Although widely viewed in the West, Japanese films are often misunderstood, as they are built on cultural, theatrical, and aesthetic traditions entirely foreign to Western audiences. Particularly in regards to Japan's "fantastic" cinema - including giant monster pictures, ghost stories, and "J-Horror" films - what is often perceived as "cheap" or "cheesy" is merely an expression of these unique cultural roots. By observing and exploring such cultural artifacts as kabuki, noh, and bunraku - the traditional theatrical forms of Japan - long-standing literary traditions, deeply embedded philosophical beliefs, and even more recent developments such as the controversial dance form butoh, these films, including Gojira (1954), Daimajin (1966), Kwaidan (1964), Onibaba (1964), Testuo the Iron Man (1989), and Ju-On (2002), can be placed in their proper perspective, leading to a reevaluation of their worth not merely as commercial products, but as uniquely Japanese expressions of that society's unique place in world culture.

This research paper aimed to study how to make a scary horror game and what in turn makes these games scary. This study utilizes an original game called The House specifically designed and created by us. This is done in order to study the effects of implementing level design and navigation patterns and horror game design theories in an original horror game on player behaviour and reaction in relation to these theories. The study was done with the use of 10 participants, who each took part in a 15 minute play session, and were later interviewed using the data gathering method stimulated recall. The result of the study shows that level design had no significant effect on the amount of fear that the participants expressed. The implementation of proven horror game design theories proved successful at contributing to the general horror experience, and combining elements of level design and horror game theories in horror game design proved successful at scaring the participants. / Denna forskningsstudie syftade till att studera hur man skapar och designar ett skrämmande skräckspel och vad som gör ett skräckspel skräckinjagande. Denna studie använder ett originellt spel vid namn The House som var specifikt utformat och skapat av oss. Detta gjordes för att studera effekterna av implementering av nivå design och navigationsmönster samt skräckspelsteorier på spelarens beteende och reaktion i relation till dessa teorier. Studien gjordes med användning av 10 deltagare, som var och en deltog i en 15-minuters spelsession och intervjuades senare med hjälp av datainsamlingsmetoden stimulated recall. Resultatet av studien visar att nivådesign inte hade någon signifikant effekt på mängden rädsla som deltagarna uttryckte. Implementeringen av beprövade teorier om skräckspelsdesign visade sig framgångsrika då de bidrog till den allmänna skräckupplevelsen, och att kombinera element av nivådesign och skräckspelsteorier i skräckspelsdesign visade sig mycket framgångsrika att skrämma deltagarna.

Ce mémoire cherche à montrer l’influence du cinéma lors de la création de mondes fictifs vidéoludiques. L’étude présente les liens artistiques existants entre le 7e et le 10e art et leur influence sur la jouabilité, ce qui se ressent sur l’expérience des utilisateurs. Dans cette optique, elle cherche à comprendre en quoi l'esthétique pensée par les concepteurs favorise l’immersion des joueurs. L’analyse est focalisée sur un genre en particulier qui suscite de puissantes émotions : la science-fiction d’horreur, et se concentre sur une étude de cas : les jeux Dead Space (2008) et Dead Space 2 (2011) développés par Visceral Games. / This master thesis seeks to show the influence of cinema in the creation of fictive game worlds. The study presents the existing artistic links between 7th and 10th art and their influence on gameplay, which is reflected in the user experience. With this in mind, it seeks to understand how the aesthetic thought by the designers promotes the immersion of the players. The analysis is focused on one genre in particular that evokes powerful emotions: horror science-fiction, and fosters on a case study : the games Dead Space (2008) and Dead Space 2 (2011) developed by Visceral Games.

En esta investigación se abarca y profundiza en el tema del diseño interactivo para videojuegos de terror con una pregunta, ¿Cómo la interfaz gráfica contribuye con la usabilidad dentro de los ítems en los videojuegos Hello Neighbor (2018) y Poppy Playtime (2021)? En función del tema se propone como objetivo de investigación, analizar la interfaz aplicada en la usabilidad dentro de los ítems en los videojuegos de terror de Hello Neighbor (2018) y Poppy Playtime (2021). Además, la investigación parte de la hipótesis de que los ítems ayudan a balancear la dificultad de los videojuegos de terror dentro de la interfaz gráfica y contribuyen a la usabilidad, para lograr que el usuario termine de manera exitosa los niveles y disminuya la posibilidad de abandono. En este trabajo el tipo de investigación es de nivel descriptivo, no experimental, transversal descriptiva. También, se aplicaron herramientas donde se identificaron como resultados la relación entre: el énfasis dentro de la interfaz gráfica; el reconocimiento y familiaridad como elementos clave de la usabilidad; y el ítem como conjunción de iconicidad y legibilidad. Por último, se concluye que los ítems dentro de las interfaces gráficas tiene un impacto positivo dentro de la experiencia del jugador y contribuye junto a la usabilidad, para que se reduzca el tiempo de aprendizaje de las funciones y termine de manera exitosa los niveles. / This research covers and delves into the topic of interactive design for horror video games with a question, How the graphical interface contributes with the usability within the items in the video games Hello Neighbor (2018) and Poppy Playtime (2021)? Based on the topic is proposed as an objective, is to analyze the interface applied in the usability within the items in the horror video games of Hello Neighbor (2018) and Poppy Playtime (2021). In addition, the research starts from the hypothesis that the items help to balance the difficulty of horror video games within the graphical interface and contribute to the usability, to achieve the successful completion of the levels by the user and decrease the possibility of abandonment. In this work the type of research is descriptive, not experimental transversal descriptive. Also, tools were applied where the relationship between: the emphasis within the graphic interface; recognition and familiarity as key elements of usability; and the item as a conjunction of iconicity and legibility were identified as results. Finally, it is concluded that the items within the graphical interfaces have a positive impact on the player's experience and contribute together with the usability, to reduce the learning time of the functions and successfully complete the levels. / Trabajo de investigación

Player decision modeling can provide useful guidance to understand player performance in games. This information is used to increase consideration of player characteristics from the user’s perspective and develop more user-centered video games. This paper presents an initial proposal of a factor such as sound that may be considered when developing games, to see if horror games are facing challenges related to sound aspects of the game. Through related work, experiments, interviews and observations this paper aims to answer how sound in horror-games changes our gameplay experience as well as what impact the absence of sound has on a horror-game. We also present the results of this field study and present some suggestions for future research.

This thesis will analyze how masculinity is depicted in the French-Argentinean director Gaspar Noé’s movie Love (2015), and how it is orientating and disorientating through an intersectional lens. In his films, the filmmaker often uses haptic images and sound traversing to interrogate the existence and to express a clear and abject visuality to expose the flesh. On that notion, the study will use a psychanalytic theoretical framework with hegemonic masculinity, and a phenomenological methodology with Bertolt Brecht’s theories on theatre to examine the bodily performances of the cinematic body, the bodies of the characters on screen, and the spectator’s body to reflect on the film’s thematic, aesthetic, and ideological features. Additionally, this study will explore how the viewer embodies the self-images and memories of the characters on the screen, and how that affects the spectator.

Ever since the introduction of sound in film, sound effects have played a big part in the experience of the film audience. Acousmatic sound effects are diegetic sounds that lack a visual source on screen, and they are frequently used in horror films. This research explores the relationship between familiarity with sound effects and the emotional response in the audience. An experiment was conducted where two test groups watched an excerpt from a horror film where acousmatic sounds were a big part of the soundtrack. One of the test groups watched a version where there were reoccurring familiar acousmatic sounds, and the other group watched a version with random un-familiar acousmatic sounds. Data was collected through self-report and physiological measurements. The results suggest that there is a dissonance between the conscious and unconscious emotional experience of suspense and fear. The physiological measurements indicate a higher emotional arousal in the group that watched the unfamiliar version of the stimuli, while the self-report propose a stronger conscious build-up of suspense leading to a stronger experience of fear in the group watching the familiar version. Further research directions based on the result of this research are presented.

This essay explores the sublime aspects in Edgar Allan Poe’s fictional horror, namely "The Tell-Tale Heart" (1843), "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839) and "The Raven" (1839). The aim is to show that the sublime – an aesthetic experience articulated by Edmund Burke and Immanuel Kant amongst many – can make the reader oscillate between horror and safety. This essay also examines Poe’s works through the lens of Sigmund Freud’s concept of the uncanny to provide a contrasting, more nuanced analysis and understanding. The evidence presented in the analysis shows that Poe’s masterful use of writing techniques, including literary devices such as irony, demonstrates his unparalleled ability to simultaneously terrify and amaze his readers – the core idea of the sublime. Above all, the narrators in Poe’s works play a critical role in conveying the experience of the sublime, as their transgressive actions provide a lens through which the reader can experience both horror, wonder, and incomprehension. Poe’s works involve conflicts between imagination and reason, and rationality and irrationality, as well as the narrow border between the unfamiliar and the familiar – all concepts that tend to evoke both horror and awe. All combined, they have the power to evoke a feeling of the sublime – a concept that could undermine horror and thus make it more pleasurable to read.

This essay analyzes the character of Beverly Marsh in Andrés Muschietti’s It and It Chapter 2. By using previous research on women in horror, Beverly’s character is dissected with regards to sexualization and agency. Both the films contrast the common trope of the weak sexualized woman in horror movies by staying away from over-sexualization and making Beverly an equal to her male counterparts.

While some theorists have hinted at various social functions served by the gothic genre—such as providing an outlet for grief, anxiety, and violence in their various forms—recent research within the last few decades into sociology, military science, and trauma studies supplies compelling new ways of rereading the horror genre. In addition to providing an outlet for grief, anxiety, and violence in their various forms, horror media can now be read as a preemptive measure in an effort to mediate the immediate and long-term effects of the trauma and horror faced by humanity. I argue that in much the same way an author may write a self-help tract such as The Gift of Fear to try and inform women how to repel a sexual predator by graphically relating harrowing tales of sexual predation, so do some horror texts and film claim to preemptively mediate different types of trauma before, during, and after it occurs. This is done in each case not by merely scaring readers, but by inoculating them against them against future debilitating trauma before, during, and after it may occur. The relatively recent (or at least recently popularized) genre of self-help books that overtly seeks to prepare its audience for future trauma by exposing them to it in a controlled environment draws upon the canon of gothic literature for its inspiration as well as for its rhetorical strategies and literary devices. Without discounting the aesthetics and the utility of horror as a psychological outlet, I will show that gothic media can be reread and reconfigured within this new framework. By realigning horror studies within the framework of trauma studies and the possibility for inoculation against future trauma, this study will provide new insight into one how popular culture often portrays trauma through text, and I will seek to establish a new category affiliated with both trauma theory and horror, the study and representation of pre-memory. This thesis will also present as a case study the rhetorical self-inoculation of American horror author H.P. Lovecraft.