sound effect of the plastic wheels going from the carpet to the wood floors which effectively builds the atmosphere of a huge empty hotel. That is until you get to the hallway in which you start hearing the music and Danny's horrified face. We get a shot of his eye line and he sees the twins and the music builds until he starts seeing the horrific images of there bodies slain.

e) The good characters are Danny and Wendy. The evil of the film is Jack's mental instability and what it leads him to do or attempt. The supernatural characters are really up to interpretation on whether they actually exist or are part of Jack's psyche. One argument for their existence is that there is no possible way that Jack could have gotten himself out of the food storage locker that Wendy locks him in after she knocks him unconscious. Also, you have that interesting last shot of the film which is Jack's character in a picture from the 1920's which would be impossible.