The Invitation (2015, Karyn Kusama) The Invitation (2015) – source: Drafthouse Filmsįor The Invitation, Director Karyn Kusama ( Jennifer’s Body, Girlfight), brings together an exceptional cast for this indie hit. The following films are great examples of psychological horror. Protagonists are often the dead or undead, lending to exploration of their psyche. The undead represent the physiological experience of being physically alive but animated by a force that is void of humanity. Ghosts in this sub-genre are looking for complex things. Humans are a mixture of primal truths and social conditioning. Psychological horror explores what’s created when there is a disastrous dissidence between these expectations and the natural stages of grief. This type of horror creeps up where reality and taboo meet. Processing the experience of death is a major theme in psychological horror, especially when it’s against societal or familial expectations. In psychological horror, what’s terrifying is understanding why everything is not what it seems. Traditional horror often follows the straight line of a fight for survival. Surprise is used to deepen exploration of the film’s theme. They rely more on atmosphere, subtle creepy details, suggestion, and ambiguity. These films are often light on gore and “I couldn’t sleep alone for a week!” scares. The protagonist may have to learn how to live with a monster or disappear completely into madness. Resolutions are complex, complicated, and unexpected. Characters are battling their own inner demons. Struggles with monsters, aliens, supernatural creatures are metaphors for emotional and psychological struggles. This sub-genre reveals the complexity of human nature through the use of metaphor. These are the emotional and mental fears that keep people up at night and evoke a sense of dread in everyday life. This is referred to in Jungian psychology as characteristics of the archetypal shadow. In psychological horror, suspicion, distrust, self-doubt and paranoia about oneself, others or the world are present. These films can also reflect breaking thru social norms to uncover vital aspects of the psyche that are culturally rejected. These films are designed to be more like vivid nightmares, sending the conscious mind an important message or warning of something that hasn’t been acknowledged. It also explores emotional and psychological vulnerabilities over primal survival fears. Psychological horror is a sub-genre that focuses on the darker side of the human psyche that’s often repressed. Unrealism creates perspective from terrifying situations that ironically allow a closer look at the nature of our fears. It inspires the desire to be transformed emotionally. Relevance applies to universal fears (fear of death), issues that a society fears (world-wide plague), or identification with the protagonist (overcoming a traumatic event). Tension is created through suspense, terror, gore, mystery and shock. Walters identified the primary motivations behind the drive to watch scary movies: tension, relevance and unrealism. The universal attraction to horror is a complex, rich, and dynamic brew.
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