The Devil Rides Out (1968)

The Devil Rides Out (known as The Devils Bride in America) was produced by Hammer Films in 1968 in full color and is another horror film which is based on a novel written  in 1934 by Dennis Wheatley. The movie is set in 1930s London and the South of England and directed by Terence Fifsher who worked for Hammer Films and the first film he ever directed was The Curse Of Frankenstein 1957 which was

the start of the top British Hammer stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, Christopher Lee plays the role of Duc in "The Devil  Rides out" who is seen to the left.
The Devil Rides Out opens with what I personally believe is poor Mise En Scene of a open field. Set in beautiful countryside where the birds are singing to add to a really calm atmosphere ontop of sound orchestra, we see a plane landing. Rex leaves the plane and greets Nicholas. Straight away the story starts and we are told that simon (their brother) has been missing for quite some time and this is "unusual" Simon is quickly found within the first 5 minutes of the film. Simon is found in a meeting hall with Tamith and Mr McCarter. in the meeting hall we are given clues to what is to happen such as "This isnt a normal meeting" said by rex and Tamith says "When did you join this group" and "Surely we are not ment to be more than 13" from this line of narrative it looks as though Duc is immediately aware what is going on by the shock on his face and the

way that he quickly turns towards Tanith once she says this. Unlike Frankenstein and other old horror movies there is no hand held shots throughout the film.
We are first told that Simon has been meddling with magic, in fact just under 10 minutes into the film. Duc hears rustling noises inside the meeting room, the sound orchestra start to build up pace to increase tension and Duc quickly opens a box inside a wardrobe. Simon pounces on the box with a good camera angle from inside the wardrobe to stop Duc from looking inside. Duc forces simon of the box then opens it finding 2 chickens which we later find out are the ......... Simon is punched in the face by Duc which knocks him out then carried out of the house and home safely.
Hypnosis occurs very oftenly during the film, by both Duc Nicholas and Mr Mcarther. During Hypnosis alot of extreme close ups are shot of the actors eye's. My favorite hypnosis
 scene throughout the whole film is when Mr Mcarther hypnotizes Mrs Eden in her house which is below



This is my favorite hypnosis scene due to the use of camera angles, the narrative (dialogue) and sound and the ways of which they work so well together and with the scene. Synth sound effects are used throughout the scene which has brilliant effect on the scene being very quiet and barely noticeable they make the dialogue seem clearer and louder. tracking shots are used tracking very slowly towards the eyes of the actor almost making the audience move to the edge of there seat. The acting by both actors is also tremendous throughout this scene as well as fine editing to make it seem very real. when Mr Mcarther starts to hypnotize Tanith from downstairs during this scene the camera sweeps from a high angle (from upstairs) down to Mr Mcarther almost symbolizing the movement of Tanith's eyes.
the film finishes ironically "twice". 20 minutes before the ending the Duc says its all over and we hear birds singing and soft orchestral music. the audience believe everything is now okay and the movie is finishing however Mr Mcarther has stolen peggy (the young girl) and has taken her to his house among with other devil worshipers to sacrifice her for Tanith back. Tanith however saves the girl in the form of a spirit and tells peggy to read out the last two lines of the ritual which destroys everything bad in the room. a big lightning bolt hits the room with special effects.

A02 - Frankenstein (1931)

Frankenstein was released in the USA on the 21st of November 1931 with a budget of $291,000. It was produced by Universal Pictures and based on the novel written by Mary Shelly. The story is centered around an enthusiastic and passionate doctor called Henry Frankenstein who is trying to discover a way to make the dead come back to life. He succeeds and creates a monster that has to deal with living again. Frankenstein ideas are still used in the media today.


At the very beginning of the film a warning is given to the audience, the warning is given by a man (Edward Van Sloan) in a smart suit in front of a stage almost symbolizing a narrator. This opening sequence adds meaning to the scene by use of stars. Edward Van Sloan is known for starring in top horror films so the audience know immediately after Edward walks onto the set that this is going to be a good film. The opening credits of the film last just under one minute and the monster who is played by Boris Carloff is not named in the opening title sequence. However is in the end.
The film starts in a graveyard with great mise en scene, the audience are immediately aware that the location is a graveyard due to alot of panning shots and a funeral is occurring. Alot of sound is used in the opening scene to create a tense atmosphere, people are crying around a coffin which signifys the audience about the funeral, the church bell is ringing and the audience can hear the dirt hitting the coffin. This scene has very little lighting to make it "scarier" and abit of low key lighting to make shadows. The lighting may also be
dark as part of symbolism as Henry Frankenstein is about to steal the dead body. In Frankenstein there is alot of representation of the "class system" the rich and the poor. also stereotypes women slightly such as when all the men hunt for the monster leaving all females at home.
Universal produced the movie Frankenstein who were big producers of the horror genre in the 1930's also producing "Dracula" "The Invisible Man" "The Bride Of Frankenstein" and "The Son Of Frankenstein" however now universal tend to produce other genres of film.


James Whale the director of Frankenstien is most known for Directing this Frankenstien movie which was the 4th movie he has ever directed even after directing 20 movies between 1930 and 1940. between the 1930's and 1940's (and onwards) where the "Great Depression" was occurring which was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II . Here is a graph showing how

bad the Great Depression was and how it effected movies as well as everything else at the time.
Alot of meaning is created in Frankenstein through Image and sound, the sound orchestra plays a huge part in the film making a more tense atmosphere when needed and works well with low key lighting. Borris Carloff played Frankenstein very well throughout the film and was a great use of star by universal as he is now known for playing Frankenstein on a numerous occasions.
I believe that Henry Frankenstein is represented throughout the opening of the film as a "Bad Doctor" or "Mad scientist" who was taught by Dr. Waldman Represented with a positive effect almost like a role model to Henry. The audience are first aware that Henry was taught by Dr. Waldman when Victor and Elizabeth were talking about Henry's mysterious experiments Victor says "dont worry ill go to Dr. Waldman, Henrys old proffessor in medical school, perhaps he can come in more about all this"
Frankenstien was distributed during the time of the "Studio System" by Universal studios which was not a top studio at the time, However MGM Stuidos, Paramount and Fox were. Frankenstien would of been distributed mainly in america in 1931 playing in cinemas and obviously was not released on dvd due to it being so long ago.
During the middle of the film while the "monster" is alive, he meets a young girl in quite a shocking scene, the young girl is innocentley playing on her own next to a lake with flowers, she sees Frankenstien, takes him by the hand and walks down towards the lake with him to play. The little girl throws a head of a flower into the lake to watch it float off. Frankenstein stats to throw the heads of flowers into the lake until their is none left. he then looks at the small girl and picks her up, horrifying the audience he then throws the small girl who cant swim into the lake which leads to her death. due to censorship of the Hays office at the time this scene was cut out and in all american prints of the movie the scene ends befor the little girl is thrown into the lake because the censors objected to the violent end of the girl. However, the scene was restored in the dvd re-issue 

History of Horror

The development of Horror


The horror genre has been a top genre of film for almost a hundred years, through its time it has developed in key aspects such as make-up, effects, sound and mainly to do with gore and sexual content. which is due to the fact of strict censorship changing in the 1930s by the Motion Picture ProductionCode

(Hays Code). The Motion Picture Production Code where the censorship guidelines that governed the vas majority of united states pictures from 1930 to 1968 when it was replaced by the Motion Picture Association of America Film Rating System

Frankenstien (1910) made by 'Edison' studios, and written by J. Searle Dawley. Where a young medical student trying to create a perfect human being creates a monster, which turned out to be one of the most famous monsters ever made. Frankenstein (1910) is known as the 'holy grail' of horror movies with a run-time of only 16 minutes. lacked on special effects and quality due to the time period it was made, in fact the film went missing and no copies were found until the mid 1970s. ten years later in 1920 the movie "The Cabinet of Dr Caligary" was made directed by Robert Wiene lasting 52 minutes long which could be classed as the first full length horror movie lasting one hour allthough films can last around 2 hours. In 1925 Lon Chainey played the phantom in 'The Phantom of the opera' and designed all of his own makeup and even put egg membrane on his eyeballs to give them a more cloudy look.

In 1931 the horror film genre took a massive leap with director James Whale's version of Frankenstein known to many as the original. Frankenstein opened in New York City at the Mayfair Theater on the 4th of December 1931 and grossed $53,000 in its first week. The plot being the same as the original novel by Mary Shelley Where a young medical student trying to create a perfect human being creates a monster. Borris Karloff played Frankenstein in this film very well and is best remembered for playing in Frankenstien films yet to come.
In one scene, Frankenstien walks through a forest and comes upon a little girl, Maria, who is throwing flowers into a pond. The monster joins her in the activity but soon runs out of flowers. At a loss for something to throw into the water, he looks at Maria and moves toward her. In all American prints of the movie, the scene ends here. But as originally filmed, the action continues to show the monster grabbing Maria, hurling her into the lake, then departing in confusion when Maria fails to float as the flowers did. This bit was deleted because the censors objected to the violent end of the little girl. This scene is restored in the DVD reissue.
At the time of its release Universal Studies were well known for releasing horror movies, others including Dracula (1930), the first horror movie with speech which was filmed also in spanish and "son of Frankenstien". James Whale went on to be classed as the first horror auteur directing classic films such as "Dark House" "bride of Frankenstein" and "Freaks"

During the 1940s RKO Studios grew with their picture "Cat People" produced by Van Luton this was the film that started the Luton Bus Technique which is the shock of something not scary which is still commonly used today.
It is now the Late 1940s and the horror genre has already pushed forward with makeup, filming equipment to produce better quality films and big directors and actors. During the late 1940s sub genres were first introduced and frankenstien was classed as a horror - sci fi along with lots of other films.
The 1950s came and a new sub-genre was made, Hammer films which included more 'gore' with films such as the curse of frankenstein where frankenstein is shot in the eye from close range with a shot gun, the audience see blood gush from frankensteins eye socket and feel un-settled. Dracula and also the mummy were created in what s known as the time period of "The birth of Hammer Horror" 1955 - 1959. Hammer films generally tried to push the boundaries and produce x rated movies that really scare the audience. At the same time Warner Brothers Studios released House Of Wax (1953) which was  the first 3-D color feature from a major American studio. 'House of wax' was a remake of 'Mystery of the wax museum' from 1933.

In the 1960's Alfred Hitchcock (one of the greatest movie directors ever) directed pshyco, most famous for the shower scene which features 77 different camera angle cuts and running for 3 minutes long Most of the shots are extreme close-ups, except for medium shots in the shower directly before and directly after the murder. Psycho had a budget of $806,948 and made a Box Office sum of $32,000,000. Psycho pushed the strict censorship boundaries at the time and is most definitely known as an auteur. The 60s was a great decade of horror after Alfred Hitchcock started pushing the censorship boundries and set records such as first american movie to show a toilet. Another good movie even with such a low budget from the 60's was "Night of the Living Dead" which was a very violent film reflecting political worries in this age of atomic power and children turning against their parents. In the 1960 Ed Gein's cerial killer story inspired Texas Chainsaw Masacre which was a big movie released in 1974. between the 1960 and 70 period Hammer films started producing big sequels to movies such as Frankenstien and Dracula (till 1974 to be exact)