Exploration of Horror Movies and Their Chilling Impact

The Omen

The Omen is an English supernatural horror movie that was produced in 1976. The film features a young child, who is replaced at birth by Robert Thorn – an American Ambassador– without the knowledge of his wife, Katherine, after their son is killed at birth in the hospital. This enables the child, who is considered the son of Satan, to grow up with power and wealth. The Catholic priest, Father Brennan tries to warn Robert about the child’s mysterious origin, hinting that he is not human (Ebert). The family is surrounded by dark and mysterious deaths, unaware that Damien – the child – is an antichrist. Katherine becomes terrified of Damien and distance herself from him following his violent behavior. This movie got excellent reviews from critics and was regarded as one of the best of horror films in 1976.

The Shining’s Danny

The Shinning is a horror movie that was released in 1980. The film features Jack Torrance, who is a rousing writer, together with his young son Danny Torrance and his wife, Wendy Torrance. Recovering from alcohol, he accepts a job as the off-season caretaker of an isolated historic Overlook Hostel in the Colorado Rockies (Ebert). Danny possesses the shining, which is a range of psychic abilities that enable him to perceive the horrific past of the hostel. For instance, he receives a terrifying premonition about the hotel, in which he viewed a cascade of blood oozing from the door of the elevator before falling into a trance. Dick Halloran, who is the hotel’s current cook also possesses the same abilities and can communicate telepathically with Danny. Through supernatural forces, jacks sanity deteriorates, which places his son and wife in danger.

The Children in the Brood

The Brood is a Canadian sci-fi psychological horror movie that was released in 1979. The film features a man who uncovers an eccentric psychologist’s therapy methods on his institutionalized wife, in the midst of a series of vicious killings from a progeny of mutant children, which corresponds with police investigations. These Children, according to the police autopsy are depicted as having a multitude of bizarre anatomic anomalies (Ebert). For instance, they are asexual, naturally toothless, devoid of navel that indicates unknown means of natural human birth, and supposedly color-blind. Some of the murder scenes noted in the movie include when the Juliana, Candice grandmother is attacked and clubbed to death by a dwarf-like child. Similarly, when Candice is in school, two dwarf children attack and murder Ruth and flee with her to Somafree.

Question Two

Children are mostly featured in Horror movies since they can operate as a miniature for social anxieties. Most are usually denied a voice and when they have one, it is distorted and thus rendering something that should be viewed as innocent as sinister. They are considered innocent beings who cannot cause any harm, and most people would instead consider helping a possessed child than to step away from them (Harward). This gives the film some longevity. Therefore they offer the movie a scary effect. Kids are also not governed by the social norms since they are considered not mature participants of the society. With the general notion of safety being guided by a shared assumption of living by given rules, children are outside of this and are considered unpredictable and thus can be turned into evil folks.

Work Cited

Children? Why. “Why Do Many Horror Movies Involve Children?” Movies & TV Stack Exchange, 2018, https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/17033/why-do-many-horror-movies-involve-children?utm_medium=organic&utm_source=google_rich_qa&utm_campaign=google_rich_qa. Accessed 11 June 2018.

Ebert, Roger. ”The Brood Movie Review & Film Summary (1979) | Roger Ebert”. Rogerebert.Com, 2018, https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-brood-1979. Accessed 11 June 2018.

Ebert, Roger. ”The Omen Movie Review & Film Summary (1976) | Roger Ebert”. Rogerebert.Com, 2018, https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-omen-1976. Accessed 11 June 2018.

Ebert, Roger. ”The Shining Movie Review & Film Summary (1980) | Roger Ebert”. Rogerebert.Com, 2018, https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-shining-1980. Accessed 11 June 2018.

Harward, Kathleen. ”How Do Horror Movies Affect Us | Siowfa14 Science In Our World: Certainty And Cont”. Sites.Psu.Edu, 2018, https://sites.psu.edu/siowfa14/2014/10/20/how-do-horror-movies-affect-us/. Accessed 11 June 2018.