presentation (script).

introduce the presentation topic: how and why villians are portrayed differently in different
horror films.
what it will cover:

traditional conceptions of the requirements of the genre

grey area examples
examples of villians now and then (modern day and older examples)
what is different (and why)
supernatural vs natural villains in relation to popularity
audience opinions

tradtional conceptions of the requirements of the genre:

(open with classic stills from monster movies, dracula, frankenstein)
common factor: all villians tend to be pure evil - the bad guy - sourced from an impossibly
evil lineage and with no element of humanity - whether literally or figuritively.
the role of the villian - to terrorise and provide an anti-hero for the hero to defeat and restore
the order (order-disorder-order)

introduce the supporting film, 'scream', as an example of a fairly traditional portrayal of a

villian.
show clip of 'scream' - where billy and stu reveal themselves to be the true villians of the
piece. (1 min long) (item 3)
discuss conventions of the scream film - 'hero' is actually a damsel in distress, sidney, and as
a pretty girl she must conform to certain 'rules' in the movie. i have learned that these rules
are: (item 7)
you may not survive the movie if you have sex. (hence, randy's quip.)

you may not survive the movie if you drink or do drugs.

you may not survive the movie if you say "i'll be right back."

additional rules (according to the killer):

you may not survive the movie if you ask "who's there?"

you may not survive the movie if you go out to investigate a strange noise.

in this way, the movie is almost parodying the concept of horror and slasher
movies. the bad guys are seen as criminally insane with little in the way of
motive. also: right until the end, their faces are masked by the 'scream'
costume and so the audience is never having to relate to them on a human
level.
sympathy never enters the equation - these are bad people who deserve to be punished.

examples of the grey area:

introduce the concept of a moral ambiguity within more modern day villians - and ultimately
even heroes. discuss various social reasons for this shift - possibly a reflection of the socio-
political climate of the last decade whereby nobody is too sure what is right or wrong. actions
= certainly evil, but motives sometimes = somewhat understandable.

introduce main example of said grey area: the ring. (item 1)

briefly cover plot - and detail the villian, samara. a psychologically disturbed child
since birth, her own mother tried to drown her and so did her adoptive parents.
eventually she was killed at the bottom of a well, because her darkness became too
damaging to those around her. she appeared so survive for tortuous days on end
before actually dying in her watery grave.
the heroine of the piece tries to appease samara's spirit by copying the tape and giving
her a proper burial. it's not entirely effective.

show scene - where rachel discovers the body at the bottom of the well. (30 seconds)
show scene - burying samara. (20 seconds)

samara is often presented as not exactly disfigured, but definately slightly bestial, with quick
fluid motion combined with a flickery videotape effect when she is on screen, gives the
audience the impression she's a monster to be feared. however this all changes when rachel
discovers the reason why samara is killing through videotape. she wants her tragic story to be
heard. rachel, as a mother, feels the overwhelming sadness, loneliness and torment of the
child when she discovers her body at the bottom of the well.

the tone changes in the film and samara suddenly seems, though undeinably
murderous, a misunderstood soul who ultimately is just a child whom nobody loved.

reference item 9: "heroes and villains are not black and white. your heroes can be just as
villainous as your best villain," says keeley, who cites other examples of korean thrillers like
"sympathy for mr. vengeance" and "old boy," which is being remade by universal pictures.
"the line between bad guy and good guy blurs so much that you almost lose sight of who's
who."

examples of villians now and in the past:

referencing item 10
the old school villians of horror:
jack torrence (the shining, 1980), recovering alcoholic jack napier isn’t your average beer
drinker: he’s more the psychopathic murderous type whose idea of a good night is chasing his
family around the house with an axe when he can't get what he wants.
graf orlock - nosferatu (1922), his excessively long fingernails and scrawny appearance
created a triumph of early cinematic make up, and his foreboding presence generates some
unforgettable chills. orlock is the screen’s most charismatic vampire, and one of the oldest too
– but his legend lives on.
normate bates - psycho (1960), t he shy and reserved hotel owner believes he “wouldn’t hurt
a fly,” but norman bates is more sinister than your average man, and has lived alone in the
middle of nowhere with his erratic mother for years in seclusion.

these three classic characters have little to relate to for general audiences, except for being the
objects of our worst nightmares. one can see how these contrast with more modern day
villains if you compare:
(item 2)
outline the plot. explain that:
malcolm rivers, the psychiatric patient who is the ultimate villain of the piece in
identity, my supporting film. ed is seen to be the hero character. at the end of the film,
ed finds himself in a room where the trial is taking place. during questioning by the
doctor, ed is told that malcolm rivers, the man being tried for the murders four years
prior, has multiple personality syndrome, and that ed is one of the identities.
ed is told that malcolm is undergoing a treatment where all his identities are
confronting one another, and are systematically reduced. one of the identities took
over his body and caused the murders he is being tried for, and the only way for
malcolm to evade the death penalty is to permanently stifle the homocidal personality.
the second major plot twist is that the young boy, timmy york, turns out to be the
psychopathic personality. at the end of the film, malcolm is spared the death penalty.
the hooker paris personality is 'killed' by the timmy personality, who then takes over
malcolm's body and proceeds to strangle dr. malick.
in this way we can see that a modern day horror film such as this one represent the villain as
being psychologically disturbed, perhaps in need of forgiveness, and in this case we're not
even sure who the villain is. it is a far cry from the monster/psycho slasher movies on the
golden years, and even from the teen slasher horror movies on the 80s and 90s.

supernatural vs natural

another big difference in villains - whether or not they are supernatural or human.
in my films, two are human, one is supernatural.
referencing item 4:
increasingly the trend = supernatural thrillers, based on ghosts, vengeful spirits and other
spiritual nasties, as opposed to a psychotic madman on the rampage with a knife.
the highest grossing film out of my three is the ring, grossing a massive 229 million dollars
worldwide, theatrically.
the second highest is scream with 173 million dollars worldwide, and finally identity which
has a smaller budget and far less promotion which didn't even come close. the books which i
read were all unanimous in their theory that as time goes by, hollywood audiences are tiring
of black-versus-white stories of men with weapons butchering their victims.
the recent influx of asian remakes (the ring being the major example) aim to represent villains
differently in a way that still keeps viewers engaged and ultimately scared.
referencing item 12: "religious-wise, we don't have the ultimate good, which is god, and the
ultimate bad, which is the devil," says "ring two" director nakata of his native japan's spiritual
life, which is dominated by buddhism and the natural and ancestral worship in shinto.

(show final clips from my three films, each 30 seconds long, each focusing on the villains)

i feel that it is obvious enough by just watching how the villains are represented in these three
clips that horror movies tackle them differently. what is interesting is why.

why?
i believe that it is a mix of a response to socio-economic climates in the world today, as i
discussed earlier
black-white is increasingly becoming grey, and this is reflected in the lack of good guy saves
the day horror movies.
also an increase in influence from asian cinema in this genre has meant that supernatural
nasties are fast outnumbering the human villains. this is probably a response to the 'same-old'
slasher and psycho movies which hollywood churned out in the 80s and 90s.
audiences seem to be preferring more in the way of supernatural chillers with understanable
motives and terrifying yet slightly sympathetic villains that leave them pondering right and
wrong long after they've had their wits scared out of them at the cinema. (e.g. the ring, the
grudge, dark water).

item 12 credited quotation:(seperate from word count)

"
"there is an emotional bond between the death world and this world," nakata said. spirits of
the dead are believed to be everywhere, he says, and just like humans, they can be good or
bad, peaceful or vengeful.
these symbols come into play in the new asian horror genre, which itself may reflect cultural
uncertainties many asians now feel. like many films, horror movies can be read as social
critiques.
for instance, the 1950s horror classic "invasion of the body snatchers" is an oft-cited example
of how american fear of communism, mccarthyism and loss of individuality bubbled up onto
the big screen.
in asia, and in japan especially, "there was a tangible aura of gloom and despondency in the
air just prior to the end of the millennium," says sharp of the midnight eye. along with the
region's rapid modernization, a cultural fear spread that these once rural societies have too
quickly paved over their ancestral past. deep economic recessions that shook east asia in the
late 1990s further undermined faith in modernism.
and filmmakers have tried to capture this with their spirits: little girls with black hair, white
dresses and an unquenchable thirst for vengeance."