Halloween - origin
A pre-Christian, Celtic festival marking when spirits could cross into the living world, origin of many Halloween traditions.
What is Samhain?
To go from door to door at Halloween asking for sweets with the exclamation ‘trick or treat’.
What is trick-or-treating?
This technique involves using harsh, dissonant sounds to mimic the screams of frightened animals, enhancing the terror in horror scenes.
What is animal scream imitation?
This camera technique, often handheld, introduces a shaky, unstable feeling, making the audience feel out of control.
What is a shaky cam or handheld shot?
Horror fans are often described as this, seeking the adrenaline rush that comes from fear.
What is adrenaline junkies?
The Christian festival that merged with Samhain, giving rise to Halloween.
What is All Saints’ Day (All Hallows’ Day)?
A hollowed-out pumpkin or other root vegetable, such as a turnip carved with a face and lit by a candle.
What is a Jack-o’-lantern?
In The Ring, this technique is used when a character believes they are safe, only to be suddenly attacked, creating a moment of intense fear.
What is a jump scare?
This camera angle, positioned low to the ground, can make characters appear more imposing and evoke fear in the audience.
What is a low-angle shot?
When scared, the body enters this high-alert state, preparing for possible danger.
What is the fight-or-flight response?
The evening before All Saints’ Day, which eventually became known as Halloween.
What is All Hallows’ Eve?
This factor made pumpkins more practical than turnips for carving in America.
What is larger size and easier availability?
Eerie, watery sounds; most common in horror soundtracks from the 1990s onward.
What is the Waterphone?
This camera techniques fosters claustrophobia, and generates dread through heightened focus on a character's fear or a subtle, disturbing detail.
What are extreme close-ups?
Despite knowing the threat isn't real, the brain releases a neurotransmitter thereby turning fear into excitement.
What is dopamine?
The country where turnip carving first became a Halloween tradition.
What is Ireland?
To confuse evil spirits, scare them away and thereby prevent them from harming the Celts.
Why did the Celts dress in frightening costumes made from animal heads and skins?
Eerie, wavering tones; popular in horror films from the 1950s–1960s.
Question: What is the Theremin?
Tilting the camera,creates psychological unease and disorientation making the world appear "off-kilter" or imbalanced. This signals something is wrong, represents a character's distorted or unstable mental state.
What effect do oblique and canted angles (known as Dutch angles) have?
The release of tension after a scary movie, leading to a feeling of emotional cleansing, is known as this.
What is catharsis?
A mythical spirit, whose legend led to carving vegetables with scary faces.
Who (or what) is Jack (Jack-o’-lantern)?
Poor people would go door-to-door on All Saints' Day asking for soul cakes and other alms in exchange for prayers for the dead.
What is souling?
The most common sound effect in modern horror films are low-frequency sounds below the human hearing range (19 Hz and below). This creates a feeling of dread without the audience understanding why.
What is infrasound (the Hidden Threat)
A shot that immerse the audience in the character's perspective and enhances the feeling of being trapped or stalked.
What is a Point of View (POV) shot?
That's because a controlled scary experience can leave us exhilarated, relaxed, and more resilient in the face of fear.
Why do we scare ourselves for fun? Why do we watch horror movies for fun?