Vampire Movies

Despite current popularity for extreme slasher and zombie horror movies, I have chosen to create the opening of a vampire film. This is because vampire horror has been popular since the silent era with the most common depiction being that of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which has generated 170 versions to date. Though typically a horror character, vampires are also seen in science fiction, romance, comedy and fantasy films.


In a traditional vampire movie, usually about Dracula, commonly seen elements are a pale, never aging male that sleeps through the day and is repelled by holy items, silver and garlic. He never eats and sleeps in a coffin. With the exception of a few films such as 30 Days of Night and Salem’s Lot, vampires are perceived as the most sexual of the mythical horror monsters. Because of this common conception, most vampires, especially female ones, either seduce or mesmerise their victims, as seen in Francis Ford Coppola’s interpretation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). Subsequently I will have my vampires act seductively and mesmerise her victim. As shown in this clip, the female vampire has an unearthly beauty that renders the mind of her victim incapable of anything except obeying her wishes.

Textual Analysis Of the Opening Sequence Of A Horror Movie: 28 Days Later

28 Days Later’ is a zombie-horror film released in 2002. Directed by Danny Boyle, it depicts the UK 28 days after a powerful virus that “locks those infected into a permanent state of murderous rage” is released, hence the title ‘28 Days Later’. From the very first scene this film can be identified as being part of the horror genre.

The first scene is shot in a primate research facility. We initially see a chimpanzee strapped to a table being forced to watch scenes of violence. The violence is a hint of what is to come. The lighting is dark and shadowy, creating an air of mystery. Some of the lights are also red, reflecting the anger and danger that will happen. The darkness is increased by the animal rights activists that break in as they are dressed all in black.

As well as the darkness and shadow, sound is key to revealing the movie as a horror. The sound from the TV sets that the chimpanzee is forced to watch is very crackly and fades into an eerie violin piece. When the shot cuts to the activists, you can hear the other primates held in captivity screeching and banging on their cages, furthering the hint of a violent movie.

The anger the primates already show is exacerbated by the flash of the camera the activists are using to take photographs of them in their cages, made known by the screeching increasing in volume. Primates are also known to be incredibly violent, so when the scientist they find on duty tells the other characters and audience that the animals are infected with a powerful rage virus he is basically telling the audience that the virus is about to be spread to humans and create the basis of the film.

The two colours used in abundance for this sequence are black and red, both of which connote danger and violence. When the activists ignore the scientist’s warning and open the cage, lights start flashing and the shots get a red filter as the chimp inside attacks the woman. The red ‘theme’ is carried on by showing those infected have red eyes and usually have blood around their mouths as they throw it up. The virus is also carried in the blood, making this definitive code of horror films a prop to infect others.

During the chimp attack, the camera is in soft focus and the lights are constantly flashing. Combined with the tilted angle shot used and the rapid cuts, the audience has trouble seeing the attack which adds to the fear, yet screaming from the victim lets the audience know the attack is still happening. Most of the shot distances used are either extreme close ups, close ups or medium close ups. This shows the audience the fear on the faces of the characters and can generate a reaction from them, be it fear or excitement.

The History Of Horror Movies

Horror is a genre of film and literature that is used to create fear in its audience. Within film, the horror genre was "created" in the 1930's with the release of "Dracula" and "Frankenstein", both released in 1931 by Universal Studios. 


One of the earliest forms of horror were those about vampires and other unholy creatures, making the first popular subgenre religious/gothic horror, which dominated the 1930’s and 1940’s with films like The Invisible Man (1933) and The Bodysnatcher (1945). 


In continuance, the 1950’s and 1960’s were divided by demonic horror and “horror of Armageddon”, or the fear of the end of the world. Because that was a common fear, films like Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963) and Psycho (1960) were very popular, as was the 1968 release Rosemary’s Baby, which was one of the first films to give the Devil a human form. The 1970’s sustained the occult themes in horror with films like The Exorcist (1973) and The Omen (1976) playing with one of the biggest taboos in horror - children and the Devil. 


The interest in the occult dwindled after this and the late 1970’s and early 1980’s spawned the beginnings of iconic franchises, such as John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978) and Wes Craven’s A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984). 


Though these movies were an introduction to the slasher subgenre, the 1990’s saw a decline in interest of the horror genre because of so much gore being shown in the previous decade. The genre was salvaged in 1996 when Wes Craven directed the first of the Scream movies. Along with films like I Know What You Did Last Summer, slasher and “teen horror” movies became more popular and its target audience was drawn in with franchises like the Final Destination series during the 2000’s. 


Many Asian horror movies like The Ring and The Grudge were remade, or “Americanised”,  during this time, though a noticeable trend during the 2000’s was the return of the zombie subgenre with films like 28 Days Later (2004) and a remake of Dawn Of The Dead (2004) becoming prevalent. In the later part of the decade, extreme slasher films, now referred to as “horror porn” or “torture porn” due to the emphasis of the infliction of pain on victims, has become most popular with the Saw franchise currently holding the record for highest grossing horror franchise in history.

Welcome to my AS Horror blog!

Hi my name is Kiera. I am a media student at Hackney Community College. This blog is to document all of my planning and research regarding my AS level coursework, which is to make the opening of a horror movie.