Research into similar films

I decided to expand on my research on our film and look at similar films. 

The chainsaw massacre: the beginning (2006)

In August, 1939, a worker goes into labor while working in a slaughterhouse and dies after a complicated labor, though the deformed child survives. The possibly orphaned baby is dumped in a garbage container and found by a beggar later, who brings him home. Along the years, the mentally retarded and disturbed boy called Thomas is raised by the Hewitt family in spite of having psychological problems as well as suffering from an unnamed skin disorder, later working in a meat packing plant. In July, 1969, when the facility is closed, the inhabitants move to other places, but the deformed, mentally childlike Thomas flies into a rage after being insulted and kills the foreman. His deranged brother (considered his uncle due to their age difference) executes the sheriff that is going to arrest Thomas, and assumes his identity, wearing his clothes,driving his car though the roads in Texas and entitling himself as Sheriff Hoyt. 

Although this film is not a ghost film like ours its more based around the sub-genre of gore however it helps look at what makes a scary film such as tension and torture being two of the key themes. I looked deeper into this film also because of its use of costume and make-up to really make the film come alive this is something we need to use in our film to make characters rememberable. 

This film was written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Nicole Moore. 

This film is a little on the risky side being rated R in the USA this would be an 18 in the UK.

We couldn't make our film as obscene as this because it contains strong horror violence/gore, language and some sexual content from the outset and throughout. 

The others (2001) 

A woman named Grace retires with her two children to a mansion on Jersey, towards the end of the Second World War, where she's waiting for her husband to come back from battle. The children have a disease which means they cannot be touched by direct sunlight without being hurt in some way. They will live alone there with oppressive, strange and almost religious rules, until she needs to hire a group of servants for them. Their arrival will accidentally begin to break the rules with unexpected consequences. 

I decided to chose this film for my second piece of research because i've watched it myself and know it is very similar to our own film. It has ghosts and lots of jumpy parts which we need to include in our film in order to make a successful horror film. Objects start moving unexpectedly and it is set in a old victorian house somewhere in the countryside adding to the spookiness. Linking it back to our film i think we should set ours in a house because from watching The Others you get a feel of isolation because of the lack of characters and location of it. 

The director and writer of the film was  Alejandro Amenábar. Although being a relatively scary film it is only rated a PG-13 because it doesn't have gore or sexual scenes in it.


 

Exorcist: The beginning (2004)
Archeologist Lankester Merrin is asked to go to East Africa to excavate a church that has been found completely buried in sand. Merrin is also an ordained Roman Catholic priest who, still haunted by what he was forced to do during World War II in his native Holland, eschews any religion or belief. He's fascinated by what he finds and that it dates hundred of years before Christianity was introduced to the area. Accompanied by a young priest, Father Francis, to keep an eye on the religious elements of what they find, Merrin makes his way to the camp. There he meets a young doctor, Sarah and soon there is an air of gloom that envelops the entire site. Workmen go mad and a young boy is mauled by a pack of hyenas while completely ignoring his younger brother Joseph. Inside the church itself they find signs of desecration. Merrin is forced to re-examine his lack of faith and come face to face with the devil.

The film has been rated 18 in the UK but rated R for strong violence and gore, disturbing images and rituals, and for language including some sexual dialogue.
I think this film has elements that our film include but using faith and what you believe in to create a scary atmosphere. This film is good because its quite psychological like ours making the audience questions what they see and why its there. This is what we would be aiming to achieve within our own film. We can take inspiration due to the gore elements too because in our film the girl gets hanged.