Influential Figures

Some institutions that are heavily involved in the horror industry have influenced me when I have been thinking about ideas for our own production. One of these is Twisted Pictures, who are an American independent production company, who have grossed more than half a billion dollars since they were founded in 2004 by Mark Burg, Oren Koules and Gregg Hoffman. Twisted Pictures mainly focus on creating films of the horror genre and they were formed after the 'box office success of Saw in 2004', which lead to them securing a 'nine-picture distribution deal' with Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures went on to produce six sequels in the Saw film series. They have only been present in the horror industry for the past decade but have already had substantial success. Their parent company is Evolution Entertainment and Twisted Pictures produce both motion pictures and video games. More recently in October 2009, Twisted Pictures landed a deal with the right-holders of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that was for 'multiple films'. This is another example of their focus on creating films of the horror genre.
They have influenced me because of the huge impact that they have had on the horror genre in such a short amount of time, by being responsible for one of the most popular horror movie series after only being founded in 2004. Other influential institutions for me include Universal Pictures, as they have experimented with producing some horror films like 'Dawn of the Dead', which was directed by Romero, who is a key director in the horror film industry. Another institution is Blumhouse Productions, who have produced very successful horror films such as Paranormal Activity, Insidious and Sinister.

A director who I would consider to be influential is Alfred Hitchcock, who is often 'renowned as England's best director' and who was born on 13th August 1899 in Essex. He was often nicknamed the 'Master of Suspense' after he influenced so many elements of the suspense and psychological thriller genres. This is part of the reason that he is influencing me as we would like to focus on the more psychological and suspenseful element of the horror genre, and Hitchcock demonstrates effective suspense in his films through the fact that many of his films have 'twist endings and thrilling plots'. Hitchcock had a career spanning six decades and by his death in 1980, he had directed 'more than fifty feature films'. He had many specific stylistic trademarks including the 'use of camera movement that mimic's a person's gaze'. This style may be important to consider for our own production as it will make the audience feel like they are more involved in the film itself, so could be used as escapism with linking to the Uses and Gratifications theory and also provokes the audience to feel more empathy and fear for the characters and their situation. One of Hitchcock's most notable films is Psycho, which was released in 1960 and is of the psychological thriller/horror genre. This also adds to his influence as one of his most notable films is focused within the genre that we would like our production to be based around.

I found this interview interesting as Hitchcock is asked what he thinks is important for a director who has the aim to frighten an audience, and he responds by saying that they must understand the 'psychology of audiences'. This will be important for us to consider because we are focusing on the sub-genre of psychological horror, so in order to understand how to frighten an audience, we must focus on the psychology behind their fear. Hitchcock elaborates further on this point by saying that audiences 'love to enjoy fear' in order to 'see what it's like'. He then goes on to talk about Psycho, which was an upcoming release at the time and he describes it as his 'first attempt at a shocker'. Hitchcock says that the horror of this film 'only comes after you've seen it' when you may be at home by yourself. This is influential to me because for our own production, we want to create a piece that will be thought provoking, even long after the audience has watched it.

Someone who I would also consider to be an influential figure is Christopher Lee. He is an English, singer, author and World War II veteran who is mostly known for his role of Count Dracula in a sequence of Hammer Horror films. He also played the monster in 'The Curse of Frankenstein' and another one of his most notable characters is 'Saruman' in the Lord of the Rings films. This is one of the reasons that he is especially influential for me as Lord of the Rings are some of my favourite films. However, they are obviously not horror films but despite this, Christopher Lee does still play one of the major antagonists, which is a character type that we need to focus on for our production of the horror genre. Unfortunately, Christopher Lee passed away on 7th June 2015 aged 93, and has since been considered a 'horror legend'.