The opening of a film introduces the audience to the world of time and space in which the narrative takes place. Opening sequences provide a platform from which the narrative is launched and are often called "set ups".

During the opening sequence the filmmaker introduces the characters and begins to develop these characters for the audience who is also orientated into both the physical settings and the historical settings.

The Shining Opening Sequence/Credits

The opening sequence in The Shining starts off by us flying through a massive lake, we are then sent up in the air to get a bird's eye view of a small car travelling through a snake like road. This is to show us how grand and vast America is.

The opening credits then scroll up, the colour of the font is blue which is usually seen to be a more gentle colour but Kubrick makes this font seem more eerie by the sound he uses of tribal music and screaming women.

After two and a half minutes of the opening scene and credits we are introduced to the overlook hotel for the first time, we know nothing about it but what it looks like and how big it is. We assume this is where the story is going to take place straight away.

Character

Character development is the relation to the audience of a character's personality, beliefs, strengths, weaknesses and emotions. We are normally introduced to the main protagonist at the start of the narrative. From this point onwards, we learn more about who they really are.

Character development can be done through various narrative devices. The simplest is the traditional "Once upon a time…" fairytale format, which we are immediately introduce to the main character and then told their story.

Another technique is to look back on the character's life or part of it.

The Shining Characters

The characters in The Shining include: Jack Torrance, Wendy Torrance, Danny Torrance (and Tony), Dick Hallorann, Stuart Ullman, Delbert Grady, the Grady Twins and Lloyd the bartender.

Jack Torrance: The father of the Torrance family, we are first introduced to Jack when he walking into the Overlook Hotel at the start of "The Interview" scene. We learn that he is applying for the job of caretaker for the hotel over the winter while no one is using it, he learns about what has happened there in the past, but passes this aside by saying that time alone is exactly what he needs for his new writing project.

Jack rings his family to let them know he got the job and sounds like a typical loving father and husband. However, we start to notice changes in him as soon as Danny starts asking questions when they are driving to the hotel.

Through out the movie Jack is continuously changing, becoming a "mad man", he finally loses it when Wendy accuses him of hurting Danny, which he really did, and Danny makes up the story that there was a women in room 237 that did it. He goes to the gold room and to cover the fact that he really hurt Danny he starts talking to ghosts, one of which is Delbert Grady who convinces Jack to "correct" his family. By the time Wendy notices all the papers that all say "All work and no play make Jack a dull boy." he has completely lost it and attempts to take the baseball bat off her to beat her with it.

Once he is let out of the food storage room by Delbert and "the others" he goes on a mad rampage with an axe, he kills Dick Hallorann before he had a chance to save them and chases Danny into the maze, but is out smarted by him, this then leads Jack to his death.

Wendy Torrance: From the moment we meet her to the end of the movie we find her very annoying, she is a nuisance as she is continually interrupting Jacks work and making stupid remarks and statements.

Wendy is your typical mother and wife, always looking after her child and waiting hand and foot on her husband. At least she thinks she is going the right way about doing this.

Danny Torrance (and Tony): We are introduced to Danny when Jack is having his interview, we think he is your average kid for his age, he even has an imaginary friend, Tony, who later we find out is the boy who lives in his mouth.

Danny has a special gift called "shining", jack also has this gift but it is not used how Danny's is, Danny uses his gift to communicate with Tony who lets him see things of the past and future and he can communicate with Dick Hallorann (who also has the shining) using telepathy.

Setting

The setting of a fictional film narrative refers to the location and the historical period in which the story takes place.

Location refers to the physical geography of the story.

The setting of a narrative helps to tell the story because the audience already has an understanding of settings and their context within film genres.

In genres such as western, film noir, comedy, romantic comedy, science fiction and fantasy, the audience also understands the codes and conventions that apply to specific genres.

The Shining Setting

Just like Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick also left nothing to chance when it came to the setting of his movies, especially The Shining anyway. Some good examples of this is when Jack is throwing a tennis ball against the wall, the wall he is hitting contains Indian traditional drawings of two twins. Continuing with the Indian theme, the whole hotel is filled with Indian tapestry, carpet and wall items to remind us that this was once an Indian burial ground.

In the bathroom of the Gold room the room is nearly completely red, this is to show us what is to happen by representing blood (the blood spilt by the death of Dick Hallorann, the blood that Wendy sees come out of the elevator and the blood all around the room that Danny sees when he sees the twins dead).

The setting of The Shining also has an American theme, we are constantly shown an American flag in nearly every room, and also Danny is always wearing American clothing to show us how "great" America is.

Storyline

Story lines, including

• Central and concurrent story lines and the motivations, conflicts or narrative issues raised in them
• Ways in which story lines comment upon, contrast or interrelate with other story lines in the text

The Shining Storyline

The story starts when Jack is interviewed for the role of caretaker of an isolated hotel where he plans to write his novel over the winter. Danny is warned about the hotel by the boy who lives in his mouth, Tony. The first month goes past without an incident, Jack starts to get writer's block and steadily gets more frustrated and deranged. Danny sees the twins murdered, Tony tells him that they are merely pictures so he doesn't tell his parents.

Danny comes to room 237 for a second time, this time it is open so he enters, later he Jack has a nightmare about chopping Wendy and Danny up into little pieces, Wendy rushes to his side and Danny enters with a bruised neck, Wendy immediately accuses Jack because he has done this before.

Jack furious by this accusation storms into the Gold Room where he meets the bartender, Wendy rushes in to find Jack asleep and tells him about the lady in room 237. Jack and Wendy argue over Danny's health and leaving the hotel. Jack returns to the Gold room which is now a 1920's style party, here he meets Delbert Grady who convinces him to "correct" his family.

Dick Hallorann who has been contacted by Danny using his telepathy makes a desperate attempt to save the Torrance's, while he makes is way to the hotel jack has gone on a mental rampage after Wendy knocked him out with the bat and locked him in the food storage room.

Hallorann arrives but is killed by Jack almost instantly, Jack discovers Danny's hiding place and chases him into the maze where he is outsmarted and left to die as Wendy and Danny escape in Hallorann's snowcat.

Just before the end credits, we zoom in on a photograph of a lavish ball which had been hanging in the hotel the entire time. In the center of the picture is a young Jack; the caption reads: "Overlook Hotel, July 4th Ball, 1921".

Structuring of Time

Film narratives operate within codes and conventions, and as the audience we view them with an understanding of these conventions. The structuring of time within a narrative is an example of these conventions. Film uses convention top help the audiences overcome the limitations of real time. Occasionally, a film narrative presents the story in real time, in other words, screen time and story time are the same.

Audiences accept the convention that films compress time so that the events of a character's lifetime can occur for us within 2 hours we have set aside to watch the film.

Time can also be manipulated in a film narrative though such devices as time-lapse photography, slow motion, fast motion, flashback and flash forward.

The Shining Structuring of Time

Most of the film is in real-time as it is all happening step-by-step in a sequence that is east for us to follow. For example when Jack is having a nightmare we follow Wendy the whole way when she runs to his side. Time is sometimes compressed to help us move on with the movie as we don't need to see certain parts, like when Hallorann is on his way to the hotel we see him on the plane, then in a car and then in a snowcat before he arrives at the hotel.

Cause and Effect

Cause and effect is a narrative function. Everything that happens in a story must happen for a reason. There must be a cause for there to be an effect. The cause and effect chain is a foundation of story telling.

The Shining Cause and Effect

A good example of the use of cause and effect in the movie is when Jack kills Hallorann, he is then left to die in the maze.

Another example of cause and effect in the movie is at the start of the movie when Stuart Ullman warns Jack of what can happen when you are isolated for too long, Jack brushes this off as if it is nothing, the result of this is Jack becomes exactly like the man in the story and tries to kill his family.

Point of View (From Which the Narrative is presented)

In presenting the narrative, the filmmaker decides from whose point of view the story will be told. In a conventionally plotted narrative, the point of view that one or two main protagonists. Point of view does not need to be limited to only one character.

Point of View in which the narrative is presented, including

• Character, or other viewpoint
• Story information given or withheld at different points of the narrative

The Shining Point of View

The main point of view in the movie is told by the narrative, though some of the movie is told by the point of view of Danny and Tony.

Narrative point of view: tells the whole story from start to finish.

Danny and Tony point of view: shows us what has happened in the past and what will happen further along in the movie.

Closure or Closing Sequence

The closing sequence brings the plot of climax both in a story and emotional sense; it is the point at where the audience reaches an understanding about unanswered questions relating to the story and characters.

The Shining Closing Sequence

The suspenseful closing sequence of the movie starts off just after Hallorann's death when Jack chases Danny into the maze, Jack starts off following Danny's track until they suddenly end and takes another path where he gets lost, up to this point we thought Jack might get him, this ends up resulting in Jacks death and Wendy and Danny's escape.

Just before the end credits, we zoom in on a photograph of a lavish ball which had been hanging in the hotel the entire time. In the center of the picture is a young Jack; the caption reads: "Overlook Hotel, July 4th Ball, 1921".

~ Production Elements ~

Camera/Film:

Camera is the most obvious of the production elements. Camera techniques develop the plot, narrative possibilities and characters. The camera angle affects how viewers will perceive that subject. Angles can establish relationships, create moods and develop story lines. Camera movement can also be used to create emotion or draw the audience's attention to a subject. Camera shots are used in context to a situation in the film.

There are 5 basic camera angles:

• Eye-level
  Example 1: When Jack is in the Gold Room, we see Lloyd the bartender in an eye-level angle.
  Audience Reaction: We can see everything around Lloyd's background and adds to the ghost-like effect.
• High Angle
  Example 1: When Jack is following Wendy up the stairs as she is swinging the bat at him, there is a high camera angle located on Wendy's shoulder looking down at Jack.
  Audience Reaction: We feel as if Wendy is more superior to Jack and it looks like Jack is walking up towards us. Suspense is felt by the audience.

Low Angle
Example 1:After Danny has written "" on the door we see a low camera angle of what he just wrote.
Audience Reaction:This makes the word look more frightening.

• Birds Eye
  Example 1: At the start of the movie we see a birds eye view of the car driving through the wavy road.
  Audience Reaction: This makes the car look as if it is not a threat and shows us how long it has to drive.
• Unusual
  Example 1:When Jack has been locked in the food storage room we get an unusual camera located under Jack looking directly up at him.
  Audience Reaction:We feel awkward.

There are 3 basic camera movements:

• Panning
  Example 1: When Jack is walking across the Gold Room to the bar during the 1920's ball.
  Audience Reaction: We follow Jack as he walks and see that he is changing again.
• Zooming
  Example 1: At the end of the movie there is an extremely long and slow zoom in towards the photo frame of the ball containing Jack.
  Audience Reaction: We are very curious and want to know what is in the photo.
• Tilting
  Example 1: When Jack is walking up the stairs after Wendy the camera tilts down to view Jack and up to view Wendy.
  Audience Reaction: This makes Wendy look ore superior than Jack

There are 7 basic camera shots:

Close-up
Example 1: When Danny is contacting Hallorann by telepathy there is a close-up of his shocked reaction.
Audience Reaction: We are also shocked and know something bad is going to happen.

• Extreme Close-up
  Example 1: There is sort of an extreme close-up when Jack is hacking at the door, the extreme-close up is of the axe coming through the door.
  Audience Reaction: We are terrified along with Wendy.

Medium Shot
Example 1: When Jack is in the Gold Room, we see Lloyd the bartender in a medium shot.
Audience Reaction: We can see everything around Lloyd's background and adds to the ghost-like effect.

• Long Shot
  Example 1: When Danny gets out of the cupboard after Hallorann is killed. We see this happen in a long shot of the hall.
  Audience Reaction: We assume Danny is far enough away to run away from Jack.
• Extreme Long Shot
  Example 1: At the start of the movie there is an extreme long shot of the overlook hotel.
  Audience Reaction: This allows us to see all of its surroundings and how isolated it is.

Point of View or Subjective
Example 1: When Jack is looking down at the model of the maze we see it from his point of view.
Audience Reaction: Because we can see Danny and Wendy in the model we then realise Jack also has "the shining".

• Reaction Shot
  Example 1: When Danny is contacting Hallorann by telepathy there is a close-up of his shocked reaction.
  Audience Reaction: We are also shocked and know something bad is going to happen.

Additionally the film format will affect the mood and look of a film. Some format options available are black and white, colour film, digital video and animation.

Lighting:

Lighting allows objects and characters to be seen by the audience. This can be the most creative elements of film making. It can also help with character development. Characters can be made to look friendly or evil through the use of lighting. The background of a shot is lit up to create a broad depth of field. Additionally lighting can describe a relationship or set a mood.

Lighting can be described in four categories: Soft, Hard, High-key and Low-key.

• Soft Lighting: wraps around an object, casting shadows with soft edges. This creates a soft, warm feeling.
  Example 1: When Jack and his family are driving to the overlook hotel.
  Audience Reaction: This makes us believe this is a happy loving family.
• Hard Lighting: Consists of bright whites and dark blacks and creates harder edged shadows. This creates a cruel, cold feeling.
  Example 1: When Jack sticks he head through the door and says “Here's Johnny”.
  Audience Reaction: We are freaked and scared.
• High-key Lighting: Creates little shadow. Set tends to be flooded with light. This is often used to create a normal “Happy” scene. The use of strong key lights mean that only parts of the set are lit other parts remain in shadow. This can create a very dramatic effect with only some object being high-lighted.
  Example 1: When Jack is talking to Delbert Grady in the bathroom of the Gold room.
  Audience Reaction: This is a very dramatic scene for the audience a we learn that Jack is about to kill his family.
• Low-key Lighting: If key lights are set at a Low point very strong shadows are thrown on surfaces. This can create an eerie effect.
  Example 1: When Hallorann is driving the snowcat to the Hotel.
  Audience Reaction: This makes us believe he isn't going to get there on time to save them.

Lighting also helps convey the point of view of a character.

Visual Composition (Mise - en - Scene):

Visual composition refers to everything within the frame. It determines how the shot develops the characters and storyline. It can also incite responses and emotions within the audience.

Questions that need to be considered for visual composition are:

• How will the shot be lit?
• How will the shot be arranged?
• Where will the actors be placed?
• What props will be placed in the shot?

In the movie The Shining, just like Alfred Hitchcock, Kubrick left nothing to chance with the visual composition of his movie an example of this is:

Example 1: When we first meet Lloyd there are three panels behind him, the middle is lit up and the outside ones are dark, this is to emphasise his face.

Audience Reaction: The lighting of the panels gives a ghost-like effect to Lloyd.

Example 2: We see a lot of shots containing these three panels, another example is when Wendy comes into Jacks work room and again the two outside panels are dark and the middle is light to bring out her face.

Audience Reaction: This shows us her extremely annoying face and reaction to all Jacks questions and comments.

Acting:

This refers to the work of an actor or actress who tells the story by portraying a character. Through the use of body language, tone of voice, posture and delivery of lines develops the character and creates a relationship between the character and audience. In some cases the qualities of the character are due to the reputation of the character.

The acting in The Shining is not to shabby, though Wendy (Shelly Duval) lets the whole movie down, she takes things completely overboard, for example when Jack is hacking at the bathroom door she looks completely fake. On the other hand, Jack Nicholson, who plays Jack plays his part perfectly, when it comes to the range of emotions and personalities he must portray we are completely fooled into believing it is actually happening.

Example 1: Wendy's reaction when Jack is hacking at the bathroom door.

Audience Reaction: We are scared for Wendy, but can see she's just an actor as she goes way overboard.

Editing:

Editing is the process of placing images and sound in an order to tell a story and create emotion. Editing is the process of looking at the footage shot and selecting the most appropriate shots which then are assembled in a sequence that conveys a narrative to the audience. It can establish setting, develop character, restructure time and express point of view.

Editing serves three major purposes:

• Narrative:allows the audience to follow the character throughout the narrative and can also express a character's thoughts.
• Emotional:the way in which a film is cut can produce an emotional response from the audience.
• Intellectual Editing:the director is able to plant a thought or concept in the audience's mind.

Additionally editors often combine visual images and sounds to develop narratives.

Example 1: When Danny sees the two twins, then it flashes to them dead, back to them, again to them dead and finally back to them.

Audience Reaction: We are completely horrified.

Sound:

• Dialogue
  Example 1: When Wendy comes into Jacks work and he has a go at her using an aggressive tone and dialogue.
  Audience Reaction: This adds to our knowledge of Jack changing into a mad man.
• Music/Score
  Example 1: In the opening sequence there is tribal music in the background with the occasional women screaming.
  Audience Reaction: This creates an eerie effect and makes the opening blue credits more daunting.
• Sound-effects
  Example 1: When Danny is riding his tricycle across the floor over the floor boards and then carpet, then floor boards again etc.
  Audience Reaction: This sounds like the music when Jack is chasing Danny in the maze so it might be a hint as to what is going to happen later on.

The Exorcist, a 1973 American movie adaptation of the novel by William Peter Blatty which was published in 1971, tells the story of Regan MacNeil, a young girl who has been possessed by a demonic force. Father Lankester Merrin is bought in to try and expel the demon by means of an exorcism where he and his assistant encounter more than they bargained for. Based on a true story, The Exorcist provides viewers with non stop thrills and screams as Regan deals out a vast range of peculiar and disturbing behaviour on the way to a fantastic climax. The film was re-released in 2000 providing viewers with extra scenes, enhanced cinematography and even more scares than the original. It's also interesting to note that The Exorcist brings with it the tag of being cursed as many strange events happened to cast and support staff during filming including a fire which destroyed all of the set bar Regan's room and Linda Blair (the actress who played Regan) being hurt on numerous occasions. A priest was bought onto the set at various times during filming to bless the cast and set. Combine all of these "real" strange occurrences with the actual viewing of the film and you can see why it was voted in at the top spot. The Exorcist was nominated for ten Academy Awards winning two for sound, which makes the film even more exhilarating, and Film Adaptation.

Other films to make the top horror film list include Stephen King's The Shining at number two, the original 1979 film Alien at three, Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector in The Silence of the Lambs at four, and Saw at number 5.

The complete list of top horror movies for 2008:

1 The Exorcist - William Friedkin (1973)
2 The Shining - Stanley Kubrick (1980)
3 Alien - Ridley Scott (1979)
4 The Silence of the Lambs - Jonathan Demme (1991)
5 Saw - James Wan (2004)
6 Halloween - John Carpenter (1978)
7 A Nightmare on Elm Street - Wes Craven (1984)
8 Ring (Ringu) - Hideo Nakata (1998)
9 The Wicker Man - Robin Hardy (1973)
10 The Omen - Richard Donner (1976)
11 The Birds - Alfred Hitchcock (1963)
12 The Thing - John Carpenter (1982)
13 Lost Boys - Joel Schumacher (1987)
14 Dawn of the Dead - George A. Romero (1978)
15 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Tobe Hooper (1974)
16 Jaws - Steven Spielberg (1975)
17 The Blair Witch Project - Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez (1999)
18 An American Werewolf in London - John Landis (1981)
19 Se7en - David Fincher (1995)
20 Poltergeist - Tobe Hooper (1982)
21 The Amityville Horror. Stuart Rosenberg (1979)
22 Candyman - Bernard Rose (1992)
23 Scream - Wes Craven (1996)
24 Carrie - Brian De Palma (1976)
25 Friday the 13th - Sean S Cunningham (1980)
26 Final Destination - James Wong (2000)
27 The Evil Dead - Sam Raimi (1981)
28 Hellraiser - Clive Barker (1987)
29 Hostel - Eli Roth (2005)
30 Salem "> s Lot - Mikael Salomon (2004)
31 The Descent - Neil Marshall (2005)
32 The Hills Have Eyes - Wes Craven (1977)
33 Wolf Creek - Greg McLean (2005)
34 Misery - Rob Reiner (1991)
35 Rosemary"s Baby - Roman Polanski (1968)
36 Child's Play - Tom Holland (1989)
37 The Orphanage - Juan Antonio Bayona (2008)
38 The Entity - Sidney J Furie (1981)
39 Nosferatu - FW Murnau (1922)
40 Night of the Living Dead - George A. Romero (1968)
41 House on Haunted Hill, William Malone (2000)
42 The Haunting, Robert Wise (1963)
43 It - Tommy Lee Wallace (1990)
44 Audition - Takashi Miike (1999)
45 The Changeling - Peter Medak (1980)
46 The Mist - Frank Darabont (2008)
47 Suspiria - Dario Argento (1977)
48 The Vanishing - George Sluizer (1993)
49 Shutter - Masayuki Ochiai (2008)
50 Planet Terror - Robert Rodriguez (2007)

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Produced and directed by Greg McLean and the director of Wolf Creek, here comes the horrendous movie of the season. The movie is wild and fierce at nature’s perfect killing machine. This movie is about the group of tourists who trip over into the river territory of an enormous crocodile found in remote areas in Australia. This gigantic crocodile traps them on a tidy mud island with the tide quickly rising and darkness descending. They must find the way out before this horrendous crocidile chop them into pieces.

The Omen

A haunting and scary movie starred by Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber and Mia Farrow. In this truly terrifying film, man's darkest fears are manifested as an unspeakable horror is unleashed in the world. Robert Thorn (Liev Schreiber), a U.S. diplomat substitutes an orphan for his own stillborn baby in order to spare his unknown wife (Julia Stiles). But after a series of grotesque murders and dire warnings, the Thorns come to the chilling realization that their child is the son of Satan.

Wrong Turn

This is a must see terrifying movie. It begins when a group of young men and women are stranded on the an island road deep in the Appalachian hills of West Virginia without anybody to rescue. Desperate to save for their lives, the horror surges as they find themselves relentlessly pursued by a force of evil beyond their imagination.

Ginger Snaps II (Unleashed)

One of the movie that will scare your wits up to the end. Brigette has killed the monster that her beloved sister, Ginger has turned into and now finds herself infected with the same virus that cursed Ginger. She has fled her home and is living like a junkie in a run-down motel, dependent upon injections of monshood, a drug that postphones the mutating effects of the virus, but does not cure it.

The Amityville Horror

Six family member was brutally murdered in November 1974. A year later, George and Kathy Lutz together with their children move into the house that was the site of the horrific event and is now haunted by a murderous presence. What follow is 28 days of unimaginable terror.

Diary of the Dead

A masterpiece horror film. One of the most daring, hypnotic and terrifying movie of the season. Focus on a terified group of college film students who record the pandemic rise of flesh-eating zombies while struggling for their own survival.

Below

Trapped together in the sub's narrow corridors and constricted spaces, the unexpected visitors seem to spark a series of chilling, otherworldy occurences when the submarine USS Tiger Shark picks three survivors of a U-Boat attack during on a rescue mission during World War II.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

An average teenage girl who was the target of terrifying deminic forces that would ultimately shock a town and torment her soul. But was she, as many believed, possessed? In attempt to clear the clergyman who exorcised her, a skeptical attorney awakens to the discovery that powerful spiritual forces may actually exist.

The Village

An isolated, tight-knit community lives in mortal fear of an oppressive evil inahbiting the forbidden forest just beyond their tiny village. So frightening that no one ventures into the woods until one villager dare to face the unknown.

The Skeleton Key

When Caroline Ellis takes a job in Louisiania's bayous, she unlocks a deadly secret involving magic, conjure and sacrifice that pulls her into a terrifying world of strange, frightening and unexplained incidents. Starred by an awesome and adorable actress of the season Kate Hudson. This movie is filled with endless suspense and bone-chilling scares.

Find it in the store near you. It's abolutely terrifying.

However, you're not actually in any danger, you're sitting safe in your seat with some popcorn, far away from the chainsaws, creepy dolls and monsters. Horror movies stimulate fear through shock, horror, and ultimately: the unknown. Sudden sounds and actions shock you, the carnage and violence horrify you, and the dark and supernatural test your knowledge of the world [can that really happen? Are there really people like that?].

People love to be scared, and will always enjoy the thrill of the action and terror associated with horror movies. It gives them a glimpse of something that they'll likely never go through, and allows them to experience that high feeling you get when absolutely terrified, all without leaving the comfort of that couch or theater chair.

The director, John Carpenter has made several versions of Halloween movies since 1978. The most popular ones being Halloween (1978), Halloween 4 and Halloween H20.

It revolves around a teenage girl called Laurie strode. The role is played by Jamie Lee Curtis.

Laurie strode is study's at college with her friends. She has a brother who is handicapped and was sent to the mental hospital for murdering his elder sister on Halloween night, twenty years before the leap. He was a young, disabled boy and a joker.

He likes playing Halloween games on people. With blank, death calls and killing people by stabbing them after a little hide and seek.

A psychopathic, kleptomaniac, necrophagous thief and killer whose name is Michael Myers. A kleptomaniac, necrophagous thief. Knives and other sharp objects are stolen by his hands in his mission to complete the killing of his sister Laurie.

Both him and Laurie are the most important characters in the story. If he is not around, the movie would not have gone very well. There would not be a scary complication for the actors to solve. Everything would become boring.

Secondly, Laurie is the flag on top of the mountain, and if that flag falls off and is destroyed, the movie would be over.

There would be nothing else to solve. Even Michael wouldn't have to do anything else except kill more people if they interfere in his business.

Laurie is the main character in the plot. Therefore, she has to stay alive in the film and not die even I the worst circumstances, trials and tribulations.

But at last, she was killed on Halloween Resurrection (2002) which ended the series of 25 years!

Now, we have a new generation of this movie which released on 31 st August 2007.

However, it is a remake of the first movie and there is no rumour that the director of the new version will continue the movie into a sequel. Many people have said that the original movie is much better than this new version. I will be happy if anyone commented here about the new and old movie and the difference between the two.

The exposition of the story begins when Michael, who at first, is a 6 year old boy, spies on his sister Judith Myers.

He eventually follows her into her bedroom wearing a red, nosed clown mask. He murders her and gets caught by his parents outside their house.

The evidence here was that he was crying a long, sharp blooded knife at the end of his fingertips. He was then sent to the mental asylum for the rest of his gloomy life which is a total shame.

He has no heart but only a rock. And this is the cause for the darkness of his own soul. He has no feelings whatsoever. Instead, he has the devil's eyes.

20 years later, after the horrific events of the past, Michael escapes the mental asylum very cleverly by leaping onto the vehicle and scaring the heart out of an innocent women who luckily escapes out the car in a quick hurry for survival.

He jumps into the car and escapes to Haddonfield for his mission to murder Laurie.

By the end of the movie, all of Laurie's friends are dead and she is all alone. Dr loomis arrives just in time to see Laurie's death but he prevents it by shooting Michael out the window and making him fall onto the ground outside with a loud thud.

But this was not the end. He left Laurie for the slight moment by accepting defeat. However, he makes a comeback for more nemesis. Not accepting defeat until his task is over.

And that is how it went. His undefeated games, lead to a shocking, stunning and absolute success when he finally murdered Laurie in Halloween Resurrection.

A sad ending was shocking to everyone when she died. Leaving me stunned and heartbroken when I saw the instant stabbing which lead to the end.

Don't get me wrong, I can be brave when I have to. But lately, well, I just haven't been able to sleep. At every little creak, every little bump, I sit up in terror, fearing the worst (hordes of the undead perhaps, or maybe just a maniac wielding a chainsaw). Sometimes it can take me until 3am to drop off, clutching a baseball bat tightly and hiding under the covers.

I suppose, if I was a kid, this kind of behaviour would be perfectly normal. And I'm not a kid, but it is perfectly normal- for someone who watches far too many horror films. When I was little, my mother, knowing my somewhat jittery disposition, didn't allow me to see any films remotely scary. So I didn't even watch "Drop Dead Fred" until I was 15!. That was a film that my peers were all obsessed with at the time: it involved an irritating imaginary friend causing havoc for the girl who imagined him. Luckily, I never had a malignant ginger doll, like Chucky, in "Child"s Play.

Most evenings, I'll be sitting in a darkened room, sometimes with friends, sometimes alone. There'll be a horror movie in the DVD player, and even the odd shriek if there's a shocking moment. A couple of days ago, I watched "Audition", in which a lonely widower takes on more than he bargained for when picking up women via an audition system. The girl he succeeds in pulling is beautiful and cute, so it comes as a terrible shock when we realise she's a deranged murderer, and what she keeps in that sack. That night, I dreamt of rolling sacks.

At the time, I enjoy the thrills and the scares, and climb up to bed contented that I've watched a good film. But not long after I've switched off the light and closed my eyes, I start to imagine I can hear the moaning of a ghost, the groaning of a zombie or the harsh scream of a chainsaw, (I really did hear a chainsaw the other night, and I'm not quite sure why someone was chopping up bodies- ahem, I mean trees, at 2am, but there you go).

Currently, one of the main horrific foes I fear is the zombie. This is because I have recently been rectifying a deficit in my life of zombie films, and have been watching all the classics, sometimes several a night. At first, I lay curled in bed at night, wondering how on earth I would be able to stave off the zombs, but soon, I started formulating plans, and weighing them up in my mind: should I hide in the house, but destroy the stairs so they couldn't climb up to me? Or just find a shack in the woods? Shacks always seem to prove fatal, though (see "Evil Dead", and "Night of the Living Dead".) Or should I move in to the nearest supermarket or shopping centre? At least there would be plenty of food for me to eat, but it could all go horribly wrong when the looters arrived on their motorbikes ('Dawn of the Dead'). A better option might be to find a well-defended castle and hole up in there. I'd just have to hope the zombies would eventually fall to bits.

Of course, in the event of a virus that causes widespread anger-management problems, like in "28 Days Later", the zombies wouldn't be the only ones with serious issues. Fast moving monsters like these would surely be too quick for me. Similarly, the creatures in the remake of "Day of the Dead" are just too fast for their own good. At least with the traditional shambling undead, if I just walked at a fast pace, I could still leave them behind.

 

Even when sprinting, at least zombies aren't too bright. Even a 2 year old could outwit most examples. Vampires are a far more dangerous form of the undead, with the intelligence to hunt their victims down.

It seems that whichever horrible monster attacks me, I won't know what to do. There doesn't really seem to be a solution, so here I wait, at the top of the stairs, clutching my broken chair leg. Waiting for them to come.

Dracula

A lot of people have forgotten how absolutely frightening this guy is. I mean, he wakes up at night, turns into a bat, finds unsuspecting people and inserts his razor like teeth into their necks to suck their blood. What the hell are people doing not making more movies about this guy! He drinks blood for sustenance! Isn't that enough to make you squirm!? Doesn't the fact that this guy can suck you dry kinda creep you out? Sure, he has a few obvious flaws that make his character a bit cheesy but put into the hands a competent screenwriter and a good director and you've got a scary movie that's able to make people cry. Isn't that what we've been aiming for people! The only Dracula movie that's even come close was the 1992 version “Bram Stroker's Dracula” and even that had a quite a bit if fagginess in it. Where is the badass Dracula we've all been waiting for. Well wherever it is, it needs to come out and make people buy truckloads of garlic.

Modern Day Monster Comparison: “Saw”

Believe it or not, the guy from the “Saw” movie franchise is the closest thing we got to Dracula. He seems to enjoy seeing people dying in blood.

Frankenstein

There has always been the monster that will almost never be too frightening. In fact, Frankenstein has pretty much been the idiot of monsters. He manages to make everything he does funny is some way. Frankenstein could be ripping the limbs apart off a cute little child and the child's parents would be laughing while he's doing it. Hell, even the child would find it comical if the searing pain wasn't stopping him from laughing. You see, that's the problem with Frankenstein, no one takes him seriously. That's because besides the original 1910 ver sion there have been no serious Frankenstein movies. Even in the 2002 movie “Van Helsing” Frankenstein was the retarded monster who just wanted to be human. The fact that Frankenstein is always used to benefit someone else doesn't help his case either. But there is hope for our freak of a friend. Put into the hands of a good director and an even better special effects artist Frankenstein can become quite the scary beast he should be. It would also help a lot if someone cut the emotional crap from him. The “I just wanna be human WAH WAH WAH!” emotions he always feels. When someone goes to see a horror movie they don't want to see emotions, they want to see freaky looking things be freaky. Frankenstein needs to come back, just not so gay.

Modern Day Monster Comparison: Any Zombie Movie

When you think about it, Frankenstein is just a reanimated corpse with different people's body parts. In other words, he's a zombie.

Godzilla

The gentle giant has never been a term to describe Godzilla. (Or as the Japanese like to say “GOJIRA!”) Godzilla has always brought upon death and destruction wherever he goes. Well, except when he's fighting other mythical creatures, but even then he manages to destroy some buildings. Godzilla's first appearance in 1954 scared the living chumba wumba's out of the Japanese. Then it scared the chumba wumba's out of the rest of the world by taking King Kong and actually making it sca ry. Imagine how scared you would be if a giant lizard would pick up your house and eat its inhabitants in one bite. The only problem is that there hasn't been a decent Godzilla movie since 1954. You would think the 1998 rendition of Godzilla would make some people scared but all it did was make them angry. With all of our technological advances, it's completely possible to make a spine crushingly scary Godzilla movie.

Modern Day Monster Comparison: “Cloverfield”

The crab crapping monster from Cloverfield

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

I know what you're thinking. What the hell does Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have that's even remotely scary. Well let's look at it from a logical point of view. Other than the 1931 film there has never been a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde movie that is even worth mentioning. That contributes to most of what's keeping Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde very timid. But another small portion of what's kept him so laughable is the fact that the movie made him out to be just another Frankenstein when he's in his Mr. Hyde form. When you think about it Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde can be one of the scariest monsters of all time. Simply because of the fact that he is human and he created himself to be a monster. Dr. Jekyll was responsible for his own fate. One of the things man has feared most is himself. Mix that fact with a good screenplay, clever directing and a nasty-ass version of Mr. Hyde and we got ourselves one hell of a scary movie. Now I am the first to admit though that it would not be easy making a genuinely scary version of this monster but put in the right hands and it can be done. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have been aching to make their triumphantly horrifying return. Someone just needs to be courageous enough to bring them back.

Modern Day Monster Comparison: “The Hills Have Eyes”

They were human, then they we're ugly humans. (But “The Hills have Eyes” monsters are always ugly)

In a horror industry now defined by lame torture movies such as Hostel and Saw, I had hoped that Darabont's film might possess some elements of good old fashioned fright films: creepy music, cacophonous sound effects that makes you want to cover your ears, exciting monsters, and edge-of-your-seat suspense. Yet it failed and now we find ourselves on the edge of our seats only when someone's eye is about to be gouged out or waiting for intestines to spill all over. Don't get me wrong-I admire special effects and make-up artists such as Howard Berger and Gregory Nicotero incredibly, but something is clearly wrong when all a horror movie has going for it is effects. It's not horror and it's not suspense; it's shock treatment for a jaded and numbed audience who has forgotten about the horror movies of old.

The kings of horror and suspense such as John Carpenter, Dario Argento, Wes Craven and David Cronenberg knew hot to please an audience yearning for fear without having to resort to tacky and overtly grotesque scenes. Films such as Suspiria, Opera, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Thing, The Frighteners, Carrie, and the original The Wicker Man stand out in horror history. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre puts the remake to shame while Rob Zombie should be shunned for unmasking Michael Myers, perhaps the most infamous psychopath in horror movie history because of his mystical and mysterious nature. Even The Amityville Horror, though mediocre, is a landslide better than the remake. The 70s and 80s breathed life into horror movies and they thrived. The Exorcist, The Omen, Poltergeist, The Shining, Manhunter, Night of the Living Dead, and Rosemary's Baby are more films to add to the list of greats.

And now, what are we left with? If you scroll through a list of horror films produced over the past few years, you will come across The Ring, The Grudge, Dead Silence, The Fog, Ghost Ship, House of 100 Corpses, House on Haunted Hill, 30 Days of Night along with other disappointments. With the exception of a few quality scares such as The Descent, Feast, Behind the Mask, and Slither, the horror industry has taken a deep plunge into a pit and it may not return anytime soon. Attempts to spark the flame under horror lovers bottoms such as the “8 Films to Die For” and the Emmy nominated Series, “Masters of Horror” have succeeded to a degree, yet they don't get as much publicity as the weaker, higher budget horrors. I know that there are plenty of independent films worthy of recognition, but they will never be released in theaters and they will never be recognized so long as Hollywood keeps producing rubbish year after year. The problem is that directors and producers feel as if they have to show more in order to get more from the audience. What happened to keeping the audience in suspense by waiting until the finale to reveal the monster or the breathtaking big murder scene? These new horror flicks are producing a chain reaction. The more creatures and blood and guts that films show, the more the audience will want to see in the future.

I don't know what the solution to this problem is or how to go about finding one. Yet the quality of horror movies is plummeting. Hollywood is sacrificing substance for shock treatment. So my advice is to go rent one of the old classics, watch it, and think about everything it contains that contemporary horror movies don't. Learn to appreciate old school techniques of horror more than graphic and unnecessary disembowelments and hope that someone in Hollywood gets the picture.