The enclosed room is in classic Gothic novels closely connected to its female characters, and often works as a mean to suppress them. Clive Barker, however, while working within the Gothic genre, uses the enclosed room in novel ways in The Hellbound Heart, creating a type of Gothic female character that is different from the classical stereotype. By comparing the enclosed room and the female characters in Barker’s The Hellbound Heart to the classical model, in particular as represented by Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, this essay will show how Barker uses the room in a new way: he breaks away from the classic motif of the room as a means of female sexual oppression and instead depicts female characters taking charge of the room and therefore of themselves and their own sexuality.

Thesis (MDram (Drama))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / This dissertation investigates the potential for horror in the comic repertoires and performance styles of clowns, in an attempt to address the popular questions of why clowns inspire fear as well as laughter, and what makes them effective monsters in the horror genre. Notwithstanding short articles which offer a general and broad account, the question of why circus clowns are often viewed as frightening figures remains largely unexplored. For this reason I intend to undertake an in-depth exploration of the wide-ranging history of clowning – which includes anthropology, theatre, film, and literature. This study focuses on finding the primary causes of clowns’ horrific potential, rather than being satisfied with secondary causes such as the effect of their depictions in horror narratives on audiences. During my investigation of specific killer clown films, graphic novels and prose novels, and by drawing on works such as Noël Carroll’s Philosophy of Horror (1990), Mikhail Bakhtin’ Rabelais’ World (1984), and various other studies of the genres of horror and , or instances of practising clowns turning to crime, or simply accepting the view that they play tricks on their audiences, or that their make-up acts as a mask and therefore makes their faces and motives ‘unreadable’. Although these explanations are legitimate, they do not adequately explain why certain clown types prove to be such effective monsters in horror narratives. Clowns typically, albeit to varying degrees, flout taboos on deformity, scatology, violence and insanity, and carry with them the latent stigma attached to these phenomena, which are also recognised as the common themes of the horror genre. The focus of this study is not on clowns as figures of comic relief in horror, but as legitimate monsters in their own right, and an attempt is made to discover how audiences’ anticipation of comic relief and the ‘laws’ of comedy are used deceptively in the construction of clowns as figures of fear. During my investigation of specific killer clown films, graphic novels and prose novels, and by drawing on works such as Noël Carroll’s Philosophy of Horror (1990), Mikhail Bakhtin’ Rabelais’ World (1984), and various other studies of the genres of horror and comedy, as well as anthropological studies of clowns, I argue that, when clowns are shifted from comedy to horror, the comical features and actions that flout the taboos on deformity, scatology, violence and insanity are reinstated as elements of horror and fear. I propose that clowns have the potential to be appropriated as monsters in the horror genre because they exhibit a paradoxical duality of fear and humour, and they have the ability to transgress and violate comedy elements to horrific effect.

Fear is one of the oldest and most basic of human emotions. In this thesis, I will explore the topic of fear in relation to literature, both a staple of the horror genre as well as a device in literary works, as well as in my own writings. In addition, I will use Sigmund Freud's theory of the “uncanny” as a possible device to examine the complexities of fear and its effects both on the mind and body through the medium of literature, and, more specifically, where and how these notions are used within my own short stories. By exploring how and why certain fears are generated, we may be able to better examine our own reactions in this regard.

Notre thèse se penche sur les tragédies créées entre la retraite professionnelle de Racine (1677) et l’amorce d’un renouvellement de la poétique tragique vers les années 1730, marquées par une interruption des carrières de Crébillon et de La Motte, la publication, notamment, des Discours de ce dernier et du Théâtre des Grecs du Père Brumoy, et le retour d’Angleterre du jeune Voltaire. Nous y interrogeons dans un premier temps la sclérose qui gagne la scène et la poétique tragiques en rapport avec les premiers essais de définition de l’élégie, qui mettent en évidence la porosité des deux genres, et un retour en force de l’esthétique de l’horreur occasionnée par la concurrence directe entre la Comédie-Française et le succès des tragédies lyriques du Palais-Royal. Nous étendons ensuite nos conclusions à l’étude des composantes poétiques et dramaturgiques des tragédies de l’époque, où nous analysons les inflexions élégiaques et horrifiques qui se dégagent des effets de structure dus à des interprétations opposées de la notion de simplicité ; dans la même perspective, nous examinons les inflexions qui gagnent la typologie des personnages et les rapports entre les intrigues amoureuse et politique. Enfin, nous abordons le rôle des motifs élégiaques et horrifiques dans la recherche de l’effet tragique, plus particulièrement en ce qui concerne les larmes et l’effroi, ainsi que la transposition sur la scène française du modèle antique des Héroïdes, où ces deux tendances sont réunies. / This thesis investigates tragedies written between Racine’s retirement (1677) and the beginnings of a renewal of the poetics of tragedy in the 1730s, a period marked by the interruption of the careers of Crébillon and La Motte, the publication of La Motte’s Discours and Père Brumoy’s Le Théâtre des Grecs as well as young Voltaire’s return from England. First, it examines the ossification of the theatre and the poetics of tragedy in connection with early attempts to define the genre of elegy that highlight the porosity of the two genres, along with a revival of the aesthetics of horror arising from direct competition between the Comédie-Française and the successful lyrical tragedies of the Palais-Royal. Conclusions are subsequently applied to a study of the poetic and dramaturgical components of the era’s tragedies, based on an analysis of the modulations of elegy and horror that emerge from structural effects created by conflicting interpretations of the concept of simplicity. The modulations that permeate the character typology and the relationships between political plots and love plots are then analyzed from the same angle. Lastly, the thesis concludes with an exploration of the role of the motifs of horror and elegy in the pursuit of tragic effect, more specifically with regard to tears and fright, and the adaptation of the ancient model of the Heroïdes for French theatre, in which these two trends are combined.

A novel by JS Harlow. Mattock Corwin, a young man living in the vampire ruled kingdom of Gehenna, discovers that he is a mage and must escape the land of his birth before the rulers of his land destroy him as a potential threat to their power.

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master in Arts In the Department of Film and Television Faculty of Humanities University of the Witwatersrand March 2017 / Drawing on Carol Clover’s theory of the male antagonist or "Bogeyman" and the female protagonist or "Final Girl" that define the American Slasher Horror sub-genre, I analyzed two original Slasher films, namely Halloween (Carpenter 1978) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (Craven 1984). I later outlined the evolution of these conventions within the Slasher sub-genre, using the remakes of both films respectively. I then endeavoured to explain the subversion of these conventions in France with the New French Extremity Movement, and analyse how these filmmakers successfully transposed a typical American subgenre to France. Finally, using New French Extremity, I attempted to subvert and transpose these conventions to South Africa by writing, producing and directing a short Slasher film titled The Teddy Bear Man. / MT2018

This dissertation studies the cultural traces of the experience of fear in relation to the social and cultural legacies of the Spanish Civil War and the Francoist dictatorship. By applying the theoretical and narratological insights afforded by the horror genre and through the figure of the monster, the research identifies and analyzes alternative memories of the traumatic past, exploring the experience of fear within film and literature to reveal and claim an unrecognized approach to the representation of the war, with key critical findings and implications regarding the shaping and interpretation of the Spanish social imaginary of this event in this most persistent of cultural debates. Chapter II, explores the maquis in Luna de lobos (1985) by Julio Llamazares, tracing the human involution of a group of men that seeking refuge from Francoist repression become monstrous shells of themselves. It pursues this degradation to rethink the locus of the monster, finding it in the monstrous policies of the regime, that demands the exorcism of the resistance movement—the ultimate Other—rendering it ghostly by community and family as the cornerstone foundational violence of a new society. Chapter III, delves into the cinematographic representation of monsters and monstrous elements in Pa negre (2010) by Agustí Villaronga. It studies the competing narratives in postwar Spain that turn a child of the defeated into a monstrous regime supporter, a process that suggests the origins of contemporary society as the monstrous traces of Francoist society. It analyzes the features that render its protagonist, first, a monster in the eyes of the new regime—along the lines of the classical monster—to later on, through disappointment, shame and betrayal, a monster to his family and social class—thus becoming a modern monster. Chapter IV tackles a cinematographic allegorical representation of the past in Balada triste de trompeta (2010) by Álex de la Iglesia, a tour de force that attempts to be a total narrative of the war, a collage of historical memory through the monstrous moments that define Francoism. The fusion of elements from “esperpento”, horror and melodramatic national romance render a unique postnational satire.

A tese investiga como se estabelece o dispositivo do olhar enquanto experiência estética no cinema de horror found footage a partir da materialidade cinematográfica. Realiza-se uma discussão acerca do modo como esses filmes circulam no gênero horror com o cruzamento de teorias de cinema, tecnologia e da Comunicação. A concepção de dispositivo do olhar é pensada, especialmente, a partir de Jonathan Crary, Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, Laurent Mannoni, Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Vilém Flusser e Philippe Dubois. O dispositivo do olhar é, portanto, delineado como o comportamento visual e de uso de artefatos tecnológicos que aparece nos filmes e o modo como esse olhar de dentro do filme pode afetar a forma de ver do espectador. Não é como a tecnologia é representada nos filmes, mas a estratégia dessa e seus respectivos discursos em intentar o apelo sensível do público. O problema de pesquisa é: Como se constitui o dispositivo do olhar nos filmes de horror found footage e o que esse fenômeno pode indicar da nossa relação com o cinema e a tecnologia na contemporaneidade? De que modo é possível discutir a experiência estética com o cinema de horror a partir dessas produções? Assim, o objetivo geral da pesquisa é compreender como opera o dispositivo do olhar no cinema de horror found footage e a maneira como ele propõe experiências estéticas, a fim de perceber características da nossa relação com o cinema e a tecnologia na contemporaneidade. Já os objetivos específicos são os seguintes: a) Problematizar o dispositivo do olhar no cinema, sua produção imagética nos respectivos aspectos tecnológicos, sociais e culturais, a partir do horror contemporâneo; b) Estudar aspectos estéticos e narrativos do gênero horror com ênfase nos filmes found footage; c) Discutir especificidades da imagem no found footage; d) Analisar os filmes que compõem o corpus, discutindo-os a partir das movimentações do dispositivo do olhar no horror e das experiências estéticas que potencializam. Entre alguns pressupostos abordados pela tese estão os de que o horror found footage é um fenômeno pós-sala de cinema, ainda que muitas produções circulem em grandes espaços de shopping centers e sejam lançadas em 3D. Ou seja, ver filmes é cada vez mais uma atividade privada e individual. O espectador está sozinho, do mesmo modo que as personagens que correm pela noite escura com uma câmera na mão. A visualidade dos games, a navegação pelas interfaces computacionais ou dispositivos móveis, também deixam marcas nas narrativas com esse estilo. Há ainda diversos tipos de imagens, texturas, cores diferentes que até o desenvolvimento do found footage não haviam sido exploradas no gênero horror. Essas imagens intentam ambiências, conceito de Gumbrecht (2014) que auxiliou a análise. As texturas estranhas, as falhas, ruídos, os “erros” dos equipamentos potencializam as experiências a partir de atmosferas, muitas dessas de aparelhos visuais que não são mais consumidos massivamente, como o VHS. Há sim uma presentificação do passado desses artefatos, dos modos como eram usados, um retorno de hábitos que são reconfigurados pelo contexto do horror. As ambiências possíveis pelas imagens, a perseguição pela experiência tátil com a narrativa, marcam um fenômeno contemporâneo de busca pela apreensão do tempo, das memórias, da vida. Um desejo de possuir as imagens e seus mundos, algo que se sobrepõe à intenção de registro ou de representação do mundo. Podemos afirmar ainda que a ideia de Gumbrecht (2015) do presente amplo se aplica aos filmes estudados nesse aspecto. / This thesis investigates the establishment of the apparatus of seeing as an aesthetic experience within found footage horror movies, from their cinematographic materiality. A discussion about the way as these movies circulate in horror genre is made through crossing film, technology and Communication theories. The apparatus of seeing conception is thought, especially, from authors such as Jonathan Crary, Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, Laurent Mannoni, Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Vilém Flusser and Philippe Dubois. The apparatus of seeing is, therefore, thought as a behavior, both visual and regarding the usage of technological artifact, that appears within the movies and in the way how this seeing from inside the film can affect the spectator habit of viewing. This is not about the representation of technology, but its strategy and its discourses to propose sensitive appeal in the public. The research problem is: How the apparatus of seeing is composed in found footage horror movies and what can this phenomenon denote about our relation with cinema and technology in contemporaneity? How is it possible to discuss the aesthetic experience with horror movies from these productions? Thus, the main objective is to understand how the apparatus of seeing operates in found footage horror movies and how it proposes aesthetic experiences, in order to see characteristics of our relation with cinema and technology in contemporaneity. The specific objectives are: a) To problematize the apparatus of seeing in cinema, its imagistic production in the respective technological, social and cultural aspects, from contemporary horror genre; b) To study aesthetics and narrative aspects of the horror genre, especially the found footage films; c) To discuss the specificities of the image within found footage; d) To analyze the corpus of films, discussing them from changes of apparatus of seeing and the aesthetic experiences that it potentiates. Among the assumptions the thesis approaches, are that the found footage is a post-cinema phenomenon, although many productions circulate in large spaces of shopping centers and are released in 3D. In other words, watching movies is increasingly a private and individual activity. The spectator is alone, just like the characters that run through the dark night with a camera in their hands. The game visuality, the navigation through computational interfaces or mobile devices, also leave marks in the narratives marked by this style. There are still several types of images, textures, different colors that, until the development of found footage, had not been explored in the horror genre. These images attempt to establish ambiences, a concept of Gumbrecht (2014) that aided the analysis. The strange textures, the flaws, the noises, the "errors" of the equipments potentiate experiences from atmospheres, many of them of visual devices that are no longer massively consumed nowadays, like the VHS. There is rather a presentiment of the past of these artifacts, the ways that they were used, a return of habits that are reconfigured by the context of horror. The possible ambiences of the images, the persecution for a tactile experience with the narrative, mark a contemporary phenomenon of search for the apprehension of the time, the memories, the life. A desire to possess the images and their worlds, something that overlaps the intention of recording or representing the world. We can also affirm that the idea of Gumbrecht (2015) of the broad present applies to the films studied in this aspect.

I will interpret a horror genre within the literature determined for children. In particular, I will focus on horror and fantastic stories written by Anthony Horowitz. However, the theoretical part of my diploma thesis will deal with basic description of horror literature development then also with a picture of a child in horror literature and finally with the biography of Antony Horowitz. The next practical chapters will focus on analysis of horror elements in Horowitz' stories. Finally I will analyse the role of the heroes in Horowitz' stories with the connection on theoretical part. The diploma thesis will mainly be based on the collection of short stories called Horowitz Horror and other two books called Groosham Grange and Return to Groosham Grange.

The First Rule of Improv is a collection of fictional short stories concerned with loss, life’s unfairness, the weight of the past, and how people succeed or fail in coping. Each story explores these notions through its characters, who vary wildly in terms of both dramatic severity and success in the face of adversity, with the first rule of improv—to accept and build—being suggested by the author as the healthiest manner of approach, if not necessarily the easiest.